A buddy brought over an interesting revolver, because he knows I like such things. Reportedly, his great-uncle brought it back from World War 1. It's a double-actin revolver in some obscure 10.5 mm cartridge.
Our petty tyrant governor eased some restrictions yesterday, but I'm not really sure what he means by that. Masking and social distancing are still required, although, frankly, most of Louisiana is ignoring him, because many of us are looking at the numbers and not believing him anymore. He has squandered whatever political capital he had a thte beginning of this pandemic.
Both Texas, to our west, and Mississippi to our east have lifted the mask mandate and they're doig fine. The numbers are continuing to fall in those states. Oddly enough, the states that are doing poorly are those who continue to insist on mandates. Imagine that. It seems to me that Neanderthal thinking is better for the people than listing to that quack Fauci.
Our governor is not a leader, not by any stretch of the imagination. He is a follower, and he's following the Democrat play book. John Bel Edwards really is a worthless sonofabitch.
I was tinkering in the shop today and heard tires on gravel. Grandson Quinton dropped by. He had made a new purchase, and wanted to give ti a thorough cleaning and inspection before he used it this weekend.
Quinton is a school-trained 91F (Small Arms Repairman) and he keeps his tools in my shop. He doesn't want to do this work in his apartment, and my shop is more condusive to that sort of thing.
It's a garden-variety AR, but the first one he's purchased by himself. He pulled it all down, got the factory oil off of it, (and it was lousy with shipping oil), then reassembled it He'll sight it in this weekend. I haven't seen the boy in a couple of weeks, ad it was good to spend some time with him.
I've been loading shotshells for decades. I started in the '70s when I was shooting competition skeet, and continued as I raised four children, all of whom shoot shotguns. I started buying primes by the brick of 1000, then graduated to the brick of 5000, but each time, the primers were packed in little sleeves of 100.
This weekend, I saw something new. We shoot a lot of shotgun primers in our sport, and with the recent shortages, the availability of primers has become acute. I buy primers in bulk to support the club, and recently the supplies have dried up.
One of the shooters this weekend mentioned that he had some primers for sale. And, he wasn't scalping. I think that I got a good deal, considering the times, for a brick of 10,000. We made the deal, shook hands, and I took possession. These are Nobel Sport primers, made in Italy, and one of the favorites of our sport. I thought a brick of 10,000 was a bit odd, but beggars can't be choosers.
Today when I got home I decided to open them to look.
So, I took our my pocket knife and cut the tape. What a surprise.
Yeah... that's a sleeve of 1000 primers. I have bought a lot of primers in my day, from a lot of places, but I've never seen anything like that. All I can figure is that this is the way Nobel packages them for other manufacturers. But, no worries. I have them now, and I'll save them for a big shoot. Still, I thought you guys might have some insight. Isn't that odd?
Representative Jason Crow serves the 6th District of Colorado. His Wiki ad his bio page tout his service as an Army Ranger. Yet he authored the most ignorant Tweet that I've seen lately. He's also a lawyer, and the tweet casts discredit on his professors. It's ignorant, a canard, and a disservice to the Constitution. Here's the text.
I grew up a hunter and served as an Army Ranger.
I didn’t take my deer hunting rifle to Afghanistan, nor did I take my assault rifle deer hunting.
Don’t be fooled by the gun lobby. The type of gun matters.
Weapons of war have no place in our communities.
4:30 PM · Mar 26, 2021
Evidently, Jason didn't learn anything in high school, nor anything in the Army, nor did his professors at law school teach anything about reading comprehension.
The Second Amendment says nothing about deer hunting. If it did, I would freely admit it.
Representative Jason Crow wants to restrict the rights and privileges of Americans. His understanding of the Constitution is so flawed that it casts discredit on his high school, his law professors, and the US Army.
Belle and I are packing up, getting ready to leave the hotel for the final day of shooting. We'll head home sometime after the last shot later today.
It's been fun, but I have no time to tarry. Lots to do next week getting ready for my shoot April 9, 10, 11.
Y'all have a blessed Sunday.
Belle and I are in Sapulpa, OK, attending the Oklahoma State Championships of Cowboy Fast Draw. We were here last year when we found out that many states were shutting down, and we entered the Covid era.
Oklahoma State normally draws 80-ish shooters, and we blew through that today. I was talking with the Match Director today and he expects upwards of 120 shooters tomorrow. This will stress range capacity, but they've had today to sake out the bugs, and things should go smoothly. No one really cares, because it's been a year with no major matches, and everyone is willing to go-along-to-get-along. It's going to be fine. CFDA is a family, and this is like being at a family reunion with people you like.
I got into a couple of really interesting matches today, but didn't cover myself in glory. Belle, on the other hand, won third place in her category, so we'll be bringing home at least one trophy. And honestly, that's the way it normally works out. I travel around the country, getting into gun fights, and my lady is the one who brings home the trophies. She is a nationally known competitor, a Range Master, and an expert with a single-action revolver.
Is it any wonder why I try to treat her as well as possible?
Creepy Joe held a press conference yesterday. Fox News is reporting that he used a "Cheat Sheet" to help him keep on point.
I don't have a problem with that. We would expect him to come to the presser prepared, and if he needed a cheat sheet, or for that matter a briefing binder, I don't see a problem. The presser itself was such a hot mess that he didn't do himself any favors.
The problem is not so much that he referred to notes, but the fact that his presidency is a joke on so many levels, and the fact that he is doing untold damage to the Republic.
The US Ninth Circuit has ruled that:
“There is no right to carry arms openly in public; nor is any such right within the scope of the Second Amendment,” the court ruled in an “en banc” decision that involved 11 of the panel’s judges.
Oh, really? I wonder what they think the term "bear arms" means?
I'm sure that this will be appealed, as it sets up a number of conflicts with other laws currently on the books, not to mention the plain meaning of the 2nd Amendment.
The big distraction today is Seven Mass Shootings In Seven Days.
1. Atlanta. Some white dude lit up a massage parlor. Tragic.White dude with a sex problem.
2. Stockton, CA Five people injured in a drive-by shooting. Everyone shot was uncooperative. No mention of the shooter's race.
3. Gresham, OR. Four people shot. No mention of the shooter's race. But, police report that traffic was not affected.
4. Houston, TX. Five shot in disturbance inside night club. No mention of the shooter's race.
5. Philadelphia. One killed, five wounded at an illegal party. 150 people present. No mention of the shooter's race.
6. Dallas. Some unknown person shot eight people at the Pryme Night Club. No mention of the shooter's race.
7. Boulder, CO. Some Middle Eastern dude, Aloha Snackbar, shot 10 people in a grocery store. Shooter mis-identified as a white dude. Suddenly, everyone calling for gun control.
The interesting part about these seven shootings, is that in only two instances were we able to immediately learn the race of the shooter. In two instances, we know what kind of firearm was used
In other news, at least 21 were shot in what the media is calling "weekend violence" in Chicago this past weekend. No mention of the shooter's race. We can make educated guesses.
But, if you listen to the media, it's all about white dudes and AR-15s.
Thankfully, no one was hurt. All students were checked by EMT's. No injuries.
I wonder what the lunch conversation will be like?
Well, that didn't take long. After posting below this morning, I left the house to run some errands. When I got back, I see that our former president is already calling for gun control.
Washington (CNN)Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for stricter gun laws following the mass shooting in Colorado, bemoaning what he called a national tolerance for "these kinds of random, senseless acts."
Never let a crisis go to waste, huh? biden's only problem is that he has several crises pending right now. Immigration, the pandemic, a sluggish economy, just to name three.
A lot of people are calling this one Obama's third term, or the Obiden administration.
Now that I've eaten a little lunch, I think I"ll go out to the shop and practice a little gun control. I doubt that is what the Lightworker is talking about.
By now you've all heard that some nitwit shout up a Boulder CO, grocery store yesterday, killing ten people, including Boulder police officer Eric Talley. Talley, who is being described as a hero, left behind seven children. I mourn his loss.
The motive of the shooter is unknown, but early reports indicate that he used an AR platform rifle in the attack. A suspect is in custody and I'm sure we'll learn more as he is interrogated.
At this point, all we can do is await further details. I will lift up all the victims and families in my prayers.
It seems that Creepy Joe thinks he's the president on hos own terms. He called a "lid" today.
President Joe Biden called a lid at 1:13 pm eastern on Monday afternoon as the crisis at the border reaches catastrophic levels.
One might wonder who would handle an actual unfolding crisis. Not that the border problem isn't a catastrophe, but who would handle the problem if a major attack, something like Pearl Harbor, or 8/11 after sleepy joe decided to take a nap?
This sonofabitch is precisely what the 25th Amendment was written for.
That's one way to keep the battery charged.
I wonder how many miles per gallon he's getting?
Statistics is the science of crunching numbers. It lets us tell the tale of populations, whether those populations are people, or the efficiency of a production line.
In this particular case, we're talking abut populations of humans, and historical data is the only data we have. John Tierney writes at City Journal.
Now that the 2020 figures have been properly tallied, there’s still no convincing evidence that strict lockdowns reduced the death toll from Covid-19. But one effect is clear: more deaths from other causes, especially among the young and middle-aged, minorities, and the less affluent.
The best gauge of the pandemic’s impact is what statisticians call “excess mortality,” which compares the overall number of deaths with the total in previous years. That measure rose among older Americans because of Covid-19, but it rose at an even sharper rate among people aged 15 to 54, and most of those excess deaths were not attributed to the virus.
We're just now able to gauge the true effects of the lockdowns on society While the public health experts were myopically focused on the virus, they tended to overlook the other myriad issues that affect public health, to the detriment of the population at large, As the statisticians continue to crunch the numbers from 2020, we may learn that the lockdowns caused more human suffering than the virus did.
Chicken Fried Steak, that is. We ave friends and family coming for lunch, and Belle is is hungry for chicken fried steak. With the rimmings. White gracy, peas, mashed potatoes, a carrot souffle and peach cobbler for dessert.
It's time to get busy. Y'all have a wonderful Sunday.
Glenn Reynolds posts and interesting piece at the New York Post about lying bureaucrats ad the way that they manipulate the public, and damage public trust.
After a year of watching Doc Fauci change his tale on virtually every pronouncement he has made, listening to him tell us that masks weren't necessary, then that masks were absolutely vital, then telling us thing would get back to normal with a vaccine, then changing that stance yet again, it is no wonder that a growing percentage of Americans consider him a quack. He hasn't been consistent on anything. He even bragged to a reporter that his estimates on herd immunity were based on public polling. He would change his numbers based on what he thought the public would believe. Science Indeed!
I'd love to trust the science, but with Fauci reporting it, I'm never sure what the science might be He's lied to us before. Lately, I've become convinced that his pronouncements are entirely untrustworthy, and that those who listen to him have Stockholm Syndrome.
It turns out that military service members are pushing back on the Pentagon characterization that there were palpable differences between the summer of "mostly peaceful" protests and the Jan 6th riot at the Capitol.
During military training sessions to address extremism in the ranks, some service members have challenged why the Pentagon is not treating the violence during racial injustice protests last summer as equal to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.
That the two events are viewed as equivalent by some troops has caught the Pentagon’s attention in its effort to educate service members that extremist views and activity — on either side of the political spectrum — go against the oath they took when they joined the military, the top enlisted leader told reporters on Thursday.
The Pentagon should not be surprised that our service members are rational, educated people who are able to make value judgments. What I find appalling is that the Pentagon brass is surprised.
The last Battalion I served in had an average education level of 14.5. Many of the very junior enlisted had not yet finished college, but many of the more senior enlisted held Master's degrees. Today's troops are smart, and filly capable of seeing when their leaders are full of shit.
In this post yesterday, I mentioned that I had heard that by next month, all adults 18+ would be eligible to receive the vaccine.
One anonymous commenter said it made no sense for the young and healthy
I concur, but note that you're expecting any of this to make sense.
I was listening to a local talk radio show show yesterday. They were interviewing the Commanding General of Fort Polk and one of them asked him about Covid at Fort Polk. He answered that their 14-day rolling average was 2 or 3 cases for the entire pandemic. He said that early in the pandemic, they took some precautions, but generally, soldiers are young and healthy, so they went on with the mission.
There is very little about the official response that makes sense, especially from an historical perspective. We quarantined healthy people, and in some cases (nursing homes) moved sick patients into congregant settings, which seemed to spread the disease to the most vulnerable. We designated entire segments of our society as "non-essential". We restricted the rights of healthy people to the point where the economy of many areas virtually collapsed. We closed schools, deriving our children of education.
There isa growing body of evidence to suggest that none of it worked to slow the spread of the virus, and can only be explained as an attempt to re-make American society as a grand experiment in social engineering. None of this makes any sense.
Belle reminds me that today is Saint Patrick's Day. One her way out the door this morning, she told me that we had been invited to a small gathering to enjoy corned bee and cabbage. She instructed me to "clean up" and be ready to roll when she gets home from work today.
When I get out later today, I'll have to make sure that I put Jameson and ginger ale on the shopping list. I'm tempted to pick up a bottle of Red Breast, but I'm not sure if this crowd would appreciate it.
Our host this evening believes that Tullamore Dew is the finest Irish whiskey every produced, and there is something to say about that. It's been my experience the best whiskey is the whiskey you like, the way you like to drink it.
KEEL radio is reporting that Covid cases in Louisiana are continuing to fall. That's good news, very good news. Both in new cases and in hospitalizations, the numbers continue to plummet.
On January 15th the Louisiana Department of Health reported 2,001 people hospitalized in Louisiana with a COVID diagnosis. By February 15th that number had dropped to 849, and now on March 15th the number is 455.
This is very good news. With Louisiana under a Phase 3 order, until March 28th, it seems that Covid is finally done with us, despite the Governors efforts to keep us separated and scared. I was at my Doc's office last week for the semi-annual poking and prodding. He told me that the best thing I could do is to get the vaccine and plenty of sunshine.
I had no problem getting the vaccine and I was in the fourth batch of people eligible. I've never been an anti-vaxxwer. Just a few months ago, I also got a booster for tetanus, which seemed like a good idea. By next month, every adult over 18 will be eligible.for the vaccine. I'll recommend that they take advantage of it. Or not, their choice.
As I was plundering around the area yesterday, trying to help the local economy, I noticed fewer and fewer people masking. While the signs are still in the doors, even the employees were blase to the masks. Common sense is taking over. Which is also very good news.
When I joined the Army in 1973 we tested fitness with a PT Test consisting of five events. Sit-ups, push-ups, the horizontal ladder, something called the run-dodge-jump, and a one mile run. We all hated that PT Test because it required an actual facility. And, it was hard to schedule time at the facility to conduct a PT test.
Then, in 78 or 79, the Army came out with a new PT Test that consisted of three events, Sit-up, push-ups and a two mile run. Commanders could schedule a test whenever they wanted to. It was scored based on age, and gender. 40-year-old soldiers were not expected to run the two miles as quickly as 18-year-old soldiers, and females were likewise scored on a separate scoring grid. It was a simple test, and the standards were simple. Simple to understand, simple to evaluate, simple to administer.
Last year or so, they came out with something called the Combat Fitness Test. As in all things Army, it complicated a previously simple metric. And, it was age and gender neutral, based on the idea that if a 40-year-old Colonel was going to lead a bunch of 18-year-old Privates, he should be able to keep up with them. And, it was gender-neutral. If the girls wanted to play, they needed to keep up too. I opined at the time that this exercise was doomed to fail.
Stars and Stripes is reporting that the Army is changing the way the test is administered and scored. They have decided that there is a biological difference between men and women.
The Army could adjust how it scores its new Combat Fitness Test to account for the “biological differences” between men and women, a service spokeswoman said Friday.
Well, duh. We've known that for years. I served with female soldiers in various capacities during my entire career, and I respected and admired many of them for the competence and professionalism, but I never expected them to crew tank, or serve in the Infantry. We knew that there were biological differences. I'm glad to see that the Army is reconciled to that immutable fact.
My beloved Army might not be terribly bright, sometimes, but it is certainly no place for social justice engineering.
It seems that the Roman Catholic Church has reaffirmed its millennial-old rule that it cannot bless same sex marriage. Imagine that! The Church has been consistent in this matter for the entire current era.
This should not surprise anyone with a basic familiarity with historic Christianity or with the Roman Catholic Church. The New Testament clearly condemns homosexual activity and Jesus explicitly affirmed the teaching of Genesis that marriage is between one man and one woman. The Catholic Church has a 2,000-year tradition of upholding this basic definition of marriage that, in historical terms, only came under fire yesterday.
Many of us believe that marriage is a contract between God, one man and one woman. This is nothing new. It's been like that for more than 2000 years.
The legacy media is acting like this is breaking news.
I like the way this guy thinks. Representative Andrew Clyde has big hopes for the Second Amendment. He wants to roll back taxes on guns and ammunition. He believes that the Second Amendment is an inalienable right, (just like voting rights), and argues that any tax on a right is illegal. He also wants to roll back the NICS time frame from three business days to three calendar days.
He's realistic enough to realize that it probably won't go anywhere during this Congress, but he wants the legislation ready to go when the time is right.
There is increasing evidence that Covid restrictions had little or no effect on the impact of the virus that we have been fighting for the past year. The Epoch Times reports.
Nearly a year after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the nation’s first statewide shut down because of the coronavirus, masks remain mandated, indoor dining and other activities are significantly limited, and Disneyland remains closed.
By contrast, Florida has no statewide restrictions. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has prohibited municipalities from fining people who refuse to wear masks. And Disney World has been open since July.
Despite their differing approaches, California and Florida have experienced almost identical outcomes in COVID-19 case rates.
Lots of questions like this are being raised, and it will take science a while to answer them. But, it brings us back to Ben Franklin's quote: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
The evidence is beginning to suggest that the Covid restrictions had no effect whatsoever on the course of the pandemic.
As I learned about the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th, the prevailing narrative didn't make sense. As a police officer with 37 years of experience and a good deal of experience in crowd control, I've learned a couple of things. One is that crowds will act, generally, in a predictable way. You may not like the way they act, but it is predictable. And, in crowd control, things can go sideways very quickly, so the crowd control effort has to be nimble to react to emerging situations.
The American Thinker has a great piece on the execution and aftermath of the Capitol breach, and it is looking more and more like a left-wing infiltration of the Trump rally.
As reported by the LA Times, FBI Director Christopher Wray's recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was disingenuous. As covered by OAN, Director Wray is either incompetent, deceitful, or lying that there was no proof that members of radical left organizations were not involved, “FBI ‘can’t find proof’ of Antifa involvement.” OAN also reports other information against the media narrative that only radical Trump supporters carried out this attack.
It's easy to put on a Trump hat and do things that cast discredit on Trump supports We'v seen that tactic since Sun Tzu. Given the experience of the past summer, both watching Trump rallies and Antifa riots, it is easy to tell the difference, and it is becoming plain that Antifa's fingerprints are all over the Capitol breach. This attack was their Kristallnacht. The American people deserve better than the deceit and corruption of Christopher Wray.
So, evidently Oprah interviewed Harry and Megan. It was a blockbuster interviews. I didn't watch it, although I have seen clips. Turns out, the royal family is racist, or not, depending on your point of view.
Harry, (bless his heart) is a Royal. He did do his duty to country and Granmaa Liz. Two tours, as I recall, in Iraq and the 'Stan. Good for him. He's a veteran. Then he married Megan. Poor Choice.
Megan (bless her heart) is a psycho-chick. We've all known at least one. 'Nuff said about that.
Oprah is a celebrity type (bless her heart). Makes lots of money. Gave away some cars a couple of years ago. Says that if we use her face in a meme, it's "digital blackface". Okay then.
Those three, Oprah, Harry, and Megan are so far removed from my sphere of reference that I cannot imagine what any of them might be bothered by. They simply have no relevance to me at all.
I guess, if I had to categorize my indifference to this kerfluffle, it would be Maximum Indifference.
Once again, most of the United States went through it's semi-annual ritual of changing our clocks, as it it made any difference in this time of the earlier part of the 21st Century. Of course, many of us don't have to change our clocks. The computer and cell phone change automatically. I still had to reset my wristwatch, but I'm a dinosaur in that I still wear a wrist watch. The two wall clocks in the shop are correct, because I never changed them in the autumn. Later today, I'll check the clock in the van, because I don't know if it changes automatically or must be manually reset.
For damn sure, the clock in the truck is wrong, I never reset it after changing the battery a couple of months ago. Ditto for the radio pre-sets.
It's one of those rituals we use to mark time, which is purely a human invention. The dog has no clue what time it might be, that information is worthless to him.
Knowledge is power, and that's where I stole this photo from.
I didn't know there was such a thing, so I went to Urban Dictionary and found this.
Super Straight - When you only are heterosexual but you are only attracted to the person that was born the opposite gender.
I thought that was considered Normal, but in this day and age, who knows what normal might be
It turns out, governing is hard. Especially when you have told the migrants that it's an easy trip and a free ride once they get here. Messaging is everything. So, what is going on at the border? It's horrific.
According to the Associated Press, hundreds of detained migrant children and teenagers are crammed into a border facility tent waiting to be released. Some have been there a week, when the law says they can only spend three days in U.S. custody. There’s no room to practice social distancing, no soap for showers, and the kids aren’t allowed to call their relatives and let them know they’re okay.
These children (I'm assuming they are all minors) deserve better than tents, cramped living conditions, no soap for showers, and at least a phone call to their parents. And, understand, I don't blame this on the Borer Patrol, I blame this on joe biden, who has no business being president in the first place. These sound like concentration camps.
All Americans should be horrified, and all Democrats should immediately file articles of impeachment. This is a human rights violation on a wholesale scale.
It's been a year now, and I have decried the loss of personal freedom since almost day One of this experiment in government incompetence. At the heart of this madness is President Trump, a man who I generally support, but under whose watch allowed "scientists" with incomplete data and no real plan to re-order our daily lives with full government backing. And, I really can't blame Donald Trump He is not a scientist, but like us, trusted the experts.
The experts lied to us. With the current death toll at something over a half-million citizens, we have ever reason to question that number. We caught them cheating. Virtually every death in the US this past year has been attributed to Covid. We were told by Dr. Deborah Birx that if a person died with Covid, they were counted, even if the cause of death was a heart attack, or trauma from an auto crash. The simple presence of the virus put then in the Covid count. As such, we have every reason to question the numbers, and if the numbers can be questioned then we must be forced to mistrust the experts.
I feel betrayed by Republican officials who went along with the greatest contraction of personal freedom sine Reconstruction. I feel betrayed by "scientists" like Fauci who used the crisis to expand their personal political power and influence. I feel betrayed by the Courts, who are supposed to protect personal liberty in the face of government excess.
We'll never truly know the human cost of this disaster, because the "scientists" don't care. The suicides , the loss of family through divorce, the loss of small businesses, the accumulated tragedy of children being denied education, all of these things will affect our culture for decades.
We will never know the true toll of this disaster. But, true accountability must be borne by our elected officials. Those who went along with it, those who acquired must be held accountable.
There is a great essay at American Greatness, written by Julia Kelly. I suggest you go read it.
Pore ol' Joe Biden, he'll read anything they put in front of him. It doesn't matter if it's the truth or not. For that matter, he'll sign anything that Kamala puts in front of him.
He gave a speech last night. You can go to the link and watch it if you want to, but he lectured the American people abut what we can and cannot do.
"The more people are fully vaccinated, the CDC will continue to provide official guidance on what you can do in the work place, places of worship, with your friends, as well as travel," he continued, urging people to listen to Dr. Fauci. "In the coming weeks we will issue guidance on what you can and cannot do when fully vaccinated.”
At this point, anyone who listens to Dr. Fauci is a fool. While in the beginning, his proclamations may have made sense, we know now that he purposefully lied to us. He admits it himself. We also know that he changes his mind on a regular basis. We're also learning that there is is growing body of evidence that seems to show that lockdowns and mask mandates don't work to do anything but harm the American people. Lately I've been calling the masks Compliance Cloth
Let's be clear. I'm not anti-vax. I'll get m second shot on April 1st. I have the appointment in m pocket. I also don't care whether or not you wear a mask. If you are sick, stay home. If your hands are dirty, wash them. And, if you don't want to get the shot, don;t. Do your homework and make up your own mind.
Freedom is too important to trust it to politicians.
US News and Word Report has listed the states according to a list of common metrics. Louisiana has come in dead last. While I don't completely disagree with that ranking, I do cast a jaundiced eye on the way they listed the states above us.
Washington State came in first. That surprised me. Not that I have anything against Washington state, but in all the lists of places I might like to live, or even visit, Washington never made the short list. But, when I consider some o the states that are ranked, and watching people actually move to those states, I wonder about their ranking system.
Texas is 31. Florida is 10, Tennessee is 29. Missouri, a state near to Belle's heart, came in at 28. Minnesota is 2nd, and Utah 3rd.
I've heard good things abut Utah, but I wouldn't live in Minnesota on a bet. They have Real Winter up there, something that I am decidedly opposed to. But, if I won the Powerball, I might have vacation homes in Texas, or Missouri, or Tennessee.
Pore 'ol Louisiana. Dead last. 50th in Crime and Corrections, 46th in Health Care, 48th in Education, and 47th in Economy, Our Governor hasn't done a very good ob this year, but he's never done a very good job at anything. Our legislature in ineffective and our roads suck.
I'm sure that these new rankings give solace to Mississippi (49) and New Mexico (48). I like New Mexico. I have two children in that state, and they both seem t be thriving. Maybe I'll put that state on my short list of Powerball homes.
It's aggravating to get to a venue, and learn that some of your electronics don't work. Problems always happen, but if you spend the time on the bench, your problems at the venue are minimized.
Louisiana State is the 2nd weekend in April, and we're getting ready.
It seems like Joe Biden has as much trouble with is dogs as he does his family. Last week, his dog Major, bit someone in the White House and has been banished to Delaware.
It turns out that Major, “the dog version” of Joe Biden, isn’t a good boy after all. According to a report from CNN, both dogs were sent back to Biden’s Delaware home last week due to Major’s aggressive behavior. According to the report, there was a “biting incident” with a member of White House security. Biden’s other dog, Champ, returned with Major, in order to not separate the dogs. “The exact condition of the victim is unknown,” reports CNN. “However, the episode was serious enough that the dogs were subsequently moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where they remain.”
I'm a dog lover, and tend to give the dog the benefit of the doubt.
But isn't it odd that this happened last week and we're only finding out about it now? Where is the press corps? Oh, wait, I forgot. They're still carrying Biden's water.
Did you notice the buzz. Several sates announced plans to reopen their economies, and the depending on the political leanings of the government, the outrage became selective. Glenn Reynolds points out.
No uproar ensued. The state in question was, of course, deep-blue Connecticut. A day earlier, however, when the governors of Texas and Mississippi announced their states were reopening, they got a very different reception. When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also noted he will be lifting the statewide mask mandate, the liberal establishment reacted as if had vowed to personally inject the novel coronavirus into the bodies of Lone Star residents.
Connecticut is keeping the masks, but opening to a much broader extent than many states.
I'm a hat-wearer. For the past month o so, I've been keeping my mask in my hat. When I'm out and about, I have my hat on, and if it is convenient, I'll the the mask out of my hat and put it on. For mow I'm noticing that fewer businesses are even noticing Oh, they all have the CYA sign at the door, but in actual practice, not so much. Louisiana is opening whether the governor likes it or not.
It was all fun and games for a while, but now we're over it. No one signed up for this and the people are tired of it. We're not in open revolt, but we are in open contempt. That is a bad place for the governor. He believes that he is in charge. We don't care what he believes.
**UPDATE** Connecticut did not end the mask mandate, only relieved some restrictions. I mis-read the article. I stand corrected. Thanks to the anonymous commenter.
Which states have ended or will soon end the mask mandate, or never had a mandate for face coverings?
According to this article, several states never masked. Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Carolina, and Tennessee never had a statewide mask mandate.
Now we have Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia along with Connecticut, joining the states who trust their citizens to do the right thing.
By my count, that is eighteen states who are on the correct side of history. Puppet biden think sthat they are Neanderthal. Of course, Dr. Anthony Fauci is claiming gloom and doom on those states who open too early. This is the guy, I might remind you, who has been demonstrably wrong on this thing since day One, and changes his mind almost as frequently as he changes his underwear.
Louisiana is still stuck in Covid hell, being slowly strangled by a petty, despotic tyrant who refuses to look objectively at the data as it has evolved since the beginning of this massive exercise in population mind control. PawPaw's House has been decrying the loss of personal liberty and the wrecking of the economy for almost a year.
I've been right for a year, and Fauci has been wrong for a year. Maybe they should run his diminutive ass up the road and hire me. I'll do it a whole lot cheaper than he does. And, I'll probably be right more often than he is. I'll certainly change my mind less often.
We're home safe, after a great of shooting with the Big Thicket Bushwackers our of Silsbee, TX.
I'm going to have a drink and go to bed.
During crawfish season, Belle ad I try to eat crawfish once a week. Generally on Friday, I slip off to the boiler and buy five pounds, with corn and 'taters. She's off on Fridays and that is our lunch.
We've been doing this for several years, buying crawfish on Friday as a precursor to the weekend.
Tomorrow morning, we're getting up at 0-dark-thirty and heading to Silsbee, TX for a cowboy shoot. We'll be gone all day. Y'all have a nice weekend.
We see through a glass, darkly, and never more so than in the intelligence field. Probably the greatest failure in American military intelligence was the failure to prepare for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Naval Intelligence redeemed themselves six months later by laying a trap at Midway.
But, intelligence runs both ways. By careful signalling, you can lead your adversary to believe that something is happening, to make him expend resources in a place where nothing is happening.
We saw that yesterday. The Democrats, and tier minions who should be serving everyone (the FBI, the Capitol Police, and other agencies) were convinced that there was going to be an insurrection on March 4, 2021. They had pickup up internet chatter that led them to believe an attack was imminent. Many of us who had done battlefield intelligence just grinned and waited. Pelosi, et al, looked like fools. Nothing happened.
This was an interesting experiment, as was the supposed insurrection on the afternoon of January 6th. Those of us who spent our lives working such things know that the FBI, the Capitol Police, and others who testified in the aftermath lied to us. This was not an armed insurrection. The only guns at the Capitol belonged to the government. If anything, it was more like a college frat party gone awry. I'm not minimizing the death of those who we lost during the breach, but we must remember that the only person shot was sot by a government officer.
Now, two months later, the Capitol still resembles a prison, with fencing and concertina. The National guard is still deployed in the Capitol, and Nancy Pelosi still cowers in her fear of the American people. She is a disgrace and every person who supports her is complicit in her paranoia.
Belle and I got our first doses of the Moderna vaccine today. No problems, easy-peasy. We get the second dose on April 1st. There is something ironic about getting fully vaccinated on April Fool's Day, but I'm going with the flow.
Everybody is reporting that the House passed HR 1 yesterday. The short version is that it expands mail-in voting, expands the time after the election in which a vote may be counted, makes changes to the laws affecting PACs, and limits political speech. In short, it's a Democratic wet dream.
It goes to the Senate for approval. This is not good news, and should be killed in the Senate, but I have no expectation that will happen.
The Democrats are not wasting any time making permanent changes to cement their power.
In 1933 Germany found itself in an emergency and gave the Executive the power to make law and govern without the consent of the Legislature. This became known as the Enabling Act and led to the rise of Hitler. It's an over-simplification, but generally, it put all government power in the hands of one person. That worked out poorly for Germany and should be a cautionary tale for the rest of us.
As we turn the corner of this pandemic, we learn that every state i the US has an enabling act. Couched in various terms, and titled by different verbiage, these laws give the governors great power over the civil liberties of their citizens, and as we ask how that is working out for us, we surely must answer: Poorly.
What we have earned under this debacle is that governors will tend to fudge the data, as well as outright lie to their citizens in order to maintain power and influence. I believe that history will judge this past yar as one of government excess, a poorly managed epidemic. If we ask ourselves how that has worked out for us, the answer would be much the same as pre-war Germany: Poorly.
This is not to equate the actions of pre-war Germany with the actions of our collective Governors, but in the final analysis, I believe that we will learn that may mistakes were made, citizens were injured, and that too much power in the hand of one person is always a bad thing. It leads to excess and a erosion of civil liberty.
Louisiana's public health law can be found at RS 29:766. I am calling on our Legislature to repeal it in its entirety. And, to do so with an overwhelming super-majority that defies a veto.
Louisiana's petty tyrant governor refuses to step up and do the right thing for his people, while Texas and Mississippi buck the Feds and reopen their states.
Defying warnings from federal health officials about the need to stay vigilant against the coronavirus, the Republican governors of Texas and Mississippi said Tuesday they're lifting COVID-19 restrictions, including mask mandates.
It's time to get on with living. Texas and Mississippi are open, and Louisiana is stuck int he middle. Our governor is a disgrace and our legislature is inept. Poorly led and inept.
We've been stuck at Phase 2.2 for several months, , but with cases, hospitalizations, positivity, and deaths dropping, our petty tyrant governor has deemed to magnanimously reduce the restrictions on the state. Our liege is most generous. We still have to go about like common criminals in the night, with our faces masked so that we might not feel as free people. And, of course, under this tedious tyrant we have no real cause to feel as citizens, as the Governor has long told us that we are mere subjects who must be constantly reminded that we answer to a bureaucracy.
Our elected representatives are no help. They allow the Governor to do as he wishes. Tax, spend, and keep the citizens masked and separated seems to be the word of the day.
I grow weary o this loathsome government.
On this day, March 2nd, in 1836, a group of Texians, Tejanos, and European settlers where hunkered down in an old Spanish mission in San Antonio, hemmed in my a Mexican Army. Sam Houston was raising an Army, and David G Burnet formed a government. Thirty-two additional men slipped through the Mexican patrols and entered the Alamo.
Today is recognized as Texas Independence Day. Some are asking if Woke History will cancel the Alamo? I think not. Personally, I think that the Woke movement will probably eat itself. People are beginning to see that the Woke folk are trying to apply standards to other people that they do not choose to apply to themselves. It is either, (and I can be convinced) and outgrowth, extension, or by-product of Cancel Culture. It is also arbitrary, capricious, and applied inconsistently. It's bad business.
But, today is the day that commemorates a bunch of men, of all races, creeds, backgrounds, and aspirations, to stand together and decry tyranny. In four days, the tyrant would make his move, and a legend would be born.
Happy Birthday, Texas.
I see that Cedric Richmond is in the news. Previous to the biden administration, he was the congress-critter our of New Orleans. We in Louisiana know Cedric. He's full of crap, and made the move from being an ineffective congressman to being a big shot in the crazy man's administration.
Cedric says that the White House is going to move on reparations. You can read the whole thing at the link.
This is going to be a disaster, one that I'm going to sit out. I predict that when the money actually starts to flow, we're going to see human nature come out in ways that no one wants to see. Democrats are pissed, generally, at the biden administration on the basis of the lack of movement on the covid relief checks that he promised. When they fail to deliver on reparations, when the money starts flowing in unequal amounts, the rhetorical knives are really going to glitter int e moon light.
And, what they fail to realize, is that once the government pays reparations, "systemic" racism is over. Finished. Done. They won't have that complaint any more. Then, finally, we'll achieve King's dream. We can judge a person on the quality of their character..
So, I"m sitting this one out. If biden wants to write them all a check, I recommend a lump sum. Do it once and get it done. Then we can move forward. I predict it will become a disaster, but a disaster that is firmly at the feet of the Democratic party. This is going to be a lot of fun to watch. nd, it will end systemic racism.
Gas prices in central Louisiana. Same station, same pump.
Up 40 cents a gallon since Inauguration Day.
Our embarrassing Senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, was running his mouth on CNN yesterday, talking smack about the Republican Party and the former president.
Bill Cassidy is utterly despicable.
I just penned him a note on his electronic page, telling him so.
Bill Cassidy is an embarrassment to the State of Louisiana. He ran under a false flag, and Ill never vote for him again. He is not a moderate Republican. If anything , he is a Southern Democrat. And, he is utterly despicable.
