Texas State Update

 We're home, got in about midnight last night.  Safe and sound.  I'll spend the rest of the day sorting dunnage, simply because at some point during a return home venture, we're simply throwing stuff into the car.

Belle did well, as she generally does.  By Saturday afternoon late, we realized that she had qualified for the finals match.  She carried one loss util the 7th round where she got her 2nd loss.  By that time the scoring system had eliminated enough shooters that they could arrive at a finals match and Belle was in it.

On Sunday, Belle shot the finals match and took home 7th place at the Texas State Championship of Cowboy Fast Draw.

I, on the other had, did not distinguish myself in any way.  I had a lot of fun, and talked with a bunch of old friends.

Our match was marred by tragedy.  We lost a shooter, a well respected guy known as Everett Hitch.  I talked with Hitch on Friday, had a nice conversation about an event that he was helping to plan.  He seemed excited about it.  On Saturday morning, he wasn't a the shooters meeting, and folks started calling around.  Hitch was found in his hotel room, where evidently, he expired in his sleep.

Everett Hitch is survived by a wife, and children, and grandchildren.  We offer our prayers and condolences to them.  He was a (very) few years older than I am.  His death reminds us that we never know the place or the time, and we should live each day to its fullest.

Hitch was an innovator in our sport, constantly looking for better ways to train and to conduct matches.  He coned the phrase: "We Don't Practice Missing" in the sport.  He will be sorely missed.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 While we're traveling, the dog stays with my cousin, Denise, who runs a boarding facility.  There are always other dogs to play with and all the animals are well cared for.

A good dog-boarding facility is a joy, and Denise runs a great one.  We'll pick him up on Monday morning.

Biden Price HIkes

 Former Vice President Joe Biden is trying desperately to blame his woes on Putin.

It ain't working, and I hope he knows it.

Remember when he took office, had energy independence and $2 gasoline?  If he had maintained those policies and strengthened our energy independence, we'd still have $2 gasoline.   But, Noooo.  He had to be all green energy, glowball warmening, and choke off fossil fuels.  So, under his watch, we went from energy independent to importing our oil.

Here locally, fuel was about $3.25 before the Ukraine unpleasantness.  Now, it's pushing $4.00, and it's all on Joe Biden.  All of it.  Every cent.  If we were energy independent, we might care what Putin did in Ukraine, but we would not be paying for it.

Burnet, TX

 We're in Burnet, Tx.  We got here about 4:00 this afternoon.

I live in central Louisiana, and we're in central Texas.  That verdampt GPS took me to Katy, TX, just north of Houston before pointing us north.  Evidently, there ain't any roads that go across central Texas.

WE made pretty good time, but holy cow, it was an interesting road trip.  I wonder which route it is going to take me home on?

Congress Does Vital Work

 With all the challenges and problems facing America today, it's great to know that Congress is doing what it can to make us all safer, more prosperous, and less afflicted by things like illegal immigration, our-of-control inflation, energy independence, ... you get the idea.

For example, the vital work necessary to outlaw lynching.   Yeah, that's right.  Lynching.

“After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching, Congress is finally succeeding in taking the long overdue action by passing the Emmett Till Antilynching Act,” crowed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Hallelujah. It’s long overdue.”

I'm pretty certain that lynching was already against the law. At the time of Till's killing, murder was against the law.  Murder is a crime in all 50 states.  Why Congress felt compelled to act on this legislation at this time, with so many other competing priorities is beyond me.

On the other hand, an anti-lynching law is a no-brainer, which pretty well sums up Congress today.  No brains.

Packing

 We're packing suitcases today.  Tomorrow, Belle and I shove off for Burnet, TX, where we will attend the Texas State Championship of Cowboy Fast Draw.  We're looking forward to it.  We have't been out of town since October, wen we made the Reno trip.

We have someone watching the house.  Grandson Zach will feed the cat and eat my groceries while we are gone.

I'm checking lists and making sure that all the stuff we need for a major shoot is in the van. A club member has the keys to the range, and will open up for our Saturday practice meeting.

We'l be back Sunday night, late.

Let's Go Brandon

 Same station in Pineville, LA

I heard on the news today that Biden is denying imports of Russian petroleum, but I didn't hear him say anything about ramping up domestic production.

Pete Butigieg: Save Gas Money, Buy Electric

 Our brilliant Secretary of Transportation has a simple message.  Buy an electric vehicle.

“Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging network so that people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV.”

Well, Pete, that doesn't help me much. (You dumb sonofabitch).  You see, later this week, I have to drive across Texas.  And, on Sunday, I'll head home.  Do you have those electric charging stations up and running yet?   Does anyone make an EV that I can drive for 12 hours at highway speeds?  Or, in the alternative, fully charge in fifteen minutes?  Do they make one yet that will carry four people, plus a five-hundred ound luggae weight for four hours?

Pete, you are an ignorant sonoabitch, and in a perfect world, would be handing from a light post somewhere simply because you are such a dumbass.

Here's your mission, Pete.  Drill everywhere, drill now.  Clean up the supply chain and quit worrying about whatever gay pipe-dreams you seem to be concerned abut.  Our challenges are too serious to be concerned with whatever frivolous shit resides in your fevered brain. 

Why Mike Rowe is Fed Up with COVID Fear-Mongering | The Glenn Beck Podca...

Great interview with Mike Rowe.  It's really worth listening to.

Let That Sink In

 

Sunday Morning Dawg

 On the floor next to the fireplace, hoping I'll drop something he can eat.

Just a fuzzy dog, soaking up some sun.

It's a hard life, but someone has to do it.

Paying The Bills

 Like everyone, I pay the bills once a month.  I've always been frugal, but when I fully retired in 2019, I had a comfortable buffer between my bills and my income.

Lately, I have noticed that my bills have gone up.  Since last year, about $500.00 per month.  Nothing has really jumped,except my electric bill, which had doubled.  But, they have all incrementally crept up a few dollars so that now I am poorer $500.00 per month over where I was last year.  

I attribute this mainly to fuel costs.

My electric bull is almost double, mainly due to fuel costs.

My sewer bull is up.  They have to put fuel in the trucks, and run pumps.

My garbage contract has risen.  Those trucks take lots of fuel.

My cable provider's bill has risen.  They use a lot of electricity.

The water bill has stayed strangely level.  It actually went down a few bucks this month.

I attribute each of these to fuel consts.  And, I put those costs directly at Joe Biden's feet, along with the green energy portion of the Democratic party.  PawPaw ain't hurting yet, but I have tightened my belt a couple of notches.

It Is Past Time

 He's right, of course.

CNN Leaves Russia

 CNN is leaving Russia, not because of any moral outrage, but because Russia passed a law that threatens jail time for.broadcasting... (wait for it...) fake news.

Fake News is CNN's stock-in-trade, so once the law was passed, they decided that the best course of action was to hail ass out of there.

That's funny, right there.

Dumbest Thing Yet

 I have seen some idiocy coming fro the left, but they have really ratcheted it up today.

I'll start with some guy named Iftin, who thinks we need global gun control.

But how do we start a debate about global gun control to put pressure on someone like Putin to stop waging wars on innocent people?

That is laughable, Mr. Iftin, and probably the dumbest thing I've heard lately.

But wait, we have a contender.

Thank you, Patricia.  Your stupidity knows no bounds.  I am now dumber for having read that tweet.

Bench Kamala, Please

 It seems that the White House is sending VP Kamala Harris on the road again.

The White House is actively discussing sending Vice President Harris to Warsaw, Poland, and Bucharest, Romania, in the coming days to show solidarity with Ukraine as it faces an escalating Russian invasion, sources familiar with the conversations tell The Hill. 

Why?  Because she needs foreign policy experience?  In the midst of a shooting war?

 Bench this woman, please. For the sake of our intelligence and human civilization, just put her back into the cardboard box from whence she came. She has failed on the border. She failed in boosting COVID vaccination rates. Harris is a walking failure, who bleeds staff and fosters a toxic work environment. She doesn’t do the work and she doesn’t read the briefings her staff prepare for her, so she doesn’t look like an idiot. She botched the talking points about the sanctions slapped against Russia in the aftermath of their invasion of Ukraine. And now, the White House wants to send her to Poland?

Kamala is likely to erupt into one of her famous word-salads, say something that is interpreted as  actual policy rather than the babbling of a fool, and the next thing we know, there will be missiles in the air.  She is liable to get us all killed.

The more that I see crazy Joe botch the response to the Ukraine crisis, the more I am convinced that there are no serious people in the White House or the foreign policy field.  The White House must be filled with syncopates and fools, unwilling to tell Crazy Joe that he is a complete and utter failure.

This is what happens when you order a President by mail.

Anonymous said in comments to an earlier post. 

 The vehicle commander and driver for the matter do not need to ride open hatch with their heads exposed. Button up and use vision blocks and weapon sights to view and navigate.

That sounds great in theory, but seldom works in practice. While it is true that the driver of an M1 series is often buttoned up, the vehicle commander wants his head out of the tank for more complete vision.  Vision blocks limit your awareness considerably, up to about 60%.  A tank commander loses over half of his situational awareness when he closes the hatch.

I freely admit that I never took a tank into combat, but I trained in them extensively for 25 years as an Armor and Cavalry officer.  I never wanted to be "buttoned-up" and did so only when required by the training scenario.  And, in training and maneuver, I wanted my loader's had outside and on a swivel as an additional set of eyes.

The commander needs to have his head out to see what is going on.

A single rifleman would have to be suicidal to take on a tank in a fair fight.  However, we never want to be in a fair fight.  Sneak and peek, find a tank or APC in a waiting area.   Fire one good shot, and boogie out of the area.  The bad guys will return fire on the area, so you need to be gone pretty quick.

If you get in a fair fight, you are doing it wrong.

That Stalled Convoy

 Like many of you, I've seen pictures of a military convoy north of Kiev.  By all reports, it contains fighters and logistics (bullets and beans) for the army.  Yet, it appears stalled along the road .  Why is that?

Commanders know that combat absorbs supplies at a pace that would astound neophyte observers.  Armies on the move require huge reserves of fuel,  ammunition,, food, and manpower.  The commanders job is to push those supplies to where they are needed, yet that convoy seems to be stalled on the road.  So, is it lack of will on the part of the local commanders?  Or is it equipment breakdowns?  Or is it sabotage?

Or is it the tires?

Bit of a tire expert here. Those aren't Soviet-era heavy truck radials. Chinese military tires, and I believe specifically the Yellow Sea YS20. This is a tire I first encountered in Somalia and Sudan; it's a bad Chinese copy of the excellent Michelin XZL military tire design.

That might be one explanation as well.  Bad tires. That may be part of it, but I an getting a sense that the troops aren't committed to this battle, that the rank-and-file may be slow-walking this thing.  

The Russian commanders on the ground have a much tougher problem than they envisioned when they set out last week for a glorious cake walk through Ukraine.

Reality Intrudes

 CBS News is concerned about the plight of transgendered folks in Ukraine.  It seems that reality has intruded o their fevered dreams.

That young man needs to pick up a rifle and defend his homeland.  In the face of actual lethal warfare,   no one has time to sort out his delusions.  

Why the 2nd Amendment is So Important.

 If you have been watching the struggle in Ukraine, you've seen images of regular people, citizens, being armed to resist tyranny.  This is the foundation of the 4ne Amendment, which says, in part:

The Right of The People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

That is fairly clear language, and you may note that it doesn't say anything about the type of arms that The People might keep.

There is a pretty good article at Based Politics that reminds us why we need the 2nd Amendment. The nay-sayers rightly say that you can't stop a tank with a rifle.  That's true, but...

If you know anything about armored combat, you know that they don't operate in a vacuum/  If you have watched the videos or seen the images coming out of Ukraine, you have seen that generally, one guy always has his head stuck out of the top of the tank.  He's the tank commander, and one well placed bulllet will drop hi like a used condom.

I know to a certainty that my old Savage bolt action will hit a 6" target at 300 yards. So much for that tank commander's head.  That degrades a 3-man crew t a 2-man crew, and the fighting capability o the tank is reduced significantly.  If that crew manages to get over the shock of their deceased commander, and the gunner sticks his head out, another bullet renders hi hors de combat, and they are down to a one-man crew.

One good man with a rifle can make a difference on a battle field.  That has always been true and will always be true.