Just Wednesday

 The big news is the Ice-mageddon we are going to get this weekend.  Lots of folk in panic mode.

For myself, younger son came by this morning and we went to Academy to look at scopes.  Picked out a nice Vortex Crossfire for the Winchester.  Mounted it, life is good.  We didn't go shoot simply because it rained all day, and I'm not ford of being in the rain.  When I was in the Army, the mantra was "If it ain't raining, we ain't training", but I'll wait for less precipitation.

The weather-weenies are prepping us for a huge ice storm this weekend.  I'm ready, but I am not yet convinced.  What concerns me is the insanely low temperatures they are talking about.  Louisiana does not need temps in the teens.  It ain't right.

Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain some more.  The menu in the shop tomorrow will be chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and cream gravy.  I may heat some english peas to go with that.  We'll see.

Optics

 My younger son came in for a visit today.  He'll be here for a week.  Belle and I picked him up at the airport and his brothers met us at the shop.

Stories were told, lies were explored.  At some point the conversation turned to optics.  I happened to have a rifle in the rack with an old Bushnell scope.  It will be upgraded tomorrow.  the boys took that scope off the rifle and began to disassemble it, exploring the mysteries of the internals of common optics.

That was interesting, and we concluded that young Philippine grills are better qualified to disassemble cheap scopes than middle aged rednecks from Louisiana.  They probably have specialty tools.  At one point, a pipe wrench was used in the disassembly, probably not something we would find in a technical manual. This was redneck gun-smiffing of the worst kind.  No alcohol was involved in this evolution.

For the record, the reticle was found in the second focal plane.

 We'll go get a new scope tomorrow and see how the rifle shoot.  It's a push-feed Winchester Model 70 in 257 Roberts.  More to follow.

Free Expression

 Just for giggles, let's take a look at the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That is fairly broad and well stated. 

Turns out, a bunch of Somali backers invaded a white church in Minnesota on Sunday, protesting and raising hell.  Nobody got hurt, but it disrupted the service.  Don Lemon, the disgraced CNN guy was there with a camera crew, supporting the disrupters.  So, what we have is a collision of free speech and free exercise of religion. It's a good question where the boundaries lie.

You can see Don interviewing the pastor here.

Interestingly though, there is this thing called the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law that makes it illegal to 

"intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with, or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere, any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship."

Oops.  Don and all those protesters may be in violation of federal law.  We note that journalism is also protected under the First Amendment, and this should further complicate an already complicated legal exercise.

A Fifth

 Those of us who grew up in the 20th century knew what a fifth of whiskey was.  One fifth of a US gallon.  A US gallon holds 128 ounces, so a fifth was 28.6 ounces. Nowadays we buy our hooch on the metric system, and a 750 ml bottle, we still call a fifth, but that holds only 25.36 ounces.

A jigger of whiskey was commonly known to be 1.5 ounces.  One of the legends ascribed to the game of golf was that the course standard of 18 holes was based on the fifth of whiskey.  If a gentleman limited himself to one jigger per hole, he could finish the course with fifth, retaining a wee bit to toast the course after the game.

Lately I have seen some of the online whiskey gurus saying that they didn't know why a 750 ml bottle is sometimes called a fifth.  Now, the education is complete.

You are welcome.

Greenland

 I haven't really been following it, but I have been noticing this whole Greenland kerfuffle.

President Trump seems to think that it is strategically important, Denmark owns it, and President Trump is making noise about buying it.

It seems that a NATO military contingent has gone to recon it.

LINKY

Thirty-seven (37) is barely an overstrength platoon.

Insurrection

 Should President Trump use the Insurrection Act to send federal troops into Minnesota?  I think not.

Better to use US Marshals.  The oldest civil law enforcement in the US, successfully used in many such cases, where the local authorities don't want to bend to federal law.  Like Lyndon Johnston used them to break Jim Crow.

The US Marshals are a better fit.  They are civil law enforcement, and you don't run into Posse Comitatus.

Record Breaking Tuna

 Oh, c'mon.  This is funny.

LINKY.

I bet that was a fine boat ride.

Fantasy

 I saw this meme earlier and didn't believe it.  It was too inane, too fantasy-driven, too problematic to be anywhere close to the truth.  Turns out, it is probably true.  As it turns out, the first words scrammed by the passenger in the vehicle of the woman shot by ICE, screamed, "Why did you have real bullets?"

Did she think that this was some play-action fantasy?

The problem with these folks is that they cannot differentiate between Instagram reels, TikTok shorts, and the real world.  In the fantasy of holding ICE accountable, everyone goes home safe.  In the fantasy of video gaming, there is a reset button.

This gal who was killed is not some "white chick George Floyd", as I've seen her described.  She is not a martyr to a cause.  She is just the latest example of a lethal force encounter going very bad, very quickly.

For my entire police career, as I was getting ready for my shift, I'd look in the mirror and ask myself if I were willing to take a human life that day.  We do a job in the real world with real consequences.  Thankfully, I never had to take a life.  I drew my weapon only four times in the line of duty.  I never had to fire.  For that I am thankful.

Today's "protestors" don't seem to understand lethal force. That is unfortunate, because the cops understand it very well. There is no reset button.  It is forever.

Justification

 I see that the news is awash with the tragic tale of a gal in Minnesota who was recently killed in an altercation with federal ICE officers in Minneapolis.

It's tragic.  The death of anyone is tragic.

In 37 years behind the badge, I was regularly trained on Use of Force during my yearly training.  It has become stenciled on my brain.  Louisiana law mirrors the law in much of the country.  Let's take a look at the law, shall we?  Louisiana Revised Statute 14:20 says in part:

A.  A homicide is justifiable:

(1)  When committed in self-defense by one who reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life or receiving great bodily harm and that the killing is necessary to save himself from that danger.

There is nothing there that talks about the intent of the deceased. We cannot know what she was thinking, nor the state of her mind at the time of the incident.  All that is necessary is the perception of the officer that he was in danger of great bodily harm or death. 

Her death is tragic, no doubt. We will never know what might have happened if the officer did not use deadly force.  It is a question we need not ask. You might note that in Louisiana, at least, there is no difference in the law between a sworn officer and a common citizen.  The justification is there for anyone to use.

I'm just saying.