Little Ribeyes

Grandson Quinton is shipping out for Basic Training on Tuesday.  He's been living with us since August, and we're going to miss him when he goes.  We've been spoiling him a little bit this week.  He told me that he wanted a good steak before he left, so yesterday I went to the butchers and had him cut some nice little 20 oz ribeyes.  Seasoned them up good, let them come to room temp, and dropped them on a very hot iron griddle.

Of course, we had to saute some mushrooms.  And keep some herbed utter close by to assist in basting.  Belle had baked some potatoes.

One plate for the steak, one for the potato

 He's heading to Fort Jackson, SC for basic, thence to Fort Lee, VA for training in MOS 91F (Small arms repairman).

Dialect

It's how we talk, and certainly we talk differently across regions of the US.  From the wonders of the intertubes, we come upon a neat little quiz to determine where your particular dialect is centered.  Go here to stat the quiz.

I took the quiz, and the results put me squarely in Louisiana, which isn't much of a stretch.

Red, more likely.  Blue, less likely

It's interesting, some of the choices they give you.

Liberal Hacks

I saw this exchange yesterday and found it unremarkable, but lots of folks are remarking on it, so what the hell.  This reporter tries to ambush Senator McSally in the halls of the Capitol, and she shuts him down.



The reporter in question is known for doing hit pieces to make conservatives look bad, while ignoring the antics of of Democrats.  But, the larger question is if McSally insulted him?  Probably not.  He knows he's a liberal hack and revels in it.  Where is the insult?

I tend to agree with Instapundit.

Personally, I think it’s okay to talk to reporters any way you want. I’d call them whores, but that’s an insult to the professionalism of prostitutes.

CNN is fake news, and this guy is the worst of the lot  He asks stupid questions, trying hard to break a non-story.  There was a time, thirty years ago, when I trusted CNN.  It was playing in the common area of the Provost Marshall's station the entire time I was assigned at Fort Polk.  I haven't trusted CNN since the beginning of George W Bush's term.  They really turned the corner during the Obama era, carrying his water at every opportunity.  They're hacks.  The whole bunch of them.

Dear Virginia

I see that there is a big 2A rally planned in Virginian on Monday, Jan 20 to protest planned gun control efforts in that state.  I also see that pro-gun goups are cautioning their folks to be on the lookout for agitators.

In an alert sent by one of the groups leading the “lobbying day” effort, supporters were advised to look the other way should counterprotesters challenge them.

 “If someone tries to provoke you, smile and walk away. There is probably someone secretly recording the interaction, with the intent of capturing some kind of inappropriate reaction on your part. Don't take the bait. It's not worth the bad press,” said the alert from the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which has conducted annual lobby day events peacefully since 2002.

We have to be on our best beavior, folks, we don't want to give the tyrants any excuses.  We're using the 1st Amendment on Monday.

I see that the governor has declared a state of emergency.  How very prescient for his tyrannical plans.



If you're going to the protest, be on your best behavior.  Don't give them any reason to over-react.

Thursday Morning Connectivity

Over the past several days, we've been having problems with internet connectivity.  It drops of-line several times a day. My personal, teenage grandson tech support suspects that the problem is the internet modem, which we've had for about eight years.  With two teenagers in the house, who each drag hard o that modem, I suspect that my tech support is correct, but before I spend the money, I want another opinion, so I call the company tech line.  The conversation goes like this:

Them: "Thanks for calling.  What's the problem."
Me: "Internet connectivity."
Then: "Let's reset the modem."
Me: I've done that four times today."
Them: "Let's do it again"

We reset the modem.

Them: "It looks good from here."
Me: "Okay, if my modem is fine, why does my internet keep dropping?"
Them: "The modem is fine."
Me: "Okay, if the modem is fine, is the problem on your end, or my end?"
Them: "The modem is fine."
Me: "Great, let me speak with your supervisor." 
Them: "We don't have a supervisor here."
Me: :You don't have a boss?  Am I speaking to the CEO?"
Them: "No, I am not the CEO."
ME: :Great!  You work for someone. Put him on the horn."

Needless to say, I didn't speak to a supervisor.  But I'm retired now and my internet provider (Suddenlink Communications), has a business office/plant operation just a few miles up the street.  My plan this morning is to drop by and give the lady at the front desk an opportunity to trot the manager out and let him explain to me what the problem is.

LSU Wins

Our beloved LSU Tigers took the national championship last night in the NCAA Championship game against Clemson.  President Trump attending the game with the First Lady.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

It was a rousing championship game to end a phenomenal season. 

All of Louisiana is celebrating today. 

Monday Morning Notes

It's a rainy day here in central Louisiana.  I've pushed the grandson out the door for school, and Belle will soon begin her routine to leave for work.

The entire state of Louisiana is cocked and locked for a football game tonight.  The LSU Tigers meet the Clemson Tiers at the Super Dome tonight for the championship game.  The betting line (depending on who you watch) shows LSU winning by a touchdown.

Anyone who thinks that Iran general Soleimani was beloved of the Iranian people is either daft or a damned liar.  From what I've read, that huge funeral crowd was lashed into the street by the theocracy and their henchmen.  Many Iranians didn't give a flying flip about him and most of the others actively despised him.

Pelosi continues her derangement.  While I agree that RUSSIA tied to meddle in the election, it seems that they backed the loser and Trump won against their best efforts.  She can't stand it, so she lashes out.  It's a poor example for a Speaker of the House, but it is certainly amusing.

I have quite a laundry list of things to do today (including laundry), so I'd best get started.

Iran Fesses Up

It seems that Iran has admitted that their air defense forces shot down the Ukrainian jet liner earlier this week.

Iran finally admitted Friday night to the incontrovertible evidence that it had shot a Ukraine jetliner out of the sky less than two minutes after it took off.

I was horrified when I heard the initial reports,  It seems that a whole bunch of Canadians were on board, and I admit that mystified me.  What the hell were they doing in Tehran?  And, what was the pilot thinking?  Didn't he know that he was flying in what seemed to be contested air space?  How did the ground controllers let him take off in the first place?

Somewhere outside Tehran, a young officer had a crew at a missile site.  They were expecting an American response to their missile launches into Iraq.  This young officer saw a bogey on his screen and launched a missile.  The missile did just exactly what it was designed to do.

It's a tragedy, but it seems to be a cascading chain of events that lead this Ukrainian jet to be over a missile site that was cocked-and-locked for incoming air traffic.  A blip on a screen, and war has begun.

New ATF study

It seems that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and whatever else, EIEIO, is conducting studies trying to figure out how many firearms and how much ammo is in the hands of law-abiding Americans.  My first reaction was that the ATFEIEIO guys have more to do than tally numbers, but if they are doing that, they aren't abusing good Americans.  THey are wastinng tax money, but we've come to expect that.

My second reaction is that their numbers are abysmally low.

Newly released figures from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives shows that there are now a whopping 422.9 million guns in the hands of Americans. The number equates to 1.2 guns for every person in the country.

 The figures also reveal that the most popular firearm in the country is the much maligned sporting rifle, often mis-identified as an “assault rifle”, the AR-15 being one of the more popular models.

They also estimate that 8.1 billion rounds of ammo were produced last year.  I have no idea about that, but I bet that they didn't take into account the hundreds of thousands of us who produce our own ammo.  I suspect that the amount of ammunition in private hands exceeds their numbers by a significant margin.

Disclaimer:  I can't attest to the veracity of the linked article, only noting it for the purpose of discussion.

Thanks, Termite!

My buddy Termite works in the Gulf i the oil field.  He is a recovering professional aviator turned amateur, but we've been shooting together for years and we've done some trading and swapping.

Yesterday he called and told me that he had some good, fresh Gulf shrimp for me.  Five pounds, head on.  He brought them over and later I processed them.  It isn't hard to process shrimp, and these were beauties.  In less than an hour, I had a gallon zipper bag full of fresh, Gulf goodness.

Belle is already plotting what to do with them.  I suspect that they won't be in that bag by nightfall.

Thanks, Termite!

Our Justice System

I learned a long time ago as a cop that it wasn't my job to try and convict criminals.  It was my job to arrest and provide evidence.  I couldn't get my feelings hurt, if for whatever reason, the District Attorney chose not to prosecute.

That's the nature of our system, and Nancy Pelosi is learning that.  The Constitution is clear.  The House begins the impeachment process and the Senate finishes it.  The Speaker does not get to negotiate the rules.  Her job s finished when she sends the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.  Mitch McConnell made that perfectly clear yesterday.

"If the Speaker continues to refuse to take her own accusations to trial, the Senate will move forward next week with the business of our people," he said. "We will operate on the assumption that House Democrats are too embarrassed to ever move forward."

That seems fair to me.  If SanFranNan doesn't send the articles over, the Senate can't try them, and should move forward as if they never existed.