Sunday Morning Dawg

 

With Belle on the back porch.

Weird Week

 Here in Louisiana, the weather has been bizarre this week.  All four season in one six-day span.  It's been odd.

This morning our club held its Monthly Match.  It went well.  Instead of trophies this year, the club opted to compete for belt buckles.  Each shooter earns Top Gum points based on his or her standing in the combination of Monthly Matches.  It is amazing how much interest a few belt buckles has generated.

Belle and I will be busy next week, so if blogging goes awry, don't be concerned.  Life catches up with us sometimes.

Now, late in the afternoon on Saturday, Belle has declared Happy Hour.  It would be un-gentlemanly of me to let her drink alone.

"Uh" Problens

 Mark Novak, over at the Anvil YouTube channel, says that many gun problems are the cumulative result of "Uh Problems".  When you go into a gun, and you see a problem, then you see another problem, then later, you find another problem.  When you solve those small problems, you fix The Problem.

That's where I was this morning.  Two Colt clones that I used for CHFA shooting had a problem.  One had a loose loading gate, the other had timing issues.  I started with the loose loading gate, because I know that problem.  Take off the grip frame.  There is a slotted plug that bears on a spring, which bears on a detent, which bears on the loading gate.  Sure enough, when I took of the grip frame, the slotted plug was loose.  A quick turn of that screwdriver and I was done, but I took some time to clean and lube while I was in there.

The second revolver had timing issues.  As it came apart, I started finding problems.  Normal wear and an accumulation of grit and dirt.  I cleaned everything, inspected, and reassembled carefully.  The springs are good and the problem seems to have gone away.  This particular revolver is a Cimarron Model P with a weird internal safety that keeps the gun from firing unless the trigger is pulled.  There is a little tab on the rear of the trigger that engages a plunger on the hammer.  If this gun continues to have problems, I'll simply install a Colt hammer and trigger.  That ought to solve one of the problems.

But, it's working right now, so we will see.  Do the maintenance.

Not Doomed

 That's good to know.  Humanity is not doomed.

When Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential race, he pivoted to global-cooling global warming climate change.  He made quite a pile of money talking about the inevitable; that the weather will change from day to day.  This morphed into the Green movement and has brought us insult after insult to our intellectual curiosity.

Now it seems that there is a new major report (unlike those old major reports) that tell us the weather is changing from day to day.  According to Greg Gutfeld, there is a caveat buried in the report that puts the lie to everything that Gore, et al has been pushing for decades. You can watch the whole clip here.

That's right.  We are not doomed after all.  The weather will change from day to day, and we'll have to adjust.  Sometimes a jacket, sometimes a raincoat. Other times, just a tee shirt and tenner shoes. You have to adjust your clothing to the weather.  It's a radical thought.

Comments

 Replying to some of the comments on the tractor post below.

Termite said: You may get requests to come bush-hog other folks land, LOL.

Other folks can get over it.  I'm not in the land clearing business.

Anon said: X2 for Termite"s comment ... Love this blog , you have a lot more fans than you think

I appreciate this.  But, I don't do it to build a fan base.  It's a diary where I talk about anything that piques my interest. Sometimes, it is just to remember  a part number because it is easy to search. I talk about politics, my hobbies, projects and cooking.

Another Anon said: Last night at 6 pm I got my garden tilled ahead of today's rain.

Priceless..

Oh, yeah, a PTO mounted rotary tiller is a joy to own.  I let one get away from me, and I miss it.  It made putting in a garden (or renovating a pasture) very easy.   It's on my short list of thigs to look for.

 Slipstrm111 said... check the brush hog and make sure it has lube in the gearbox, mine did not!

New brush hogs are shipped dry. 90 weight is cheap.  Mine's full, I filled it yesterday.

It's Ready

 The tractor project I started in January is ready to go out to the family property and be used for maintenance.  It's a Kubota L3400, used with less than 400 hours.  My mechanic son went through it and declared it sound, and I did a little work to make the bucket more useful.  A couple of strap hooks and chain hooks are welded on, and I replaced that tiny factory tool box with something that is useful.

On Monday, I went to Tractor Supply and bought a rotary cutter.  While I may have liked to have something more robust, I had to match the available implements with the available cash.

That rotary cutter shipped "flat".  Some assembly required.  I spent today getting it put together, but I think it fits the tractor well.

In a day or so, my son will be here with a trailer and we'll take it to the family property.

Arrest Iminent?

 Will President Trump be arrested today?  Some think it is a possibility.  From what I've seen, the case is weak, flimsy, and well past the statute of limitations.  Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg may have some unique legal theory that will prevail, but many are saying that Bragg has never had an original thought.

If Bragg gets and indictment, it will be historic.  Never before has a former President been arrested.

New York city is preparing for unrest.  Barricades are going up.  But, I don't see it.  Trump supporters are generally well behaved,  Yet, from what I've seen on the tubes, the left will try to paint any protest as an insurrection. They seem to be almost sexually aroused at the idea.

Alvin Bragg is fulfilling a campaign promise. He promised to get Trump, and this is his best shot. Any rational observer sees this going nowhere, and sees it for what it is.  An unabashed political persecution.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 

Grand Jury Leak?

 Fox News is reporting that Donald Trump may face a legal challenge for a hush money payment he made to a porn star in 2016.

Former President Donald Trump said leaks indicate that he will be arrested on Tuesday next week after reports said the Manhattan District Attorney's office is preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016. 

 Donald Trump may be the most despised President in modern history.  I voted for the man twice, and generally, I liked his polices, although I sometimes thought his politics were a bit harsh.  Mean tweets certainly didn't help.  Let's not forget that Left was truly invested in a Hillary presidency and the stunning defeat she suffered tended to truly throw the progressives into angst and anguish.

It is my fear that this indictment and possible arrest will forever taint the upcoming presidential race. This case is a state charge arising out of Manhattan, and legal scholars are doubtful that the DA will prevail in the prosecution.  This is political showmanship and the charges surely will not survive a Motion to Dismiss.

Racoon Dog?

 Listening to Dan Bongino this morning, I hard a story so weird, so unbelievable that I had to go Google it.  Evidently, the New York Times has information that the covid pandemic originated in something called a racoon dog.  Seriously.  Here is the headline.

New Data Links Pandemic’s Origins to Raccoon Dogs at Wuhan Market

I've been a country boy my whole life and I know what a 'coon dog is.  Generally, 'coon dogs are something like a Walker hound.  But, I admit I've never seen a racoon dog. Maybe it's something Chinese.

A quick Google taught me that the Chinese have something called a racoon dog.  It's an ugly little beast. And now my education is more complete.  However, I would question the data, considering that a big lab that studied the corona virus was just around the corner.  What are the odds?  Where did that data come from?  Maybe the CCP?  I'm just asking.

In other news, it's St. Patrick's Day and in honor I'm making a big, hearty Irish stew.  Taters and carrots and beef and gravy.  In another hour, I'll make a pot of rice.

Intoxicated, naked man arrested in Ball after police chase

Just up the road from the house.  It seems that a fellow from Scott, LA was seen driving erratically in Pineville, LA and tried to make his getaway, which ended in Ball, LA,

According to our local news, KALB

According to the Pineville Police Department, Duane Boudreaux, 67, was driving a white Chevrolet truck, swerving into oncoming traffic in the 3200 block of Military Hwy, which caused another vehicle to swerve to the shoulder of the road to avoid an accident.

An officer tried to conduct a traffic stop on Boudreaux, but he continued on to Hwy 165, driving northbound in the southbound lanes at 95 mph. Multiple vehicles had to swerve to avoid accidents.

When Boudreaux reached the Shanghai Road area of Hwy 165 in Ball, he began to drive through the median in circles several times. He then drove his truck into the officer’s vehicle and attempted to push the police unit backward by continuing to accelerate.

The officer instructed the driver out of the vehicle, and he was arrested. Video of the incident showed that when he exited the vehicle, he was not wearing any clothing on the bottom half of his body.

Boudreaux has been charged with a plethora (some might say a surplusage) of criminal charges.

Greasing The Tractor

 I just spent 45 minutes greasing the tractor.  I squirted grease into every zerk I could find, and I may have missed one .  I'll check the lube order to see if I missed any.

This is the second time I have used the Lube Shuttle, and I admit I like it. If, indeed, it is possible to like a grease gun. Let me just say that it is the less onerous than any I have used before.  Tractors, and especially those with front loaders are greasy things.  Every motion point on it has, or should have, a grease fittings.

Several years ago, I began the practice of cutting up old tee shirts to use as shop rage.  I can generally get eight shop rags our of a male 2X tee shirt.  I have a stack of them in a box where I keep cleaning supples and today I used four in the lube operation. They are perfect for such operations.

Thursday Thoughts

 So, the Russians forced down a US drone over the Black Sea.  No one was hurt, so that's good, but a drone cost about $2 million per copy.  But, this incident opens our whole discussion of Ukraine and how much money we are spending over there.

Plus, it's getting springtime, and the muddy season will soon be on the Ukraine countryside.  Monile forces don't do well in mud.  Ask Patton.  And, NATO is supposed to be sending them some tanks.  If you've never seen a tank stuck in mud up to the turret ring,,, Well, let me tell you, math is involved.  You start talking about winch load capacity, rated cable strength. snatch blocks, and weight multipliers.  You do the math before you start hooking up cables.

It brings back fond memories of a place called Area 5 North at Fort Knox,

Alien Confused After Being Taken To Our Leader President Biden

Time to Buy a Brush HOg

 It's about time to spend the money and buy a brush hog for the tractor.   I've done some looking and comparing, and the decision comes down between the Land Pride (Kubota brand) and the Country Line, sold by Tractor Supply.  They are within $100 of each other, but I'm leaning toward the Country Line.

I've boiled it down to these two based on local availability and the number of dollars in my pocket.  If anyone has any reason to wave me off the Country Line, let me know below.

Unanimous

 I'm reading that Congress has sent Biden a bill to declassify all information on the origins of Covid-19.

He hasn't decided if he wants to sign it yet.

The measure passed unanimously.  It will be interesting to see if he signs it.

Monday Update

 This morning, I get ready to start the week by reading the news.  It seems that there has been another bank failure.  Signature Bank.  According to Yahoo Finance:

Regulators seized New York regional bank Signature Bank (SBNY) two days after shutting down Silicon Valley Bank as overseers of the banking system try to restore calm before markets open Monday.

That is interesting.   The second bank failure this weekend, and it seems that regulators are saying that the depositors in SVB bank will be made whole.  Their money should be available early this week.  I'm told that this bank has a lot of high-level Democrat donors and that Janet Yellen and crew worked overtime this weekend to get their money sorted out.

In other news, Rep Comer says that he has the goods on Hunter Biden.  I've heard that before.  The whole world knows that Hunter is crooked.  Some capitalize on it, others rail against it, but his dad is POTUS and the Biden Crime Family protects itself.  As long as Merrick Garland and Chris Wray are in charge, nothing is going to happen to Hunter.  Color me cynical, but that is the way it seems to be.

The Muffuletta

 The muffuletta is a sandwich associated with New Orleans.  Specifically, with the Central Grocery in the French Quarter, near the old French market.  It's an Italian sandwich with ham, salami, provolone and olive salad.  It's a cold sandwich that can must be eaten with two hands.

Every restaurant has their take on the muffuletta, but the descriptor that comes to mind is excess. One of my favorites is at Papa's Bar and Grill in Natchitoches, LA.  It's a big sandwich. If you order one, be prepared to take home a go-box.  Or, split one with your partner.  It's plenty.

Belle has her own take on the muffuletta.  She provides a smaller bun, so that guests can built their own.  She puts mayo, mustard, ham, genoa salami, provolone and pepper jack cheese on the bar, along with olive salad.  Guests can eat it cold, or press it in a sandwich press to toast it nicely.

We have people coming for lunch today and the muffuletta is on the menu.  The only real prep we need to do is to clear some counter space and make the olive salad.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Spring Ahead

 Tomorrow we follow that twice-a-year ritual of changing our clocks.  Nurses and cops like this particular change, because  a 12 hour shift lasts only 11 hours.  That is a good thing.  In the fall, the time change makes the shift 13 hours.

We shot with the club this morning, and ran errands.  Now we're back at home, kicking back on a Saturday afternoon.  Belle will declare Happy Hour shortly.

Bank Fails

 Watching Tucker Carlson, I learned that Silicon Valley Bank, a large concern in California, went under today. This is very bad news for the US economy.

According to CNN:

New York CNN — Silicon Valley Bank collapsed Friday morning after a stunning 48 hours in which a bank run and a capital crisis led to the second-largest failure of a financial institution in US history.

This is very bad news for the US economy.  When depositors lose faith in their banks, they try to take their money out, which leads to a run on the bank, which leads to a capital crisis, which leads to a bank failure.  Small depositors are often insured by the FDIC, but we're not talking about small depositors here.  We're talking about large depositors losing lots of money, which has a downstream, ripple effect,

It has been a hundred years since the last big depression.  The best-case scenario would be to have adults in charge of the baking system, but we have Janet Yellen.  The very fact that I know who the Treasury head is does not engender confidence.  We may be in for a rocky ride.

Rainy Friday

 Awakening to a slow, steady rain, I decided this morning to do a little pawn ship crawling.  SO, belle and I set out after coffee. We started at Silver Dollar, which was once my favorite.  IT's barely open and had nothing that interested me.  So, we went to South Circle Pawn, which is strangely shuttered.  Closed up tight..  The other option was Alexandria Pawn, which is likewise closed.  The sign said Permanently Closed.

I know that times are hard for some businesses, but I had always heard that the two best for an economic downtrun were pawn shops and organized crime.  In the local area, three shops that have survived for decades are shuttered.  That is a damned shame.

Adventures with Purposer

Surfing YouTube, I clicked on these guys lik and I've fallen down the rabbit hole with them.

They do underwater searches, using sonar to locate vehicles that are underwater.  Sometimes with himan remains inside.  It's interesting technology, and they are solving cold cases.

Finished For Now - and Comments

 I got the tool box mounted on the tractor this morning.  Not as difficult as I imagined.  Lots of measure and fit, taking my time to get it close to right.  We weren't building a watch, we were modifying a tractor to make it a bit more useful.

That's better, now I can store a few tools and expendables.  The fact that the box matches the tractor is simply fortuitous.

Now, let's address a few comment.  First, Juvat says:

I envy your skill set. Apparently, well done!

Not so fast!  My skill set is Southern Rural.  I know my way around a wrench, and I understand that friends and family have good ideas.  I didn't weld, I didn't do much, but bounce ideas off folks I trust.  My buddy, Jay, runs a machine shop.  My second son is an ace mechanic.  I bounced ideas off both of them before I got started.

Next, Don said:

The seal idea - Brilliant!

 Yes, it is, and I wish I could claim it.  I found that idea surfing YouTube.  I am convinced that YouTube is one of the greatest educational assets in the history of mankind.  We have to separate the wheat from the chaff, but if you start searching YouTube, you will find an answer to your problem.

Old NFO said in an earlier comment:

I just hope the PTO isn't locked up.

Nope, we're golden.  I checked it yesterday.  I am convinced that it has never been used, though. 

Tractor Storage

 The various manufacturers ought to be ashamed of the boxes they put on tractors to store tools.  Seriously.  Those little boxes that the factory puts on a tractor is okay for storing a few lynch pins, but not much else.  So, I watched all the videos and came up with a few ideas

This tube on the front end loader is wasted space.  It would be a dandy place to store tow straps

So, I went to Lowes and bought a couple of Oatey Grippers.  These thing s are used to put a temporary plug in a Schedule 40 PVC pipe.  Of course, they were too big to go into that pipe, but a little judicious trimming of the inside plastic, along with snipping the seal, Super-gluing  back together and reinforcing it with safety wire seemed to do the trick.

Now, it fits just fine.

Now, I'll be able to store tow straps in that tube, out of the way yet readily available.

I have a buddy who is a tool maker, and he told me that his ship was making some tools, and he had some scrap that didn't work out, and had some big steel bars they had bent, learning how to do such things.  He told me that if I brought the tractor to the shop, he would weld some of those scrap books on the bucket that we could use to attach two straps.  I drove the tractor over this morning.

That should do.  We also have a couple of 3/8 chain hooks welded in the center of the bucket in case a chain comes into play.  Next we turned our attention to the rear of the tractor, where we welded a piece of scrap angle iron between the ROPS uprights

That should do nicely, along with the bar that Kubota already provided to mount that tiny pin box.  I will remove that little box.  Before lunch, I went to Harbor Freight and bought a nice protective case that I will mount on those two pieces of angle iron.  That will provide enough room to store some pins, some wrenches, and hammer and other accoutrements that should be handy on the tractor.

Now, if you will excuse me, it's time for lunch and a nap.

Lynch Pins

 Every small tractor I've ever seen uses lynch pins.  My Kubota has four on the 3-pont hitch and needs three more to attach an implement.  They are universal and cheap.

Thirty years ago, every ag supply had a cardboard box of these things near the cash register.  While buying feed or fertilizer, I'd grab a couple to put in the spares box.  If you are running a tractor, you need a couple of spare lynch pins.  When you are out in the middle of a field and realize that your implement has fallen off our tractor, you are happy that you spent that 50 cents at the feed store last week.

I went this morning to two different ag supply stores and could not find one.  I'd rather spend my money at a local business than go to the big chains, but tomorrow morning I'll head across the river to Tractor Supply.  I told both of the counter folk at the feed stores that I'd rather ship wheh them, but if they couldn't stock lynch pins I'd have to go across the river.

Sight Glass?

 I bought a tractor in January, a lightly used Kubota L3400.  We took it to my son's place where he needed to move some dirt, and I haven't even sat on it until today.  He's going to be out of town for a week, and he brought it over to my place so I could familiarize myself on it.

He had already checked all the fluids, but I wanted to learn where all the things were, so I started looking and couldn't find a dip stick for the transmission.  I found the drain plugs and fill plugs, but no dipstick.  So, I went inside and started Googling.

It has a sight glass.  Hidden under a hole in the floorboard.

Lovely.  At least it has a way to check levels.  I also note that the PTO has never been used on this tractor.  It's a 2010 model and still has the plastic shipping cover over the PTO shaft.  Of course the grease under there has hardened in the past 12 years, so I"ll have to cut that off before we can use the PTO.

It has 390 hours on the meter, so I'll dig out the book and see what a 400 hour service looks like.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 Eating crawfish with Belle

Alemites

 Dad called them alemites.  The rest of the world calls them zerks. Whatever you call them, they are used to squirt grease into a bearing or bushing.  When I was a youth, greasing vehicles or equipment was a constant chore.  While waiting for the oil to drain out of the family car, we would grab the grease gun and grease the front end.  As I recall, there were six on a Ford sedan.  Upper and lower ball joints, and one on each tie rod.

All that required a grease gun, and I always hated grease guns.  Not because I didn't understand the need for lubrication, but because the basic grease gun was horrible.  Changing the grease tubes is an exercise in frustration.  Compress the big spring, lock it into place, unscrew the metal tube, pull out the old grease tube, Insert the new grease tub.  Invariably when reassembling the gun, something would go wrong, the spring would get loose and shoot grease all over the shop.  Much cursing.  Grease everywhere.  I would have it from my ankles to my earlobes.

A month or so ago, I realized it was time for an upgrade before the spring greasing season.  The tractor needs grease, the zero-turn needs grease and my ancient grease gun needed to go into the trash.  So, I started casting about for alternatives.  I came upon a German invention called the Lube Shuttle.  I watched some videos and decided to order one.  It's a little pricey, but it is supposed to take all the frustration and mess out of greasing. It uses plastic tubes instead of paper tubes and they screw into the gun.

I looked on Amazon and found one.  I ordered it along with a case of grease. It came in yesterday, and this morning I unpacked it, assebled it and lubed the zero-turn in about fifteen minutes.  Mo hassle, no problem.

Below is a video that explains how it works.

I think I'm going to like this thing a lot.  I don't think that the local parts store has the grease tubes yet, but many of us have learned to shop online, so that is not much of a problem.  If you are looking for a grease gun, consider the Lube Shuttle.

Constitutional Carry, Once Again

 KPEL is reporting that yet another bill has been filed to make Louisiana a constitutional carry state.  Such bills have been filed in recent years, and passed the legislature. They were vetoed by our lackluster governor, and the legislature has been unwilling to over-ride the veto.

Our legislature is a piece of work, with a huge Republican majority in both houses, but the number of RINOs in both bodies make it virtually impossible to get anything done.  Louisiana is both an open-carry state and a shall-issue state but the legislature is absolutely impotent when it comes to reining in our Democrat governor.  As a whole, they are worthless.

Eating Crwafish

 Fridays, during the season, we visit a local boiler and get some crawfish to bring home.  As we did today.

It's nearly impossible for me to eat crawfish without drinking a beer, and I chose today to wash it down with a Miller High Life.  It is Friday afternoon, after all.  The dawg got his quota, begging from Belle.

If you are looking for wisdom today, all I can tell you is that it is Friday afternoon and I have a belly full of crawfish.  God made beer because He loves us and wants us to be happy.

'Yes Sir, You Are Responsible!’ Senator Hawley Grills Garland On Politic...

PJ Media is reporting that AG Merrick Garland was not having a good day yesterday on Capitol Hill.  He got ripped by Senator Hawley over the rogue FBI and their investigations in Catholics who prefer a Latin Mass.  Evidently, Catholics who prefer a Latin Mass are some sort of domestic terrorist group.

Garland had no good answers, and it leaves us wondering if Garland understand the First Amendment, or any portion of the Constitution.  

Thank God that this idiot never made it to the Supreme Court.

Generac Generator Blizzard Advisory....February 28, 2023

Okay, we're going to put this in the "You Gotta Be Shitting Me" category.

Evidently, in the Great Blizzard of 2023, Generac whole-house generators are shutting down due to over heating.  It seems that if they get covered with snow, the air-cooled engines can't breathe sufficiently to sustain operation.

I would think that if a generator gets covered with snow, it would generate enough heat to melt the snow, bathing the generator in cool melt water.  But, evidently that is not the situation.

Blancalario reports:

Lightfoot Is Out

 Sources are reporting that Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has lost her reelection bid.  She came in third in a field of eight. Lightfoot is the first mayor to lose a reelection bid in over 40 years.

Not that I care much.  I don't believe that the internal politics of Chicago affect me on iota.  Still, Chicago is a big place, filled with Democrats, and the first openly gay black woman mayor has been crushed by out-of-control crime. The voters will only take so much, and Lightfoot delivered the excesses they could not stand.

Dead-Naming

 I heard this term this morning and had to look it up.  Dead-Naming.  Evidently, that is the practice of, when dealing with trans people, of using the name they were born with instead of the name they prefer. For edample.

Lets say you know a guy named Joe.  Went to high school with him.  Joe was always a little bit standoff-ish, but other wise okay.  Ten years later you run into Joe on the street, and he says his name is Sally.  If you keep calling him Joe, you are dead-naming.

So, this leads to problems.  Did Joe go through the process of legally changing his name? Or is he just stage-acting?  How seriously should we take Joe at his word.  Or did I just misgender him?  Oops, did it again.  Did Joe get a boob job, or is he still wearing a beard?  If both, he can get work in a circus.

When I was a single man, both as a young adult and later as a mature adult, I had one iron-clad rule for dating.  I would never date a woman who could display a better moustache than mine.  And I have a very poor moustache.  I'm just sayin'.

It's A Trap!

 Concerning the lab leak theory that was floated recently, some folks are warning us that it might be a distraction campaign to keep us from asking other questions.  Let's remember that this was leaked from a classified report, and that leads to question about the nature of the leak itself.  Who leaked it, and why?

Others have asked why the Dept of Energy was even interested in the question.  Well, the Dept of Energy is interested in a lot of things that we might not surmise.  They run the National Laboratories like Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos.  Which means that we have a lot of geeks asking interesting questions and trying to figure out the answers.

Why didn't the CDC or NIH break the story?  Well, because many believe that they were funding this research in violation of laws about gain-of-function research. If CDC or NIH broke it, then it might complicate Tony Fauci's life with indictments, imprisonment, loss of pension and other distasteful problems.  To have Fauci discredited would be a huge blow to the left.

This story cuts the Gordian knot of the Covid pandemic.  Many of us suspected as much, but now the truth is coming out.  The question is why now?  And what are they trying to distract us from seeing? 

Probable Cause

 The US Energy Department has concluded that the probable cause of the Covid pandemic was a lab leak in Wuhan China.

The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the COVID-19  pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak, according to a classified report recently provided to the White House and several members of Congress.

No shit, Sherlock.  The FBI concluded as much in 2021.  Those of us with common sense concluded that in 2020.  Big lab in Wuhan studying corona virus.  Everyone gets sick with corona virus.   Where would you think it came from??  Probably not the wet market down the street.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 

Random Friday

Belle has been watching cooking videos and she says that a convection oven works the same way that an air fryer works.  I'm not going to argue with her because I know nothing about air fryers.  But, we do have a convection oven, and if she is correct I should be able to air fry a turkey in the oven.  More research is necessary.

I was Googling five-star officers today and stumbled across a name I had never heard of.  I know that Bradley and Arnold, and MacArthur, and King, and Ike and that bunch were five-star officers, but I had never heard of William D Leahy.  Evidently, he was quite the sailor-man, but pretty much let the other folks take the limelight.  My education is now a bit more complete.

Anon said in a comment

I've always understood that "gamey" taste is from meat poorly handled and going bad, so prompt cooling and keeping it cool makes a big difference.

That is generally true, but some animals have musk glands that mist be excised before cooking.  Raccoon, for example.  And some animals eat things that impart a foul taste.  Lile the hogs in LaSalle parish, LA.  Belle calls them piney-woods rooters and refuses to let me bring them home.  She says that if she wants to eat turpentine, she will take it right out of the bottle.  It's true.  The hogs I've eaten out of the pine forest generally taste like pine.

Evangelical Doctrs

Dr. Drew and Brian Klimeade talk about evangelical doctors, those who believe in a particular treatment and stick with that when the science tends to point in another direction.

I've heard other folks talking about this in the past several weeks.  Those well-meaning folks who thought they had the answers and put us on a course that proved disastrous, even as the science was evolving on an answer to a novel virus.

We've learned a lot since then.  That masks don't work, that keeping kids out of school is a bad idea, that some vaccines don't provide protection and may do more harm than good.  These evangelical doctors meant well, wanting to save humanity from disease.  But as their diagnosis began to fly in the face of common sense, what they actually accomplished was to wreck the public confidence in the public health system.  

Let's Talk About This

It's been reported from several sources, and maybe it's time to talk about this.

From what I understand, an off-duty police officer (female) in Chicago went outside her apartment to try to mediate a disagreement on the sidewalk.  She successfully mediated the disagreement and some people left the scene, but as she turned to leave, one person tried to grab her gun.  She shot him.

Warning - The video is graphic.  

She said some things during the confrontation that she may have to defend in later reviews, but to her credit, she was under a great dal of stress at the time, and he successfully defended herself against a life-threatening attack.

Some have made the argument that any man who attacks a woman deserves to be shot.  I won't argue with that.  Had the man succeeded, we don't know how it might have turned out, but we know that a woman who is trained in self-defense with a gun is perfectly capable of thwarting such an attack.  In my eyes, she is completely blameless.

Asked and Answered

 There have been some comments lately that deserve an answer, and I think this might be a ghood time to talk about them.

On the blog post about the dash cam, Alan asks:

I'vebeen looking for a simply dashcam since my last one died. What brand and model do you have?

Thanks for the question, Alan.  I've been using it for a couple of weeks and it has issues.  Not insurmountable issues, but I'm not ready to endorse it.   It's an el-cheapo from Wal Mart.  It does okay, but your mileage may cary.

Next, we turn to a question from Howard on the post about the hogs.

Probably a dumb question but what happens to all that meat. Is it commercially processed or just for the group that goes with the club. Sorry but the accent is so strong I don’t know if the guy says in the video. All the hog butchering I have had to do with there has been a lot of stress about sticking to get them bled out. Obviously that is not possible with a .22 group shoot?

I understand that he gives that meat away.  If a family wants a hog, he gives it to them.  He calls it Feeding Families, or something.

About "sticking" the hogs.  In Cajun culture we have something called a boucherie, which is a hog killing.  Generally, the hogs are shot with a .22 rifle, then immediately strucg up on a single-tree and bled.  Obviously, a hog trapper in north Mississippi can't do that, because he doesn't want to taint his killing ground. But, from the dozen or so videos I've watched, he tries to make sure that the protein goes to someone who wants it.

About THem Hogs

Couple of weeks ago, we were talking about feral hogs and the problem that they have become in the South.  Wherever there is a problem, there is also opportunity, and some folks are trying to help make a living while eradicating feral hogs.

I fell down a rabbit hole watching this guy catch hogs.  It's been a few years since I have hunted and I'm surprised at how high-tech this has become.  Hogs are still a problem, but an industry has sprung up around the problem, selling traps and cameras and gear to try to manage the problem.  Folks like the fellow in the video are providing a service to landowners.

She's Baaack!

You remember Susan Rice.  She is the Obama apparatchik who was ambassador to something or other and made the rounds at the Sunday talk shows telling everyone who would listen that the Benghazi uprising was all about some silly anti-Muslim video.  Yeah, her.  Yeah, that same uprising where Hillary wouldn't send support and the Muszzies overran the consulate and killed an ambassador.  That Susan Rice

In the continuing effort to reward failure and the worst attributes of government incompetence, Biden has appointed Rice as his Diversity and Inclusion czar.  Because, you know, Diversity is more important than  actual competence.  In support of this hypothesis, I cite Janet Yellen, Mayor Pete,  Lloyd Austin, the Binder Lady and a host of other incompetents appointed by Biden.

I'm sure that Rice will begin filling the ranks of the bureaucracy with Diversity appointees who are chosen based on identity politics rather than actual achievement.  We used to call these Equal Opportunity hires, but now we simply call them government workers.

The Forbidden .22LR SMG: American 180

Surfing around the intertubes this morning, I come across this video about an interesting bit of kit.  The American 180.. It was a shoulder fire, blowback submachinegun chambered in .22LR.  It fed from a complex pan-style magazine that sat atop the receiver.

It was designed in the 1960s by Richard J. Casull and produced by the Voere Co. With a cyclic rate of 1200 rounds per minute, that gave you 20 per second.  The magazine held 180 rounds. With a weight of just under 6 lbs, that gave you a whole lot of hate in a small, easily controlled package.

At any rate, it's an interesting footnotein American firearms design.  Enjoy the video.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 

Hanging out in the shop, waiting for the heaters to take the chill off.

Saturday Lunch

 It's that season again, andd Belle sent me to the boiler's for a small ice chest full of crawfish.

Mighty tasty, and now my belly is full of crawfish, corn and potatoes.  Belle peeled a few and offered them to the dawg.  He gobbled them down, then headed to the water dish.  Evidently the seasoning is a bit much for his sensitive palate.

Range Time

 Some of the shooters called and asked if they could come over for a few hours after work.  Helly yes, that what I built this place for.

We did a little shooting, a little coaching, a little laughing, and spent a nice couple of hours hanging out together.  Not a bad way to spend a Friday afternoon.

The Water Is Fine

 That's the story, anyway, from the East Palestine, OH, tests that the EPA conducted.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) challenged EPA Administrator Michael Regan to drink a glass of tap water in East Palestine, Ohio, after the agency claimed the water supply was safe despite the small town’s recent Norfolk Southern train derailment and toxic chemical disaster.

Here's the deal, and Belle and I were talking about it over coffee.  We no longer trust the federal government.  Not since Ruby Ridge, not since Lois Lerner, not since the 51 intelligence spooks.  Every word from Joe Biden is a lie.

Every fourth commercial on my TV is about a Camp Lejune water problem that they had back in the 60s.  Are the folks in East Palestine supposed to believe that those chemicals did not get into the water supply?

With the weaponization of the IRS, the weaponizing or the FBI, the continuing lack of transparency from the Biden administration, the continuing inability of the Justice Department to hold people accountable and the full realization that we now have a two-tiered justice system, it is no surprise that many of us no longer trust the federal government.  They have wrecked their credibility.

Those Balloons

 It seems that one of the balloons shot down last week may have been launched from a hobby club  in Illinois.  I shit you not.

UFO Shot Down Over Canada Probably Belonged To Hobby Group From Illinois

They are a hobby group.  They launch little $12 balloons.   Put a tracking device in them, then track them as they fly, It's something to do on the weekend.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade spoke with Aviation Week, which says the circumstantial evidence is strong that it was their balloon shot down by NORAD, a partnership between the U.S. and Canada to monitor the skies that’s perhaps most famous for tracking Santa Claus. The U.S. was on heightened alert at the time, after a Chinese spy balloon was spotted by civilians in Billings, Montana before it crossed the entire continental U.S. and was finally shot down over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.

Heh.  NORAD spent $400K to shoot down a club balloon.  Oops.  Much more at the link.

Playing with a Dash Cam

Second son gave me a dash cam for Christmas, and after a while I started to play with it.  

It's fairly fool-proof, as I can attest.  Basically, when you plug it in and start the car, it starts recording.  When you turn off the car, it quits recording.  That is just exactly what I wanted it to do.  It saves little one-minute videos on an SD card.

It records audio, but I turned that off for the purposes of this video.  Y'all don't need to hear my running commentary against the talk radio show I was listening to.  I'm dipping my toe into dash cam use, but I think this thing may be a lot of fun.

RIP, Raquel

 It seems that Raquel Welch has died at age 82.  She was an actress, icon, sex symbol and all-around class act.  The younger set may not recognize her name, but in the 60s and 70s there was not a bigger name in Hollywood.  

Dereliction

 We learn today from PJ Media that the US Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear a case about the duty of elected leaders to safeguard the electoral system.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will consider for a second time whether to hear Raland J. Brunson v. Alma S. Adams, a case that alleges Congress had a duty to investigate claims of fraud and impropriety in the 2020 national election, and that member votes against doing so amounted to treason. While some of the reasoning and suggested remedies in the complaint seem hyperbolic, it is aimed at accountability for those in leadership positions who are derelict in their duty to protect the American electoral system from manipulation.

This might get interesting. 

Something Going On With Blogger

 Something is going on with Blogger.  It's not giving me normal paragraph spacing or blockquote spacing.

We'll work through it and see if we can fix it.

7.62 x 51 vs .308 Win

Widener's has an article talking about the differences between the venerable .308 Winchester and the much beloved 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge.

I've been a big fam of the .308 Winchester for many years.  And a big fan of the military variant.  It's a great cartridge, and I consider them interchangeable.  The differences can be most accurately attributed to small manufacturing issues than it can to design differences.

I did chuckle when I read this:

Though you can safely shoot 7.62×51 through modern .308 rifles, it’s wise to have a gunsmith check the headspace in your 7.62 NATO rifle before using it to fire .308 rounds. Many newer rifles probably won’t have an issue. But, as they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The .308 Win was designed in 1952 and the 7.62 was adopted in 1954.  I don't think we'll find any antique rifles chambered in either of these cartridges.  Hence, they are all modern rifles.

I do recall that back in the early 80s the government released a batch of 7.62 into the surplus market.  It was made by Lake City in 1968 and we soon learned that it was spectacularly uniform. Wonderfully accurate, we simply could not build or buy bett3er ammo than Lake City 68.  It was magnificent, and fairly cheap.  We bought as much as we could carry.

What Was It?

 The F-16 pilot who took down the object over Lake Huron says he wouldn't call it a balloon.  According to t the Daily Mail.

'I wouldn’t really call it a balloon': Cockpit audio reveals F-16 pilots who shot down octagon shaped object over Lake Huron did NOT know what it was - as Pentagon says $400k Sidewinder missile that missed target landed 'harmlessly' in water..

 I don't know why they haven't come out with the gun camera footage.  That might answer a lot of the public's questions.  This administration doesn't want to answer questions.  Transparency means nothing to them.

Those Balloons

 It's been a bizarre couple of weeks.  First, a citizen happens to notice an object in the sky over Montana.  He takes pictures, sends them to the local news outlet, and suddenly we have a Chinese spy balloon.  Biden catches hell for it, and they decide to shoot it down near Myrtle Beach, He's embarrassed about the whole scenario.

This week we shoot down three more.  What's up with that?

Well, evidently, NORAD cranked up the sensitivity on their radars.  Now they are finding the damned things everywhere. And, the Air Force is taking war shots over the North American continent.

Cranking up the sensitivity means they see a lot more stuff.  Like Canada geese, or the Snow geese that come down from the north each winter.  Some of those geese have been spotted at 29,000 feet.  Well in the range of commercial aviation.  Which is probably why the sensitivity was low in the first place.  Geese fly with the airplanes.  They squawk, sure enough, but they don't have transponders.

The job at NORAD just got a whole lot tougher.

US shoots down third 'object' after initial Chinese spy craft

This makes four.  Myrtle Beach, Alaska, Yukon, now Lake Huron.  Four times in eight days.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 He finally made it to the groomers this week, but naturally a cool front came through,.  He was shivering like a frozen dawg, so Belle put a sweater on him.

Minute of Mae: U.S. "Enfield" 1917

History aside, my experience with the 11917 Enfield came in the 1980s.  My first father-in-law had one that survived the war and was sporterized later when the rifles came out as surplus.  The rear sight was removed, the upper handguard went away.  It was drilled and tapped for scope mounts and the stock was chopped down.  Whoever did the work did a good job, because I had a bit of trouble identifying it until he told me what it was.  The bore was excellent and he took his deer with it, along with the occasional varmint.

When he died, it was passed down to a son, and I hope that it is still serving the family.  While we tend to cringe at such things today, the fact is that thousands of these rifles were released into the civil markets after the war and served as deer rifles for the greater public.  I once passed on a sporterized 1903 Springfield on the side of the road.  We were hunting and a guy stopped his truck and offered it for the sum of $75.00.   I didn't have that much cash in my pocket, and he drove off with it.  Probably heading to a pawn shop.

Third 'unidentified object' shot down over North America

A third one?  Jeez, is everyone launching balloons?

This Is Why

 This is why I built an indoor range.

After two days of beautiful weather, it's going to rain on us today.  But, the range is indoors and we'll be okay.

Another Object Down

Fox News is reporting that the US Air Force has shot down another "object" over Alaska. Yee-Haw.

I wonder if the Air Force is giving credit for shooting down balloons?  Does it count for Ace?

Prepping

 We will be prepping today for the club's first ever jackpot shoot.  Many of our shooters are retired rodeo cowboys and they understand a jackpot match.  Everyone throws money into a hat and winner takes a portion of it.  The club decided to divide the jackpot where the winner gets half, second place gets 35% and third place gets 15%.  The club will not cut the pot, and that means we are doing a full payout.

It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.  We have two shooters in town from Nevada and they want to shoot, and we have three shooters coming from our parent club in Texas, so we can claim shooters from three states.  Not too shabby for a piddling little club shoot.  The club members are excited about it,

There is not much going on in CFDA during February, with the big matches beginning in March.  This will be a good warm-up for the competition season.  If it is successful, we might make it an annual event.

I Didn't Watch It

 It seems that Biden's TV rating for his SOTU speech were really bad.

It looks like Americans just aren’t that into watching Joe Biden speak. A mere 27.3 million people bothered to watch his second State of the Union address on television, which is “the second smallest audience for the annual event in at least 30 years,” according to Nielsen.

That’s a drop of nearly 28% from the 38.2 million tuned in to his State of the Union in 2022.

For comparison, according to Nielsen, Donald Trump’s second State of the Union address in 2019 received 46,789,000 television viewers.

The speech was entirely predictable.  If his lips are moving, he's lying. I didn't watch it.  THe clips I"ve seen were enough to convince me that I made the correct decision.

Nord Stream 2

 Did Joe Biden order the US Navy to blow up the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?  Lots of people think so.

Tucker Carlson talks about it here.

The article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh is here.  It's a pretty good read.

The White House says it never happened.  Sure.

Shortages Continue

 Belle and I have noticed that there seems to be a shortage of bagged cat food.  Last week, the Dollar store had very little, as did Wally-world.  Really?

An hour ago, I was at the grocers and they had no instant mashed potatoes.  Don't feel sorry for me, I know how to make mashed potatoes, and there were plenty of spuds in the produce aisle.  But, instant mashed potatoes can be used for lots of things, and I try to keep a box handy.

It seems like for the past two years we've been dealing with localized product shortages of one kind or another.  We can blame it on a lot of things, but over the past two years, the one constant has been Joe Biden and his lackluster cabinet officials.  These are Joe's shortages.

For lunch today, I intend to serve smothered hamburger patties with mashed potatoes.  So, it's time to peel some spuds.  If you will excuse me.

State of the Union

 What can Joe say about the state of the union tonight?  What success can he trumpet?  Let's review, shall we?

Gas prices -  The last gasoline I bought under Trump was $1.97.  It's hovering around $3.00 now.  Utter failure.

Inflation - Under Trump, less than 2%.  Under Biden, over 6% and we're looking at recession.  Utter failure.

Our Military - Disastrous Afghan withdrawal.  And now he is raping our war stocks to send to Ukraine.  Utter failure.  Lloyd Austin is still in charge.

National Security - Chinese spy balloon.  Utter failure.

The Southern Border. - Utter failure.   Montana is reporting cartel incursions.   Unbelievable.

Transportation - Supply shortages.   Mayor Pete.  Need I say more?

In short, Joe has nothing to brag about.  The state of the union is scary under his watch.

When “The Balloon” Comes South

Feral Hogs

 Some folks are waking up to the fact that feral hogs are a problem.

I've known this for years.  Feral hogs have been a problem in Louisiana for years.  Hunting camps routinely shoot any pigs that they see, in an attempt to control the numbers.  Depending on what they have been eating, feral pig might be a fine meal.  The hogs we find in our piney woods normally eat a lot of pinecones, and they taste like pinecones.  I won't eat a piney-woods rooter.  If I wanted my meat to taste like turpentine, I'd use it as a baste.

The thing that most folks don't realize is that a big pig might be considered dangerous game.  A big pig will hurt you, given the opportunity.

Some folks might also wonder what the best caliber for big pig is.  While most deer-caliber cartridges are suitable, you want something that penetrates.  All that having been said, the biggest pig I ever took (he bottomed-out a 350 lb scale) was taken with one shot from a .22 LR.  It was a one-shot kill and the hardest part of that hunt was loading him in the truck.

I'm just sayin'.

Doomsday

 Turning our eyes from the drama of the Chinese balloon, we turn to more mundane matter.  Flooding.  Anyone who has lived through a flood knows how devastating it can be, but it seems that some are worried that Miami might flood.

The Miami-Dade County government has some clever mapping tools to help people visualize the impending climate risks—rising seas, swelling groundwater, flooded buildings. But too much detail can distract from the bigger picture: Miami is drowning.

There is that problem, but people are not nailed to the ground.  They can move, and many folks like living in Miami.  We face the same problems here in Louisiana.  New Orleans, for example, is below sea lavel.  Much of the time it is below the level of the Mississippi river.  They choose to live there, much like the folks choose to live in Miami.

For years I lived in a flood zone.  I chose to live there.  I loved it there.  The middling threat of flooding was outweighed by the other attributes of the land.  Eventually, my life changed, and I moved from there. Nowadays, I live atop a tall ridge.  If this place floods, there will be a lot of people around treading water.  That would be a disaster.

People, generally, will do the right thing, based on their own unique circumstances.  Some folks like living in a swamp.  Others don't.

Transparent Failure

 So, now that we have watched the epic failure of the Biden Administration over the drama of the spy balloon, we need to ask a few questions.  Its remains lie across the ocean bottom off the Carolina coast, reportedly in 45 feet of water, and the Navy will soon be sending a salvage crew out to gather the wreckage.

No one told us about it until a citizen in Montana happened to notice it and took some good photos. The Biden administration was like "Yeah, we knew it was there.  We've been tracking it for a while."  Yet, they didn't bother to tell the rest of us.  Very transparent.  Joe told reporters that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down, but they wanted to wait until it was over water.

From what I've read, it came in over Alaska, then traversed western Canada, thence into the lower 48.  A quick check this morning tells me that Elmendorf AFB still has planes.  Why was the balloon allowed to get this far?

The Chinese say that the balloon was a civilian weather balloon that strayed off course.  Sure it was.

We do know that the CCP has paid Hunter a lot of money, with 10% for The Big Guy.  So, it is fair to assume that Joe has already been paid for his silence.  We can add this drama to the long list of military failures under Biden's watch.  The larger question is whether this drama was an accident, or by design?

Sunday Morning Dawg

 Low resolution, taken at dusk.  He has a grooming appointment for Tuesday, and we'll be able to tell one end from the other.

Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean

Looks like it is coming down off the Carolina coast.  It will be interesting to see if we can recover the sensor package.

Explosion

People are reporting and the government is silent about what sounded like a large explosion in the skies over Montana late yesterday. 

Did they shoot it down?

Edit and Update**  Whatever the explosion was, it wasn't the spy balloon.  Fox News is reporting that the spy balloon is currently loitering over Missouri.  I'm sure that it is hoovering up lots of data.

Spy Baloon?

 Evidently, there was a balloon drifting over Montana.  A Chinese balloon.  Whut?

WASHINGTON – A Chinese spy balloon has been spotted drifting over the northern United States, and Pentagon officials have considered shooting it down, Defense Department officials said late Thursday.

Okay, so why not just shoot it down?

 The decision not to shoot down the balloon was made because of concerns that debris could injure Americans on the ground or destroy property, according to a senior Defense Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity

 Okay, this story is officially weird now.

Deployment

 Belle and I went to Quinton's deployment ceremony this morning at Camp Beauregard this morning.  His outfit, the 3673d Support Maintenance Company is headed to Fort Hood for February and heading downrange early in March..  

This will be our last opportunity to see him before he goes wheels-up.  His grandma wanted one last hug before he left.

Godspeed 3673d.  Watch after our troops.

Groundhog Day

 This morning, as is tradition, Puxatawney Phil emerged from his burrow on Gobblers Kob to predict the weather.  He saw his shadow, and we're in for another six weeks of winter.

He wouldn't have seen his shadow in my front yard.  Three days of miserable, misting, cold weather have everyone in a grand funk.  Belle  and I have to get out today, to attend a military ceremony.  Grandson Quinton's unit is taking the first step on a deployment.  They are leaving Camp Beauregard to meet the main body at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, thence to Fort Hood for pre-deployment training. Eventually, heading to Kuwait.

I am more concerned about him being at Fort Hood during February than I am about him going to Kuwait.  Fort Hood can be miserable this time of year.  Still, he is off on a grand adventure and I wish I were going with them.

Still Winter Storm

 On this first day of February, I got out early as I normally do on the 1st.  I took a non-driving buddy to do his banking and some shopping.  The weather is miserable, rainy, drizzly, with temps in the 30s.  According to the weather-weenies, it will remain so all day long.  Thankfully, no ice in the forecast and this morning the roads were wet, but passable.

Watching weather videos, I feel sorry for my friends in central Texas.  I hope y'all stay warm and safe.  Likewise my buddies in Arkansas.

While running errands this morning, my friend wanted to stop by the smoke shop. While there I noticed a bottle of whiskey I have been wanting to try.  Redbreast 12.

It is what they call a Single Pot Still Irish whiskey, and I understand that it is delicious.  That will have to wait until the weather moderates and I am able to give it a fair assessment.  This morning, I'm sipping hot cocoa and pondering lunch.

Is The US Food Industry Under Attack?

There is an old saying, "The first is bad luck, the second is coincidence, the third is enemy action."

There have been a lot of US food infrastructure going off-line over the past year.  Some of us are starting to wonder why.

Rumble video here.  I can't get it to embed.

Let's not forget that Joe Biden promised us food shortages.

Winter Storm

 It's miserable outside by central Louisiana standards.  Several days of rain have left the ground soggy, mud prevails.  Right now it is misting rain with temps in the high 30s.  We're not under any threat of ice or snow, but it is miserable outside.  I have run my errands and will stay hunkered down for the rest of the day,  trying to keep dry and warm.

Looking north a hundred miles, those folks are under the threat of ice.  Bless their hearts.  I hope everyone stays safe out there.

It's days like this when I believe that God is saying "Take a break."  I intend to do so.

Memphis PD

 I'm sure that you have all heard, by now, about the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis.  Five officers are indicted in his death.  Details are still unclear, but it appears that Nichols was stopped for reckless driving.  At some point a foot chase developed, and when Nichols was apprehended, he was beaten by the officers.  Nichols later died.

Nichols was black, the Chief of the Memphis PD is black, and the five officers indicted are all black. This inconvenient fact has not stopped some from claiming that "white supremacy" played a role in this tragedy.  That is patently ridiculous, as most of these claims are.  "White Supremacy" has become the great bugaboo of this century, used to explain everything from failing schools to covid deaths.

I admit that racism has, in the past, played a part in the culture of the United States. That is history.  But, lately, "white supremacy" has become a convenient argument to explain the inexplicable.  Like the monster under the bed, when you shine a light on it, it seems to disappear. It's there in the dark recesses of your mind, but it cannot explain the present.

The truth is deeper than that.  And more complex.  Five black officers with bodycams beat a suspect. That suspect later died of his injuries.  That is what happened.  We can debate why it happened, but sometimes it is impossible to explain the inexplicable.  We can talk about police culture, and we can talk about the recent history of the defund movement and what that means in the broader sociological sphere, but we may not be able to explain why it happened.

Passing On Information

 Grandson Lucas gets off the school bus at our house every day, due to the schedules and routes of the school bus.  His dad meets him here, and we generally chat for a bit before he goes home.  You never know what question he is going to ask.  Lucas is 12 years old.

Lucas is a shooter in his school's rimfire team.  His dad built him a Ruger 10/22 and from all reports, he is doing well with it.  Today he wanted to know about bullet speed and RPM and barrel twist rates, so we went down that rabbit hole.

It still amazes me, and I know the match, about how fast a bullet spins when it comes out of the tube.  The basic equation is here.  He's a budding gear-head, so we had to relate that to engine rpm.  He is amazed that a CCI mini-mag spins at lot faster than a small block Chevy.

Passing on the information.  That's my job as a grandfather.  I wonder what he is going to ask me about tomorrow?

Stuck Kubota

 They do get stuck, occasionally.  We're in the wet season now, and we'll have to be carful where we take the tractor.  It's out now, and grandson Lucas is learning basic vehicle recovery.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 I don't know how he sees with all that hair in his face.

Mobile Protected Firepower

It looks like the Army is considering a new armored vehicle to supplement the infantry.  Something called Mobile Protected Firepower.  All the details have not yet been ironed out, but think something between the Bradley and the Abrams.

As a young Cav trooper, I trained on the M5551 Sheridan and I liked it. It could not go head-to-head against a main battle tanks, but it offered good firepower and mobility.  We called it the ACAV (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle) and we knew its limitations.

I'm glad to see that the Army is thinking about a vehicle like this. It might give a good, hacy punch to the light infantry and would be an asset on the battlefield.

Getting Ready

 We haven't had a club match since October, and the first for the 2023 season is tomorrow.  I am prepping the range for the match, checking targets and electronics and making sure that all is well for when the club gets here tomorrow and we draw the first round.

This year we have decided to do a buckle series.  At each match, the shooters get points toward the series depending on their placement in the match.  At the end of the year, we'll total up the points and the high points winner will get a trophy buckle.

It's going to be a lot of fun.  Ten matches for 2023, and we start tomorrow.

Pore Ol' Adam

As we all know by now, pore ol' Adam Schiff has been kicked off the House Intel Committee by speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Adam made a name for himself, revealing secrets and lying to the American people. He had absolutely no business on the Intel committee because he used it for purely political purposes. Russian collusion, yada, yada, yada.

Now, he is off the committee.  He f*cked around and found out.  Most of us learn this lesson much earlier in life. I'd say that Schiff found out at level seven (7).  At level eight (8), folks show up to whip your ass.  At level nine (9), you wind up in prison.  At level ten (10) people look around and wonder where you went, but no one ever files a Missing Person report.  

The video below explains the matrix, but it is not safe for work.

That Axios Truck Article

 So, Axios wrote an article on pickup trucks.  Big, heavy, fuel burners.  Like that is a bad thing.

I've been driving trucks since I started driving.  Normally, the wife would drive the family sled, and I would drive the truck. For a time I was in the cattle business, and we abslutely needed a truck, for towing trailers, for hauling feed, for hauling fuel.

The Axios article complains that folks who drive trucks don't normally use then for truck things, like hauling or towing.  They are normally used for commuting or running errands.

With jumbo trucks, you’d think people were hauling and towing more than ever — not so. Survey data from vehicle research firm Strategic Vision shows a third of today’s pickup owners rarely or never use their truck for hauling, while two thirds rarely or never use it for towing. So what are people using their trucks for? Shopping, errands, commuting and Sunday drives.

Uuuh, yeah.  If I need the truck once a week for towing or hauling, then those other days I"m running errands, shopping, or commuting. Even in my cattle-business days, most of the hours I spent in that truck were not related to the business.  Such is the nature of owning a pickup truck.  

I still own a tuck, but I am fortunate that I also own other vehicles and the truck is only used when I need a truck.  I keep the battery hot and the oil changed.  I don't need it today, but I might need it tomorrow.

C'mon, Mike!

 We learned yesterday that our former vice president, Mike Pence, had classified documents in his home in Indiana.  Pence is a guy who is so squeaky-clean that he wouldn't have lunch with a woman who was not his wife.  It's called the Pence Rule

Evidently there is so much classified information floating around the halls of power that it is impossible to avoid it.  And that does not bode well for an open society.

I always wondered when I would attend a classified briefing, exactly which part of the information was classified. Too much of our government wants to keep secrets.  Like, for instance, why some documents from the Kennedy assassination are still classified.  

Maybe it is time to start looking at how we classify documents.  There are some secrets that we need to safeguard, but I suspect that most of classification protocols are simply over-reach.