What sounds good on a rainy, cold Saturday? I found a couple of pounds of ground meat, chopped an onion, and made some sauce. Sloppy Joes. You can pour the sauce out of a can, or make it yourself. Either way works, and your taste might vary from mine, so suit yourself.
I didn't have any burger bus, but I did have hoagie buns, so there you have it.
Belle dolled hers up with a little jalapeno relish. I should have put a couple of tablespoons in the sauce, but I forgot.
Tomorrow night, Belle and I are invited to a Mardi Gras ball. She has her decided which of her gowns she will wear and is trying to decide on shoes. Choices and decisions.
For myself, it's a simple matter of putting on a tux. Standard black tuxedo, it's clean and hanging int he closet. After the ball, I'll take it to the cleaners, and it will be ready for the next time. The shoes are shined, and the shirt is white. The only real decision is whish vest I will wear. There are several available, and I must be sure not to "clash" with her gown.
Belle and I do not belong to a krewe but are a perpetual guest. So once a year, we dress up and go out to let the ladies sparkle. It's a good time.
As the world elites descend on Davos this weekend, the rest of us wonder what the big deal is? Evidently, it's all about global warming climate change. Net carbon, yada, yada.
It's hard to get a firm number. Somewhere between 1700 and 200 private jets. Those guys spew carbon worse than 99.9% of the world's population. Yet, they talk like spewing carbon is a bad thing. Hypocrisy at its finest. I don't begrudge them their private jets. If I could afford one, I'd fly it right into bankruptcy.
It's not the jets so much as them telling me that my diesel engines are going to kill the planet. That my gasoline lawnmower is bad for the planet.
I am somewhat amused to learn that hookers are also in attendance. Evidently, the world elites cannot get laid the old-fashioned way. Then again, I don't think like an elite. I had a rich uncle once tell me that "If it floats, flies, or f*cks, you are better off renting it."
It's not so much that the global elites get together at Davos that bothers me. Good for them. It's the arrogance and hypocrisy. When they start acting like it's a problem, I might start believing it's a problem.
Back in the early '70s, Brother-in-law Bill was dating a gal from Quebec. Yeah, that Quebec. She and Bill were visiting in Jena, LA and stopped to get gas.
A fellow noticed the license plate on the car and asked Bill, "Kew-beck? Where is Kew-beck?"
Bill deadpanned. "Up north of Monroe."
The fellow nodded his head and went about his business. Bill was right, of course. Quebec is north of Monroe.
Last week I was listening to a podcast about egg prices. Evidently, they are up.
Past weekend, the ladies in the family were talking about egg prices. They are definitely up.
Belle sent me to the store this morning. I paid $5.33 for a dozen white, large eggs. Not the brown, free-range eggs. The standard white eggs. Five dollars and thirty-three cents. Before tax.
Evidently there has been an outbreak of avian flu in the egg laying population. Fewer chickens, fewer eggs.
Couple of weeks ago, I bought a tractor. It's a low-hour Kubota L3400 with a front loader. It's at my son's house right now, because he is an equipment guy, an ace mechanic, and he needs to do some dirt work around his place. He will use it until the spring moving season, then we'll trailer it out to the family property.
I was remembering some tractors from my youth, and those that had loaders were often accessorized to make it more convenient. Chain hooks and clevises were the two most often seen, but I've been watching YouTube videos and it seems that a receiver hitch might also be a useful accessory. Now I have to figure out what I want and how I want to mount it.
Welding directly to the bucket is always an option, but I've seen other guys wend the hooks to plate steel, then either bolt or burn the plate to the bucket. Choices and decisions.
While watching YouTube videos, I saw something that intrigued me. That big ol' steel tube that reinforces the loader is wasted space. That might be a capital place to store chain. There are a couple of hacks to make this space useful and keep wasps out of it when the tractor is not in use.
If I could find an end-cap to fit that hole, that might be just the ticket. Other guys have made a sliding drawer from PVC pipe to use that space. Options and decisions.
Oh, and that tiny tool box that Kubota put behind the seat. Yeah, we need to do something about that too. I'll need a place for a handful of hitch pins, a couple of crescent wrenches, and a screwdriver.
So, we all know that Huter Biden knocked up a stripper in Arkansas. This is not news. He's paying child support. He wants it reduced because he is a sleaze bag.
The mother of the child wants the child to take and use the Biden name, as is customary in cases where the Daddy knocks up the mother.
Hunter is resisting, because he is a sleaze bag. As far as I know, paternity is not at issue. By every social convention that is right and proper, the child is entitled to use the Biden name. Even if Daddy is the ultimate sleaze bag.
It appears that Biden's lawyers are still finding classified documents in the house.
That question aside, do Biden's lawyers have the appropriate security clearance to be looking for these documents?
Joe Biden admitted yesterday that he kept classified documents in his garage, his locked garage, where he keeps his 'Vette. He admitted that live to Peter Doocy. That is not a place to store classified documents.
When I was a soldier, we had a special, heavy filing cabinet that met the requirements for storing FOUO and SECRET documents. It stayed in the S-2 (Intelligence) shop. It was purged regularly and there was a huge paperwork train that went with even opening the cabinet. We were not allowed to keep TOP SECRET documents in that cabinet.
Careers have been wrecked over the mis-handling of classified documents. Trump was wrong, Joe is wrong, and that simply is the way it is. Trump does have the defense that, as a sitting president, he has the authority to declassify documents. Joe does not have that defense. Joe did not also have a SCIF, which can store those documents.
But, we must remember that we cannot indict a sitting president. We couldn't indict Nixon, we couldn't indict Clinton. Nor Bush, nor Obama, nor Trump. We cannot indict Biden as long as he sits in the chair. This is purely a political issue at this point, and Joe has to reap the whirlwind.
We're learning that ol' Joe has been leaving classified documents lying around the house. Stored in the garage with his Corvette.
Joe is an old white man who has been making noises about running again for President. Old white men don't do well in the Democrat party. Ask Andrew Cuomo. The younger generation wants to have a shot, and as long as the old white men hang around, well.... you know.
Merrick Garland (bless his heart), rather than sweeping this under the rug, is appointing a special counsel. Sitting presidents don't normally fare well when a special counsel is sniffing around.
Is this a slow-roll coup?
Evidently, the rocket scientists in the Biden administration are considering a ban on gas stoves. Yeah, really.
A federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves amid rising concern about the health risks associated with indoor air pollution from the appliances, particularly among children.
Hih! The use of gas vs electic stoves has been a long source of contention between me and Belle. She liked electric stoves. I prefer gas. She wins She wins when the appliance is technically a stove. I win when the appliance can be defined as "outdoor". Our two stoves are electic. The griddle, the fish cookers, the big burner I use to boil crawfish are all gas.
The fed agency in question is the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This bunch of regulatory fascists are the same ones who make it impossible to pour gas out of a can. This is pure regulatory overreach, and a pox on them all.
Coming on the heels oof Southwest Airlines disaster last week, it seems that another computer glitch grounded aircraft all across the US this morning.
A critical Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system suffered an overnight glitch, grounding flights across the US.
I'm glad I wasn't flying this morning.
It seems that there is a bill pending that would abolish the IRS, repeal the national income tax, and replace it with something called a consumption tax. Fox Digital reports:
Republicans in the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that would abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), eliminate the national income tax, and replace it with a national consumption tax.
This is a debate we need to have. I'm not sure what a national consumption tax will look like, but we knew that the IRS targets conservatives. Ever since Lois Lerner was allowed to take the 5th before Congress and slip into retirement, we have been aware that the IRS is a corrupt organization. I have no reason to believe that they have amended their practices.
However, I am a bit leery of what a national consumption tax might look like.
This bill is probably doomed in the Senate, and I doubt that Biden would sign it into law, but it is a discussion that we need to have.
You don't have to convince me about the power of prayer. I've seen it, I've lived it, I believe it.
I don't follow football. I couldn't name many teams in the NFL, much less any players, but last week I was shocked to hear that a player, Damar Hamblin, had suffered a heart attack on the field. Like many of you, I lifted up a prayer of hope and healing for the young man.
I do remember when Tim Tebow was mocked and ridiculed for offering prayer on the field, but I am heartened to lern that Hamblin is doing well, and that players everywhere are offering prayers for his spedy and complete recovery. More importantly, offering these prayers publicly, on the field.
The unconvinced tend to mock us for prayer, but many of us have seen it work in our daily lives. I believe that God works in mysterious ways and perhaps the travails of Damar Hamblin are part of God's plan. I do not presume to know the mind of God, but I am heartened that prayer is once again part of the NFL.
Is there anything the C-130 can't do?
“The Chinese military is reportedly alarmed by a new tactic being employed by the US Air Force. During a live-fire exercise over Norway, the service showcased the ability to deploy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) from cargo aircraft, such as the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules, via the Rapid Dragon Palletized Weapon System. . . . Along with allowing the US Air Force to initiate attacks from outside of dangerous areas, it means cargo aircraft can be temporarily repurposed as standoff bombers, a cost-effective measure.”
If the C-130 alarms the Chinese, we need a lot more C-130s.
He needs a grooming bad. The grooer we have used for a while recently learned that she is allergic to dog dander, which required that she close her shop. Bad for her, and bad for us.
The cat doesn't seem to mind, though.
Reported everywhere, Kevin McCarthy was sworn in this morning as Speaker of the House. Lots of political drama, lots of wrangling, but he finally got it done. I suppose it is fitting that he was sworn in on January 7th. January 6th is, as you know, a day that will live in infamy. A day when a great boisterous crowd visited the Capitol. It is also the day celebrated in Christianity as the day that Jesus was manifested to the Gentiles. I find a great deal of irony in the conjunction of these two anniversaries.
Cajuns celebrate epiphany by the baking of King cakes. A sweet pasty, often braided before baking, into which a small figurine of the Christ is hidden. We will eat King cakes until Lent. Many diets will be wrecked, and pounds gained because of these things. The season ends at the stroke of midnight on Fat Tuesday, beginning the season of repentance and fasting of Lent.
Taking charge of the family property, I knew we would need a tractor to pull a mover (bush hog, shredder, whatever you call them). So, I started looking around and found a fairly low hour Kubota on a tractor lot. With a loader. It's a 2010 Kubota L3400 with less than 400 hours on the clock. I talked to some tractor folks I knew who said the price was decent, so I pulled the pin on it.
That is second son, tying it down. Grandson on the operator's chair. Second son is an ace mechanic by trade. He owns a mini-hoe and has some dirt work to do around his place, so he will use it until he is done, and is able to make sure that everything is tight and right. Then we'll move it to the family property when the spring mowing season arrives.
I haven't owned a tractor for over 20 years, and the ones they are making today sure have a lot of bells and whistles. My old tractor was a Yanmar with a geared transmission and served me well. This Kubota has a hydrostatic transmission. That will take a little getting used to, but I feel like I am up to the challenge.
I bet that both the Democratic Whip and the Republican Whip are busy critters this morning.
Insty reports that the Democrat members have to ask permission to leave the floor during a vote.
Louisiana's very own Steve Scalise is the Republican Whip. I can't imagine the conversations that he has been having lately with Kevin McCarthy. Twenty holdouts who refuse to move in lockstep with the rest of the caucus. Some are pissed off personally at McCarthy, some are asking for change that they don't feel McCarthy can offer. It's hard to run roughshod over a fellow one day and expect for him to support you later. That takes a delicate political touch, and I don't think at this point that McCarthy has that ability.
I get it. There are people I will never vote for. McCarthy is going through a rough time right now, and I suspect it is of his own making. These decisions are not made in a vacuum, and the longer it goes on, the greater the change that McCarthy will have to make. Both compromise and conciliation requires time, and trust. The conciliation should have been done a long time ago.
The bank that has held my mortgage for the past 20 years has lost their damned minds. The over-corotational mindset of the organizational hive is killing us all. It used to be I could walk into a bank, talk with an officer, and get a problem solved. Not any more. Call 1-800-EAT-SH*T.
I'm buying a little piece of land. It's heir property and I an an heir. I am conflicted about it, but the majority of the family wants to close this deal so that it won't become an issue later.
Because I'm buying the land, I'm buying a tractor, too. About to close a deal on a clean, used Kubota with less than 400 hours on the engine. That will let me mow the place, which is mixed meadow and timber.
The US House still has no Speaker. I am conflicted about this. As long as the Congress is crippled, they can't hurt us. But, that lets the executive branch run wild, and there are no adults in charge.
This morning I started planning the state championship that I host every year. It's in July, so we're not in a crunch for time, but the closer it gets, the crunchier I will get.
The US House is still squabbling about who is going to be Speaker. This isn't a good look for the Republicans, but it is a process, and it is sometimes messy. At some point, they will figure it out and we can move forward.
The Russian military is blaming its troops for unauthorized cell phone use that prompted the Ukrainians to drop a HIMARS strike on them.
Moscow's defense ministry said late Tuesday that the unauthorized use of mobile devices allowed Kyiv's forces to identify the soldiers' location via phone signals. It also raised the confirmed death toll to 89 from the weekend strike on the base at a school in Makiivka, a town in a Russian-occupied area of the eastern Donetsk region.
That is a fairly sophisticated use of cell data. They were watching cell data, saw a concentration, and loosed a rocket at it. There should be a lesson there for all of us.
Well, Kevin didn't make it on the first ballot.
Until we have a Speaker, gridlock ensues, and chaos becomes inevitable.
It is interesting to watch. What I think is interesting is that the Speaker administers the oath to the other member of the House, and until there is a Speaker, no one is sworn in. They are all Representative-elect until the Speaker gets the gavel.
At this point, Kevin doesn't have the votes. I think that he knew that going in, so what is the endgame? If he can't get the votes, why is he in the race?
The question becomes: Who is going to be the Speaker of the House?
It seems that Kevin McCarthy has enough opposition in the Republicans party to keep him away from the gavel. So, the next question is: If not McCarthy, who?
Tomorrow may get interesting in the US House.
The use of DNA evidence in criminal investigation is fairly well accepted. Each person has a unique DNA signature that tends to eliminate the rest of the human species. It's really specific. As evidence goes, it's just about the gold standard. Of course, there may be many reasons for one person's DNA to be in the vicinity of another person, not all those reasons are nefarious.
So, the investigators still have work to do, but it appears that the suspect in the Moscow, ID murder case (and I will never use his name) might have been identified through the use of familial DNA. The closer a suspect might be to a family member, the more closely they will share a DNA signature. While the suspect may have been unknown to police and the police were unable to precisely match his DNA in a database, there might have been a family member who had given a sample that closely matched his.
This case is becoming truly interesting from a number of perspectives. The suspect himself was a doctoral student of criminology. On the face of the case, this seems to be his first run-in with police. That flies in the face of other mass murderers, who often work up to this sort of crime. One wonders what set of circumstances led us this point. Are there other murders out there?
We'll be studying this one for a while.
It's the last day of 2022, and I'm not sorry to see it go. This year has been a wild ride.
Belle always celebrates the New Year with a traditional fest. Pork, cabbage, and black eyed peas. Cornbread. Because it falls this year on Sunday, we aren't sure who will show up, but we never know who will be here on Sunday.
Today, she is at a funeral in her hometown of Jena, LA. An old classmate died. I stayed back to get some stuff done, and while I was at it, I made a gumbo, because lunch will be here soon and that turkey we smoked for Christmas needed to be used up. It seems like Christmas was a month ago.
The changing of the calendar is a time for reflection, and I remember wondering during the millennial celebration if I would live to see 2020. But, I hope each of my readers has a happy, prosperous 2023.
Fox News is reporting that a suspect is in custody for the murder of four students in Moscow, Idaho.
MOSCOW, Idaho – Authorities have a suspect in custody in the Nov. 13 murders of four University of Idaho students, a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.
That is good news. I know that this case was complex, requiring the resources of several agencies, and I'm glad that it is closer to resolution. Perhaps as we learn more, the families will begin to find closure.
Evidently, 2022 has been tough on Russian generals. They are resetting the actuarial tables. Insty notes the latest casualty, some guy who ran a tank production plant.
Wiki has a page that details the list of unfortunate Russian flag officers who met untimely or otherwise mysterious deaths this year.
One might wonder if Putin is practicing Arkancide.
The 1st Amendment of the US Constitution says:
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 seems rather straight-forward, but even in the most straight-forward of ideas, people get confused, so we have to have lawyers sort it out. It seems that the Ninth Circuit is asking the Supremes to limit speech.
Ninth Circuit Judge Urges Supreme Court "Not to Give Any First Amendment Protection for Racist Hate Speech"
I know that no right is absolute. There is an old canard that you can't shout FIRE in a crowded theater. I've heard that all my life, and wondered if the theater was actually on fire?
There is no doubt that the commercial airline industry is a complicated, highly automated industry that generally provides service to a wide range of customers all across the US. It is also true that it is highly dependent on the weather, If one hub shuts down because of weather, the ripple effects are felt everywhere. If several hubs shut down, it becomes a catastrophe. That is where we have been over the past week.
Not to fear though. The Biden administration is on it.
“Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays. Our Administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable,” Biden tweeted, urging customers who were affected to visit the Department of Transportation’s website to see if they are entitled to compensation.
I would not, for the record that old Joe is currently sitting his scrawny ass in St. Croix. He flies private on our dime. As does Pete Buttigieg, our current transportation secretary. Pete has proven his deep understanding of incompetence several times. He demonstrates it regularly, from the problems last year, through the supply chain problems, during the impending rail strikes, Pete embraces incompetence at every golden opportunity.
Commercial air travel is a complicated, highly automated industry composed of thousands of different vendors providing hundreds of discrete products and services, all of which has to mesh perfectly for even one plane to get off the ground. When it occasionally works as advertised, it is a testament to the unsung labors of thousands of people, from the pilots who fly to the guy who pumps out the latrines. When the weather conspires against us, people start calling in sick or unable to get to the airport, and schedules start slipping, the hole thing grinds to a halt in short order.
It's a first world problem.
I have to keep reminding myself that it is Tuesday. My internal calendar is all screwed up and for some reason, I think it is Monday again.
Christmas is over and we approach the New Year, which will be here pretty quickly. I admit that I am approaching it with some trepidation. It is filled with opportunity, and hope, I'm fixing to bail off into some family duties that I'm not sure I want to be involved with, but which by necessity must be done. A wise man (I think it was Sam Clements) once said that "There is not much education in the second kick from a mule", and that's where I think I may be headed.
God's will be done.
As is our tradition, Christmas morning is quiet here on our little acre. Belle and I hosted a big celebration yesterday so that family can spend Christmas day with their kids. We cooked big, with turkey, ham, dressing sweet potatoes, pies, cakes, candy, etc. The one thing we forgot was the green bean casserole, but no one asked about it.
By my count, we fed 22 yesterday. My Mom showed up, and we were proud to see her. She is 89 and still getting around.
This morning, Belle and I are reveling in our sloth. I have some yeast rolls proofing and the turkey carcass is in the stock pot, prepping for a gumbo later this week. Closer to moon, I will get out the leftover ham and dressing. I'll pop the dressing into the oven, and pan-fry the ham to heat it. Belle will make some sliders with the yeast rolls and ham.
I hope all of y'all had a very Merry Christmas.
Surfing a bit this morning over coffee, I found this article at the American Hunter on low recoil hunting rounds. Of the list, I have some experience with three of these rounds. I agree with the author in his evaluation of the rounds I know.
.30-30 Winchester. Once considered a whiz-bang flat-shooting cartridge, in the late 1800s, it was soon eclipsed by other cartridges. Even so, it continued to serve American hunters. Pushing a 170-grain bullet to 2200 fps, it was the cartridge against which all others were measured. It was chambered in light lever rifles like the 94 Winchester and the Marlin 336. I still have a couple of .30-30 carbines. My youngest grandson hunts with one I gave to his Dad many decades ago.
7mm-08 Remington. In 1980, Remington standardized a wildcat cartridge that was a favorite of the metallic silhouette game. It was a 7mm bull3t stuffed into a necked-down .308 Wim case. I owned one in the late 80s in a Remington Model 7. Fantastically accurate, very manageable recoil, For some reason, that barrel like the 139 grain Core-Lokt bullet, so that is what I fed it. I lost that rifle during a divorce and I still mourn for it.
,25-06 Remington. Wildcatted by Adolph Neidner in the 1920s, it was not standardized until 1969. It's a necked-down .30-06 and pushes a .25 caliber bullet. My load pushes a 117-grain bullet to 3000 fps. I have called the .25-06 the best cartridge in North America for medium game, and I still believe that. Every rifle I have shot in this caliber is capable of MOA accuracy if the nut behind the trigger is does his part. My family has four of these rifles, two Savages and two Ruger 77s. It's a great cartridge and certainly deserves to be in this list.
6mm Creedmoor. A relative newcomer, it is necked down from its larger brother, the 6.5 Creedmoor. I have no experience with this cartridge, but from looking at the ballistic charts, I have no idea what this one would do that the .243 wouldn't do. The answer might lie in barrel twist. The Creedmoor uses a 1:7 twist while my old .243 has a 1:10. The Creedmoor will stabilize heaver bullets. Out past 300 yards that may help, but I won't shoot at fur over 300 yards.
.350 Legend. I don't know what Winchester thought it was doing when it blew out a .223 case and fit a 9mm bullet to it. It was designed for those states that don't allow bottleneck cartridges for hunting. It shoots a light-for-caliber 9mm bullet at 2200 fps which seems rather anemic. Until you look at the .30-30 Win. It will fit in an AR platform, which has a certain appeal. It would also make a dandy ultralight bolt action with a low power scope, for stalking the woods and brushy lanes around my home range. I admit I want one but have so far resisted the urge.
What manner of bullshit is this?
The Army, Navy, and Coast Guard effectively de-emphasize gender in an integrated environment,” the academic report from the University of Pittsburgh says. “Instead of saying ‘ma’am’ or ‘sir,’ recruits in these Services refer to their drill instructors using their ranks or roles followed by their last names. Gendered identifiers prime recruits to think about or visually search for a drill instructor’s gender first, before their rank or role."
I admit that when I was a recruit, I addressed my drill instructors as "Drill Sergeant" and any officer as "Sir". Female officers would be addressed as "Ma'am"" but like unicorns I didn't actually see a female officer until long after I myself was commissioned.
When I ran a training company, I still referred to my Drill Sergeants as such. They had earned the right to wear the hat, and deserved that modicum of respect. But, I would never allow a junior enlisted person to address me as any way but Sir. I seldom worried about that because my NCOs maintained a level of discipline that brooked no such nonsense.
Perhaps it is good that I am long since retired. I doubt I could stand the level of bullshit that exists today in my Army.
The polar vortex made it down here in the early hours and the temps started dropping precipitously.
The rest of the county may be accustomed to these temps, but we in central Louisiana are not. We will survive it, like we survive everything else. Right now, it's Brrr Cold out there.
It's being reported everywhere that Scam Bankrupt Fried has been released from a US Court on bond. $250 million bond. His parents had to put up their home as security, He has been ordered to live with his parents, surrender his passport, and obtain mental health treatment among other things.
That's fair, I guess. He is ignorant innocent until proven guilty and is certainly eligible for bond. His momma can cook him vegan meals.
His butt-ugly girlfriend has turned states evidence. His investors are mightily pissed. He would do well to stay indoors, listen to his lawyers and maintain a low profile until this whole thing blows over. And, I suspect it might well blow over. He's too politically connected to have a single-tired justice system put him away for a long time. This one will be interesting to watch, but he is out of jail for the time being.
Family is coming in from out of state, and we're in our semi-final prep. Is anyone truly ever ready?
Juvat asks in comments:
I want to try that gumbo recipe. It's just the Mrs and I. How many servings does that make?
I'm not sure. Eight or ten, depending on your serving. But, the thing about gumbo is that it freezes well. Many of us believe that it is better on the second day. Justin Wilson used to recommend that you let the whole gumbo cool, put it in the fridge and re-heat it on the second day.
At any rate, we're prepping for the holiday and blogging might be spotty at best. I'll check in when I can. Y'all have a Merry Christmas.
Today is the winter solstice. No, it's not the shortest day of the year. We still get 24 full hours. But, due to the magic of physics and planetary orbital mechanics, we turn the corner, and the daylight hours start getting longer tomorrow.
It's also my half-anniversary. Belle and I were married on the summer solstice. And, no, not out of any weird Druid predilection. She was a practicing RN and I was a street cop. That year our work schedules combined so that we were both off on a particular Saturday. Just another coincidence of life.
More particularly, today is the first day of Winter. And, if you look at the weather map, you'll see that there is a big winter storm moving across the US to punctuate the idea of winter.
I feel like it's time to make a gumbo. So, if you will excuse me...
It looks like we are in for a deep chill on Christmas weekend. Predicted temps will set records.
I mean, seriously, they are predicting 8F for Friday morning, which is causing everyone to be in panic mode. And,it looks like it is going to hang on over the weekend.
Friday won't get above freezing at all, but at least we will be in double digits. Saturday and Sunday will begin the thaw, but most folks in central Louisiana are simply not equipped for such cold. In short, it's going to get interesting.
I hope the weather weenies are wrong, but hope is not a plan, so I'm going to start getting ready right now.
Yeah, that's what it's doing today. Cold, rainy, the weather is not fit for man nor beast.
Yet, ;we have things to do, to get ready for the festivities later this week.
Hopefully, we will get done early and ensconce ourselves in a warm dry place.
Pietta is an Italian gum makes, making many replica firearms from the late 1800s. We in Cowboy Fast Draw, and indeed the other Old West shooting sports, use a lot of Pietta firearms. They are fairly historically accurate.
There is a rumor floating around that Pietta is going to start chambering some of their single action revolvers in 9mmP. I don't see the new offerings in the catalog, but the rumor is fueled by this flyer.
We can argue that the 9mm is probably the most common centerfire handgun cartridge in the world. Everyone I know owns at least on 8mm. Indeed the gun I carry on my hip every day is chambered in what Jeff Cooper called the "Europellet". That does not diminish its popularity.
It seems a bit odd to see a single action revolver chambered in 9mm, but I hope they sell a lot of them.
Every community has them. SIlly little landmarks that remain for decades.
My Dad bought some land in Deville, LA during the late 80s.Going out to the property we noticed a local landmark near the property, a lawn chair hung in a tree, near the road. Probably blown up there during a wind storm, it has remained for at least three decades.
I stopped this morning on the way out and took a photo. For posterity.
I don't know how long it will continue to be there, but it was there an hour ago.
Does your community have any weird little landmarks?
Belle and I were plundering around in the backwoods of Deville, LA this morning. Doing maintenance on some family property, checking systems, and getting it ready for winter. At lunch, we decided to go to AWs Drive In, an old standby lunch spot in the woods of northeast Rapides Parish.
AW's has been around since forever. I recall when I was in high school, think 1969, the place was an old standby then. Just a little drive=in out in the country, serving fast food, drinks, and shakes. These days it is under different management, AW himself being long retired, but the crew soldier on, feeding the county folks who need vittles. They have a Facebook page.
Belle opted for the standard hamburger basket, while I went with the steak burger.
The new management seems to be carrying on just fine. Belle said that her burger was tasty, and my steak sandwich filled an empty spot. Our ticket came to a single $20 bill.
It's not that I'm advertising AWS as much as calling attention to the little out-of-the-way places that do yeoman's work every day feeding people. These little joints are all over the country, and we need to support them.
I always thought it was an odd coincidence that the Covid pandemic erupted from the very city in which the Chinese study such things. What are the odds? Of course, we were called conspiracy theorists
Turs out, it seems that our suspicions, on purely common-sense grounds, may have some basis in fact.
Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee are alleging in a newly released report that there are "indications" that COVID-19 could be tied to China’s biological weapons research program and "spilled over" to the general human population during an incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
I mean, c'mon man. China has a bioweapons program with a research lab in Wuhan. What are the odds that a global pandemic started there, with a virus that they were studying in the building?
I know that science entails risk, but a prudent approach might be to weigh the risks of a global pandemic against whatever benefit might result from knowing a little bit more about a virus that might wipe out every person on the planet.
The evidence is becoming more and more compelling that the Covid pandemic was not so much a tragedy as much as it was an horrific crime against humanity. The challenge now is to bring those people to justice. Those in China may be out of reach, but there is also evidence that much of this research was funded by sources in the United States. Those people should answer for their crimes.
It's been raining since last night at dark, a bug cold front moving through. As a result, I haven't done much today. I've got the lazies, a state of mind where you just don't want to do much. I did clean my EDC piece, a SW Shield. That little gun goes everywhere I go, and when I'm busy it gets dragged through all sorts of things. It's cleaned and oiled and back in the holster now, so I guess that's a good thing.
I may break our the sharpening stone and work on the kitchen knives. It's just that sort of day.
It's easy to tell where the priorities of the White Hose fall.
Yesterday there was a huge celebration over the signing of a bill that codifies the right to marry. I thought we settled that discussion in 2015 with the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. It was a huge party, with the Washington glitterati dancing on the lawn. Good for them.
No sane person has been worried about same sex marriage since 2016. I happen to believe that marriage is a contract between a man and woman, signed by God. Of course, I still believe in outmoded concepts of what describes a man or a woman.
My pastor sometimes says that if God doesn't soon address the popular culture in the United States, then He owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah. That always draws a chuckle from the congregation.
But, I suppose the left, after having suffered a stunning defeat in the Dobbs decision. felt a need to codify same-sex marriage before some challenge to Obergefell arose.
Because, you know, same-sex marriage is more important than the border crisis, or inflation, or dealing with Putin, or fuel production, or unrestricted immigration, or any of the other issuers that grind on the middle class. Or for that matter, rooting out corruption,
The headline tells the tale:
Las Vegas carjacker shot dead by victim who grabbed another robber’s gun
I might read the rest of the article, I might not.
David Solway, at PJMedia makes the case that we are living in the age of the institutional lie, where people in power tell blatant, bald face lies to further whatever personal of governmental objectives that are currently in fashion.
I have noticed this myself. To wit:
Anthony Fauci denying the lab leak theory, when he himself was funding corona virus research at a lab in Wuhan, China.
Dickhead Mayorkas telling us that the border is secure when all evidence to the contrary is plainly evident.
The idea that the 2020 election was both fair and secure.
The social justice crew telling us that there are more than two genders.
That laws to ensure election integrity (see Georgia) are Jim Crow 2.0/
Fifty-one intelligence officials telling us that the Hunter Biden laptop is Russian disinformation.
I could go on, but why bother. They are liars and theives, and that's why we need to take back the country.
Instapundit links to a Washington Post article detailing the upcoming move to silence witnesses as the House republicans begin to investigate the pay-to-play schemes of the Biden crime family.
"The Washington Post, which revealed the powwow, described it as Biden family ‘allies’ planning an offensive to blunt any investigation into the Bidens’ alleged multimillion-dollar influence-peddling schemes. . . . Morris’ plan could easily be taken as a declaration of all-out war on potential witnesses against Hunter Biden.”
Witness intimidation is still against the law. It's not like we have a two-tiered system of justice in this country.
Not only is Elon Musk the new owner of Twitter, but he is also most prodigious troll.
Today, he selected his pronouns.
I wonder what he has found in the files, and which bomb will detonate next
So, Mr. Musk is releasing internal files that show how the company conducted themselves to shadow ban conservative thought. That is not, in-an-of itself, a 1st Amendment violation. What may be a 1A violation is how the government, through its alphabet agencies, pressure Twitter to do so.
As interesting as these revelations are, we have to ask ourselves what it means? Twitter itself was profoundly changed during the Musk takeover, but will there be any repercussions for the government agencies? I doubt it, unless Twitter starts naming names. Not the agency involved, but the functionaries involved. When we learn that Agent Schmedlap did something that violated the 1st Amendment, then we can prosecute Agent Schmedlap.
It's not enough to know that the FBI pressured Twitter to do certain things. We need to know who in the FBI pressured Twitter to do those things. When Agent Schmedlap's career is ruined and he is serving time in a federal prison for civil rights violations, the word will get out to the rest of the agency.
If that doesn't happen, then none of this matters. They will have gotten away with it.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's Saturday night and I've had a drink, but this headline reminds me of some very bad jokes.
Hearing Aids May Help You Avoid Dementia, Study Finds
That's a wrap! I'm going to finish this cocktail and go to bed before I regret something I might blog.
Today, the Cross Branded Peacemakers met for the final time this year. It's our annual awards banquet, where we award our top club shooters for the year.
The Peacemakers have ten (10) monthly matches. Placement in each match is awarded top gun points, and the folks who have the most points at the end of the year are recognized.
First, the Ladies
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| L-R 1st, Two Step Cookie 2nd - Blue Eyed Belle 3rd - Squirrel Girl |
Next, the Men
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| L-R 1st, Bailey Boy 2nd - Big Bill 3rd - Vovo |
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| Fastest Time Men - Bullet Bob, 0.335 Ladies - Two Step Cookie, 0.681 |
That wraps the competition season for the Cross Branded Peacemakers. We'll start over in January 2023.
It seems that Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema is leaving the Democrats and will register as an Independent. This leaves us with 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 3 independents. The other independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Angus King of Maine, caucus with the Democrats to give them their majority.
We don't know yet where Sinema might caucus.
It seems that the Biden administration got played again today by Russia in the international prisoner swap. We're trading a convicted international arms dealer for a WNBA player who doesn't like the US. While, of course, a Marine veteran languishes in a Russian jail.
Just another example of the Biden crew not having their priorities in order.
I have a small YouTube channel. Videos of the grandkids, and the dog, and Cowboy Fast Draw. The videos are purely amateur, have poor production values, are solely for my personal amusement, and are not monetized. Most of what is on there is nonsense.
This morning over coffee, I clicked on YouTube to watch the news and was notified that I had a video removed for some violation of their Community Standards. So, I played along and learned that it is a video I posted over five years ago, a short reel of grandson Zach shooting Cowboy Fast Draw in the back yard.
Zach was fully clothed, in the back yard, expertly manipulating a revolver. From my review of the reel, he was 15 years old at the time. Somehow, this violates the nebulous Community Standards of YouTube, and the video was removed.
I will take this as a badge of honor.
A date that will live in infamy.
There is a sailor being buried today who died during the attack. His remains are finally identified and he is going home.
One of the most common attributes of the human condition is that we are all born, and we all die. The actuarial tables that the insurance companies keep are a tribute to that fact. We are all going to die. SOme earlier, some later, but the grave (or the urn) awaits us all.
However, if you are a Russian business critter in Putin's Russia, the actuarial tables are a bit skewed, and people are noticing.
Heck, Wikipedia is keeping a list.
I'm sure it's all just coincidence.
Our military is in a tough spot right now, and following 20 years of unrelenting deployments and active combat, I understand that. But, the leadership isn't helping things. While they are talking about kicking out members who haven't had the covid vaccine, it's no wonder that the services are short-handed.
This screen grab from Fox News.
Lloyd Austin needs to get his head our of his ass.
'Janes Revenge' Abortion Zealots Threaten to 'Shoot Up' Catholic Newman Center With 'New AR14 Rifles'
Mayhem aside, I'd like to know where they intend to buy new AR14 rifles, because I'd like to buy a couple. The AR14 was going to be a semiauto hunting rifle chambered in .30-06 and other calibers. But, it never went into production, so I doubt that there are any new ones floating in the market.
Ian tells us all about it.
That's what we always called it. Rolling the Gold to identify ourselves as police officers. There was nothing nefarious about it. In the presence of an officer you did not know, you identified yourself to put him or her at ease.
Evidently, the rules have changed. It seems that the Chief of Police of Tampa was recently pulled over by a Pinellas County Deputy for a minor infraction. She identified herself as a police officer and was allowed to proceed. When I say minor, she didn't have a license tag on her golf cart. That is minor.
I never liked giving traffic tickets, so when I rolled out the citation pad, the time for talk was over. In my time as a road cop, I probably never wrote more that two dozen tickets. I made a bunch of traffic stops, but I didn't write many tickets. If everything seemed reasonable, I'd let the violator go.
But, in this case, it seems like something that broke the camel's back. This violation seems so minor that it should not even have elicited conversation at the station coffee pot.
It's no secret that the EU has warned Elon Musk about tieir content moderation policies.
It's also no secret that French President Macron was in New Orleans on Friday.
Yet, somehow, it is a surprise that Elon Musk had a "surprise tete-a-tete" with Macron in New Orleans.
A surprise meeting between French President Macron and Elon Musk happened Friday in New Orleans. On the agenda was a “clear and honest discussion” about Twitter. Just days ago, a top European Union official warned that Musk must do more to protect users from harmful content.
Macron may have been surprised, but I doubt that Musk was. The man didn't get to be a billionaire by happenstance. There are coincidences in life, but I doubt this was one of them.
Couple of things.
Jonathan, the tortoise, is celebrating his 190th birthday. That's cool. 190 years. And, he doesn't look a day over 180.
Toyota may be bringing the Land Cruiser back to the US. I bet it won't be an EV.
First, the Air Force get a new bomber, the B21 Raider. It looks a lot like the B2, but form follows function, and what we know about stealth technology drives the design.
I wonder what the purpose of the grand unveiling was. Certainly, Russia and China knew we had it. Did the unveiling support a larger strategic purpose? Or was it just grandstanding to prop up the Biden administration? One wonders.
Speaking of bombers and politics, it seems that Elon Musk is carpet-bombing the Democrats with his release of internal Twitter docs that show unholy alliance between the DNC, the FBI, and Twitter on suppression of free speech. I have no problem with a private company deciding what to cover or not to cover, but when the government gets involved, the First Amendment comes into play.
Those 50 former and current intelligence officials should be metaphorically drawn and quartered, their carriers ended, their pensions forfeit. Those un-named FBI officials, likewise. The Constitution is too important to allow the government to violate it for political purposes. Any government functionary who violates it on this basic level should be stripped of all protections.
I caught a glimpse of this at Instapundit, then followed the link to Tam's place. Clicked over to the Daily Beast about a cold case that suddenly had gotten warm again.
An unspent .40-caliber round discovered between the bodies of two young girls found dead on an Indiana hiking trail in 2017 led investigators to their alleged killer half a decade later, according to a probable cause affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
A forensic examination showed the still-live bullet had been “cycled through” a Sig Sauer P226 owned by Richard Matthew Allen, who was charged last month with murder in the deaths of Delphi teens Libby German and Abby Williams.
I read through the article, and it didn't tell me how the girls had died, but a single .40SW cartridge was found between the bodies. Examiners say that they can match to a gun owned by the suspect. They can show that it was cycled through the action. I'd love to see that report.
I had to run to Guillory's today for some tasso, and I looked in their cooler for ideas for lunch. A pair of little stuffed pork chops caught my eye. Stuffed with pepperjack cheese and wrapped in bacon. I asked the butcher and he said about 45 minutes in a 350 oven. That sounded reasonable.
I had a few potatoes I needed to use, so when I got home I peeled and sliced them, then made an easy au gratin sauce to pour over them. I put them in the oven about fifteen minutes before the pork chops.
Belle thought it was pretty tasty, and my belly is full, which was the whole idea of the exercise.
So, if you've been paying attention at all, you have heard of Sam Bankman-Fried, who had a crypto company and a side-hustle of hedge fund. He was also the spawn of a couple of well-known Democrat donors, and he himself gave a lot of money to Democrats. This guy was the darling of the liberal elite, because he gave away a plot of money and espoused all the correct liberal memes.
Then one day it all came crashing down. His company funds got tangled up in his side-hustle and his investors lost all their money. Now, he's doing an apology tour, telling anyone who will listen that he never had the intent to defraud. Never mind that his investors were defrauded, it was just an accident.
Kind of like the Alec Baldwin defense.
Sam is a well-connected Democrat. Very well connected. I would be extremely surprised if he ever sees the inside of a jail. High profile Democrats don't go to jail. Unlike us lesser mortals for whom the laws were written.
It's the first of December, and this month, like every other month, I took my don-driving buddy to do his banking, and his grocery shopping, and to run some errands.
Came home, made some lunch, and checked my email and the web. Nothing much happening today. I am neither amused nor outraged. If I were a younger man, I might be tempted to get into trouble, but whereas I have the knowledge, the wherewithal, and the time, I simply don't have the energy.
Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.
Early in November, the nation was gripped by the drama coming out of Moscow, ID, where four students were killed in their beds. The nation wants answers, and the parents want closure, and I understand all that.
Megan Fox looks at four reasons why the police have not publicly named a suspect or made an arrest.
1) The crime scene is amazingly complex. I have spent hours doing crime scene for a single murder in a fairly pristine crime scene. I cannot imagine what a four-murder scene would be like to work.
2) Small town police departments don't often see this type of crime. This isn't a criticism of the police in Moscow, but the simple fact is that they don't work this type of crime very often. They know the theory, but putting it into practice takes experience. They want to get it right, so they called in help, from the Idaho State Police and the FBI. This is common practice.
3) Thanksgiving happened. Moscow is a small, college town. Many students left town after the murders, and the Thanksgiving break put many more out of town. Investigation like this need basic, shoe-leather work. Knocking on doors, taking statements, interviewing people. When everyone leaves town, it gets more complex and slows everything down.
4) Don't let the killer know what the police know. You don't want to publish a profile or release a name until you have the suspect in cuffs. Save it for the arrest warrant. The last thing the investigators want now is more publicity. There will be plenty of time for that later.
“For the sake of the families who just lost four beloved children on the cusp of their adult lives, this is a developing story that should be handled with extreme care. Already, just nineteen days into the investigation, the parents are starting to question the forthrightness of the police and their emotions are raw going into the first holiday season without their children. It would be helpful for them if the true crime die-hards didn’t fan the flames of upset for clicks and views. I’ve spent the day going over the facts of this case and to me, it’s looking like very good police work in a very difficult situation.”
They are going to catch this guy. It's just a matter of time. I once worked a murder that took 22months between the deed and the arrest, then another year before the conviction. We all have to be patient.
First, they steal a car, then use it to crash into a gun shop to steal guns. That is fairly brazen. From the local TV station.
ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - Alexandria Police detectives are investigating the burglary of a gun shop on Jackson Street that happened early Tuesday morning after a vehicle crashed into the building.
Around 6:50 a.m., APD arrived at The Gun Shop on Jackson Street in reference to a vehicle crashing into the building. The vehicle was identified as a 2017 Infinity Q80 SUV, previously reported as stolen. The suspect drove the vehicle into the business and went inside, stealing several firearms from The Gun Shop.
The woman who owns that shop is an acquaintance, and I bet she is livid. I know that she had crash posts in front of her shop, and I'm trying to figure out where they crashed the building. I'll bet that she is about to spend more money on crash barriers.
Boudin is a south Louisiana thing, a meal in a casing. Normally a rice mixture, the meat inside can be pork, or beef, or poultry. Even seafood. But, normally pork.
Belle sent me to thr grocers this morning. She wants to make brisket poboys later today and I was sent to get ingredients. On the way home I had "a craving flung on me", so I stopped at Guillory's Specialty Meats for a bit of boudin. Guillory makes a solid, workman-like boudin. Not the best I've ever tasted, but certainly a nice boudin. And, it's just on the way home.
I like to put my boudin on a cookie sheet, or a black iron skillet and run it under the broiler for a few minutes. Turn it over and run it back under the heat. This crisps the casing, and it will snap when you bite it.
This works as an appetizer. Belle had a link or two, I had a link or two, and I suspect that the pup got a taste as well. We'll make poboys later, but in the meantime, it's boudin as a late breakfast.
Who is going to be the House Speaker? Kevin McCarthy is the House minority leader, but that doesn't mean that he has the 218 votes necessary to take the gavel.
“McCarthy launched his effort to be House speaker earlier this month in a closed-ballot vote by his conference. At the time, he only earned 188 of the 218 votes necessary to become speaker, with 31 votes going to his surprise challenger: House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ). Biggs is one of the dozens of Republicans who have refused to support McCarthy’s speakership bid. That opposition, combined with a less-than-stellar turnout by Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, is jeopardizing McCarthy’s chances of securing the gavel.”
While it is just like the Republican Party to make things ridiculous like this, I’m not sure we’re going to get there. It may be more than enough to simply scare Kevin McCarthy into not being a squish. For those who think this is pollyannaish, understand that McCarthy’s majority will be so slim that he can’t afford any hiccups. He will need all of the cooperation he can get.
McCarthy needs to make peace with the Freedom Caucus.
It seems that Alyssa Milano is getting a ration of crap for the tweet she posted about trading her Tesla for a Volkswagen. Because she hated Musk. Or something.
Everyone knows, or should know, the history of the Volkswagen. It was the People's Car of the late 1930s German government. You knw, the one that Hitler ran?
That aside, I owned two of them. The first, I bought off the ad-hoc lot on the parking lot of the PX at Fort Knox. Paid $500 for it. Drove it for three years as a work car/hunting car, so my wife could use the family sedan. When I left Fort Knox, I put it back on that same lot and got my $500 back.
Bought my second one when my elder son needed a car. Fixed it up and he drove it to school and work.
The VW Beetle was a great little car. Nothing fancy, but a lot of fun to drive.
I don't have a problem with Milano learning her history, and I don't have a problem with the VW Beetle. If I could find a nice example today for $500, I'd probably buy it.
We have a smoked turkey every year for Thanksgiving, for two reasons. First, because everyone expects it and second, because I want a gumbo. On Friday, I took that turkey carcass and all the leftover bits and put it in a stock pot. Boiled it for an hour or so to make stock, then took the bits out, peeled the meat from the bones and let the stock cool before I put everything away and cleaned up my mess.
This morning I put that turkey stock and the meaty bits back in that stock pot and put a low fire under it. Then, I cut up some good smoked sausage, browned it in a skillet, then drained it and that sausage went into the gumbo pot. I used the drippings from the sausage to make a roux, Added it to the pot, then sauted some onions and poppers with a little garlic
It's on a low fire now, bubbling happily. About 11:00 I will put on a pot of rice.
Gumbo is an inflation fighter. I already had the leftover turkey, with the onions, peppers and sausage, I figure I have about $10 in that pot, and I'll feed a dozen people at lunch. That less than a buck a plate.
I dropped by the liquor store today to pick up some wine for Belle. I found it and took it to the counter where I encountered a fresh-faced young man at the register.
Him: "Anything else?"
Me: "What you got?:
Him: "We have everything."
Me: "Let's see. Ardbeg Dark Cove?"
Him: "No."
Me: "Bruichladdich Port Charlotte?"
Him: "No"
Me: "Well, I guess you don't have everything, right?"
To be fair, I didn't expect him to have those, but if he had, I would have bought a bottle.
