CFDA World's Record

I've been hering rumblings that the current CFDA World's Record might change hands this year.  The curent world's record was set by Master Gunfighter in the summer of 2015.  He hit a target at 0.295 of a second, but we'll talk more about that in a minute.

A World's Record can only be set at a sanctioned match.  So, it doesn't matter how fast yo go in practice, for a new world's record, it's got to be done at a sanctioned shoot, in front of witnesses.  Having said that, I'm hearing rumblings from practice shoots that some of the fastest are getting faster.  I heard one rumor this weekend that a shooter at an invitational shoot hit a 0.283.  That's blazing fast, and I'm sorry that I can't provide documentation.  MyFacebook skills aren't up to the task.

But, I also saw a Facebook post about a shooter we call Parttime, arguably the fastest gun in Texas.  Here's the picture that accompanied the post.

And, here's the post that accompanied the photo.

We had a good meeting and practice today at the Bushwackers Camp. We loved having Gentleman George and Texas Rose back Home on the Range. And...........Parttime hit an outstanding time on the Target today...... .279!!!! Way to go, let's see it again and again........And also a .289!

That's smoking fast, and I hope we have video of it.  Speeds of that nature are fast, blinding fast.  We do have video of Master Gunfighter's match where he set the record in 2015, and I'll embed it further down.

But, it looks like a new world's record might be set during the competition season that starts in March.  Certified rangemasters would be well advised to review the criteria for proclaiming a new world's record, it might happen very soon.

Now, let's watch Master Gunfighter setting the cirrent world's record.



That's fast, fellows.  Smoking fast.

Remember Rachel

Remember Rachel Dolezal?  She was the chick, during the Obama era who was president of a local NACP chapter.  Until folks started asking questions and came to the conclusion that not only was she NOT black, but she was pretty much lily-white.  LIfe got tough for Rachel shortly thereafter.  She's on food stamps, nearly homeless, and still white.

"There’s no protected class for me,” the former NAACP branch president told The Guardian. “I’m this generic, ambiguous scapegoat for white people to call me a race traitor and take out their hostility on. And I’m a target for anger and pain about white people from the black community. It’s like I am the worst of all these worlds.”

Naw, Rachel, you're not a race-traitor.  You're confused.  And, trying to obtain victim status when your problem is totally of your own making.

“I do think a more complex label would be helpful, but we don’t really have that vocabulary,” said the former Africana studies instructor. “I feel like the idea of being trans-black would be much more accurate than ‘I’m white.’ Because you know, I’m not white.”

We're pretty sure that you are white, Rachel, and calling yourself a trans-black (heh) is cultural appropriation. (You probably remember that phrase from your "Africana Studiees" days.

Sorry about your problems, Rachel, but you're not a victim, you're not in a protected class, and you're not employable as long as you say weird stuff.  Get a grip, and get a job.

Sunday Cooking in the Yard

Burgers on the grill.

Cooked about 20 burgers today, fed the crowd.  Just burgers with all the rimmings and a bag of chips.  Of course, the cook drank a beer while he was sanding over the fire.

A great way to spend a Sunday after church.

Thorn Valley

We had a great practice shoot today at Thorn Valley Shootist Society.  Only four club shooters, but we had some visitors.  Our home range is at the Rustic Sky Horse Camp, an equestrian destination inn Melder, LA.  The owner believes that horses, trail riding, and equestrian activities are almost a perfect fit with Cowboy Fast Draw shooting, and he lets us use a barn there as our home range.

Occasionally we have equestrians walk up to the range, wondering what is going on.  We greet them warmly, explain our game, and if they're willing, strap them up and let them try it.  Today was such a day.  Two horse-riders walked over to the barn to see what we were doing.  Callie, and Jason.  We took a few minutes to explain the game, give then a quick safety briefing, and strapped them up.

That's Callie on the left, and Jason on the right, trying their hand at Cowboy Fast Draw.  Blue Eyed Belle in the center, providing expert advise.  We let them shoot until they were ready to sit and talk about the game, so we chatted with them for a while, gave them some flyers, and told them they'd be welcome any time.

That's how you build a club.  Two members at a time.  When you can get a husband/wife team shooting together, it's a great thing.

Target Maintenance

I've been building targets lately, with a lot of assistance from my sons, who work metal as part of their trades.  In any industrial shop, there is welding and cutting, and they have the skills and tools to make pretty much anything that we need.

I'm trying to expand my backyard range to four lanes.  And, the CFDA is making a smaller target optional for sanctioned competition.  We can shoot the 24" disc at 21 feet, or we can shoot the 17-3/16 disk at 15 feet.    o, I wanted four each of the large and small discs.  Of course, these are wax bullet targets, so we don't need AR500 steel.  These are mild steel and will work fine for our purposes.

There's two each of the large disc and small disc, welded, threads chased, glass installed, and ready for paint.

Two of the small discs leaning against the fence after the furst coat of black paint.

Two of the large discs on the target stands after the second coat of paint.  That decorative iron behind the close target is being prepped as a free-standing bulletin board for use during Louisiana State Championship, scheduled for late April.

I have an errand to run, noon-ish, and Belle told me that I'm on the hook for boiled crawfish later today.  Luckily, I'm off today, the beginning of the Mardi Gras holiday.

Seveen weeks from today we kick off Louisiana State in Natchitoches, LA.  Y'all come.

Fourth Circuit Screws Up

It looks like the Fourth Circuit screwed-the-pooch on the Maryland Assault Weapon Ban.  Jazz Shaw talks about it here.  Likewise, Charles Cooke talks about it here.  When you go to the decision, we see this interesting little phrase.

“weapons that are most useful in military service”

This is a test I haven't seen before, and others are commenting on it as well.

Reading the opinion, I see a lot of trying to conflate the AR pattern rifles with the M-16 pattern rifles.

I think they got this one wrong, and when it's appealed, it should be struck down.

My argument is that rifles that are "useful in military service" are precisely the rifles that the Founders were talking about when they talked about the militia.

Gender Is Simple

Okay, we're going to take a look at an article, and we're going to go over this one more time.

From PJMedia:

Radical feminists and conservative women are joining together to defend womanhood from transgender incursions via Title IX, calling it a war on women.

The question is really quite simple; do you have a Y chromosome?  It's basic biology.  It really is that simple.  Gender is not a choice, it is assigned during the chaos of conception.  It is what it is.

Don't get me wrong, I generally love gay people.  I'm a live-and-let-live kind of guy.  I don't care who you sleep with; it doesn't matter to me.  But, gender is not something that is open to choice.

Assumptions

The climate-weenies are full of gloom and doom because their Global Climate Models (GCM) show the earth warming at an horrific rate.  The problem is that the model doesn't match the observations.

Climate models show twice as much warming during the 21st Century than what’s actually been observed, according to a new report highlighting the limitations of global climate models, or GCMs.

That's not a problem, just divide your prediction by two.Obviously, the global climate model has a bad assumption, but it can be corrected by a simple halving.  Of course, that's impossible, as Stephen Green reminds us.

Reality must be made to better conform to the models, which are of course correct.

Heh!

Discretion

Discretion, I was told as a young man, is the better part of valor.  For a soldier, that's good advise.  Discretion is also important for a law enforcement officer.    President Obama had removed the discretion of certain immigration cops, but now it's being restored.

The secretary said agents are still to give priority to those with criminal rap sheets, but are free to use discretion — taken away from them in the Obama years — to detain anyone they believe to be in the country illegally.

It doesn't sound like a crackdown, per se, but immigration cops don't have to ignore illegals that they might come in contact with.

That's the thing about executive orders.  What one president does with the stroke of a pen, another president can undo with the stroke of a pen.We can argue both ways on executive action, but the plain truth is that Congress needs to pass an immigration reform law.  If Congress does that, then no one will have anything to gripe about.

Democrats had an opportunity during the Obama years to pass any type legislation they wanted to pass.  With a majority in the House, and a majority inn the Senate, they could have passed anything they wanted to pass.  They didn't do that. That's on them, and they have no room to complain.

Republicans have that same opportunity right now.  If they choose to pass an immigration reform law, they can do that as well.  Until then, we should enforce the law as written.  And, give those good immigration agents the discretion to do their jobs.

McMaster, huh?

I see that H.R. McMaster has been pegged as President Trump's new National Security Adviser.  I thought I remembered that name out of the Cavalry School.  So, I did a little digging.  Sure enough, it's the same guy.  McMaster first came to national attention when he was but a young Cavalry captain, leading a troop of armored cavarly during Desert Storn.  From Wikipedia:

The Regiment moved from the 60 Easting with eight of its nine cavalry troops generally abreast of each other. (Lt. Colonel Kobbe had pulled his Troop F out of the Second Squadron's leading echelon when his zone narrowed.) The operation escalated into a full-out battle as E Troop (call sign "Eagle") maneuvered to the 70 Easting around 3:45 p.m. Heavy combat then spread to the south as I Troop of the Third Squadron closed the gap between the two squadrons and joined the fight. G Troop's attack to the north of Captain H. R. McMaster's E Troop made contact with defending units farther east and combat there became intense around 4:45 p.m. Fighting continued into darkness as the Iraqi division commander reinforced the 18th Brigade with his 9th Armored Brigade in the G Troop zone.
At 4:10 p.m. Eagle Troop received fire from an Iraqi infantry position in a cluster of buildings at UTM PU 6801.[9]:443[14] Eagle troop Abrams and Bradleys returned fire, silenced the Iraqi guns, took prisoners, and continued east with the two tank platoons leading. The 12 M1A1 tanks of Eagle Troop destroyed 28 Iraqi tanks, 16 personnel carriers and 30 trucks in 23 minutes with no American losses.[15]

 At about 4:20 Eagle crested a low rise and surprised an Iraqi tank company set up in a reverse slope defence on the 70 Easting. Captain McMaster, leading the attack, immediately engaged that position, destroying the first of the eight enemy tanks to his front. His two tank platoons finished the rest.

There is much more at the link above.  McMaster went on, later in his career to take a regiment of cavalry back to Iraq and was very successful in the counter-insurgency that we encountered later in the war.

By all accounts, H.R. McMaster is one of the best combat leaders to come out of the Gulf Wars.  He's also a student of international relations, a leading thinker in military circles, and just a hell of a warrior.    H.R. McMaster may be one of Trump's best picks.

Letists Fail Civics

Sally Kohn is an idiot.  She posted this last week on Twitter, and is being roundly reviled for her lack of knowledge of the Constitution.  (You know, that Constitution that sets the criteria for succession of the presidency.

1.  Impeach Trump and Pence on what grounds?  Neither one has committed a high crime or misdemeanor
2.  No constitutional crisis.  Paul Ryan would be president.
3. I just looked at my handy pocket Constitution.  No authority for a special election.
4.  Ryan v. Clinton?  Yeah, maybe after you've impeached Trump and Pence and Ryan is president, but that would be in 2020.
5.  President Clinton?  We've already had one.

I've got a better idea, Sally.  Why don't you stick to what you know.  Music, maybe?  Or just being an idiot.  Or, you could go back to school and study basic civics.  Or, get a pocket Constitution and see what is actually in it.  It might surprise you.

Never Let the Bureaucrat Win

Doug Powers at Michelle Malkin reports that the worthless, toothless, bureaucrats at the EPA were working the phones, lobbying to stop the nomination of Scott Pruitt as the agency head.

Employees at the EPA have reportedly been working the phones in order to convince the Senate to stop the nomination of Scott Pruitt:

If that's not a violation of Civil Service regs, it should be.  Bureaucrats in the public service should serve the whole public, regardless of political persuasion and should not be allowed to actively lobby during business hours.  Luckily, the Senate saw through their pissy little ploy.

The Senate confirmed Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency Republicans desperately want to rein in after what they charge was eight years of dangerous activism under the Obama administration that hurt businesses, jobs and the economy. 

Bureaucrats should be reined in regularly They serve the public, not their own peculiar interests.  If I were Scott Pruitt, I believe I'd show up for work carrying a hard snaffle bit, and wearing spurs.  If those worthless bastards wanted to buck, we'd have a rodeo.  Before the end of the day, they'd know who was running the show.  They'd bend to my will, or be run up the road.

Kim's Back

Kim's back.  Just damn!  Several years ago, he went silent for reasons purely of his own, but we kept track of him via mutual internet contacts.  Several months ago I learned that his beloved Connie had taken ill, and recently learned that she had passed.

But, via Instapundit, I learned that he's come back to the intertubes.  Kim was one of the first bloggers I ever read. Back in the days when the internet was just catching speed, and I had a dial-ip modem, Kim duToit was one of my daily reads.

So, first, my condolences for your loss, Kim, and second, welcome back.

He calls this edition of his blog Splendid Isolation.  It should show up on the blogroll soon.

Pulled Pork

I was digging around in archives and I can't find my Pulled Pork recipe.  That's a shame, because it's easy-peasy simple and a crowd pleaser.  My sister Margaret first gave me the recipe, and I've done very little with it.

All you need is a five or six pound pork butt, some seasoning, a beer, and a slow cooker.  A pork butt might be called different things in different locations.  The cut is actually a shoulder, with the bone-in.  It might be called a Boston Butt, it might be called a pork shoulder.  Whatever.

I start the night before, by putting the pork butt in the slow cooker.  I use a liner in my cooker to make clean-up easier,   When the butt is in the cooker, add the beer, then season it liberally with whatever you like.  I use Tony's seasoning.  Put the slow-cooker on LOW, put the id on it and enjoy your genning.  When you get up the next morning, it will look like this:

Oh, yeah, that's about right.   Get a second bowl, and start takinng the poork out.  It will fall apart, but what you're looking for is that bone.

When the bone comes out clean, the pork is completely cooked.  Then it's just a matter of taking the pork out of the cooker, transferring it to another bowl and shredding it.  I use two standard dinner forks.  Pull it apart and add a little barbecue sauce.  I use Sweet Baby Ray's, but other sauces work just as well.

Then, I clean up the slow cooker, put in another liner, and transfer the meat back to the slow cooker.

Add a little more barbeque sauce, clean up your mess, and let the pork stay warm till the guests arrive.  Total cooking time is about 10 hours.  Total "cook in the kitchen time" is about 15 minutes.  It really is a simple recipe.  We serve it on a bun, with chips and a cold drink.

The kids will be over in another couple of hours, and lunch is prepared.  Pulled Pork, easy-peasy.

Role of the Cavalry - II

In yesterday's post, we looked at the opening moments of the engagement at Gettysburg.

Harry Heth had  problem.  He was an infantry commander under Robert E. Lee, and was leading the march toward Gettysburg.  Some say he inteneded to find shoes in that town.  But, he was tactically blind.  Lee's cavalry under General Stuart was off riding, God-knows-where.  Heth had sent pickets into Gettysburg the day before and had encountered militia..  On what we now call the first day of the battle, he thought that his infantry could move into the town virtually unopposed.  What he didn't consider was John Buford, who had moved into the town the late afternoon of the day before.

In this first clip, Buford is trying to save the defensible terrain for the main army, who is behind him several miles.  Buford is deceiving Heth, showing only a portion of his force.  We call this "economy of force", by only using the force necessary to obtain the objective, which for Buford is to slow Heth down until the main body can arrive.  During this phase, Buford drives off the first attack, then strengthens his line for what he knows is the seond attack.  Buford will put two brigades on line, with a screen to his north, because he knows that the Confederates are massing on Gettysburg.



With two brigades on line, Buford is committed to this location.  He's awaiting Reynolds, who commands a corps of infantry.  As the day progresses, Reynold's infantry arrives, and again strengthens the line, allowing the battle to proceed.



Now, let's go surprise Harry Heth.

The Role of the Cavalry

Many folks see the Cavarly on TV or the movies,   You've all seen the soldiers that ride horses, but Cavarly is a mission,  or more particularly a set of missions that defines a particular job on the battlefield.  Basically, the role of Cavalry is simple: to protect the main force, provide screening, reconnaissance, raids, deception and defense.  The Cavalry can be used in the attack, but that's not their main role.

You can click over to the Cavalry School and read all about the missions,  The great Cavarly commander simply considered the horse a mode of transportation.  Cavarly is mobility, and once you get off the horse, you become infantry.  Nowadays the Cavalry rides armored vehicles, or helicopters, but the mission remains the same.

Two great clips from YouTube.  The first, LTC Hal Moore introduces his officers to the helicopter.



LTG Moore died recently, but as far as I know, while he served in the Cavalry, he indentified more as an Infantry officer.  He knew the role of the Cavalry, and fought one of the more famous Cavalry battles of the modern era.

One of the great Cavalry officers of the Civil War was John Buford.  General Buford, probably more than any other man in that conflict, understood the role of Cavalry.  Buford is credited with providing a screen for the main force, providing reconnaisance, and denying Harry Heth the high ground in the opening engagements of the battle at Gettysburg.  The clip below best explains the role of Cavalry during an opening engagement.

UPDATE**  I originally embedded the wrong video.  Here's the one I intended to embed.  After editing, I realize that in both of these clips, Sam Elliot plays leading roles in both these movies.  Still, the clip below is longer and gives a better indication of the role Cavalry plays in the lead-up to battle.  John Buford is credited as sying that the horse is only a mans to move to battle.  Once you get off your fine, fat horse, you're infantry.



I never get tired of watching it.

Congress Undoes Late Obama Gun Reg

Late last year, President Obama pushed through a regulation that would strip recipients of Social Security disability of their gun rights.  Today, Congress used their authority under the Congressional review Act to rescind that regulation.  As Hot Air points out, that particular regulation is dead.  And, it may have other implications.

Using the Congressional Review Act, the Senate followed the House yesterday in sending Donald Trump a bill canceling the new regulation. And Democrats may not yet fully realizing it, but once this regulation is dead, it’s really dead:

Hopefully, the Congress will continue rolling back Obama regulations that affect basic rights.

Let Freedom Ring.

Car Keys

The new minivan came with one fob, to unlock and start the vehicle.  That's not acceptable, as I always like a spare in almost anything I do, especially in a car. I made sure, before I left the dealership, that I was due another key fob.  They agreed to order one and call me when it came in.

Used to be, if you wanted a car key, you walked into any hardware store, gave the guy a buck, and he cut you a new key.  It ain't that way today.  Today they called me and told me the fob had arrived.  I went in on my break to pick it up.  It took an hour to get the vehicle into the service area so that the new fob could be programmed to the vehicle.

I asked what it would have cost if I had to purchase it.

"About $240.00."

Just damn.
 

CVL?

Austin Bay is reporting that the US Navy may be thinnking about building some light carriers (CVL).

The U.S. Navy may be on the verge of a light aircraft carrier renaissance. New technology spurs the revival, both new smart weapons in the arsenals of potential military adversaries and new American weapons systems, the USMC F-35B strike fighter being the most pertinent example.
The issue is complex, so the back-story here is particularly relevant. In World War II, the U.S. Navy made extensive use of small aircraft carriers, ranging from very small carriers escorting convoys (CVEs) to light aircraft carriers (CVLs) that were essentially downsized models of the iconic big carriers (CVs).

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me that several small carriers might be better than fewer big carriers.  We need big carriers, of course, but several light carriers might give the Navy more mission-responsiveness.

Trade-In

My old Mercury Grand Marquis was starting to show its age and decrepitude. As much as I loved that old sedan, it was getting long in the tooth, and my trusted mechanic said it was time to send it down the road.   And, Belle's Ford Edge, while a great vehicle, was a bit tight when we traveled to Cowboy Fast Draw competitions.  With the gun bags, the wardrobe bags and assorted paraphernalia for three of us, the Edge served, but it was a little tight.

So, I called my good buddy in the used car business to see what he had on the lot.  And, I looked other places and talked to other people.  Googled around to see what the internet could tell me.  The biggest sources of advise were family. Elder son had owned a Kia, and loved it.  Second son's wife had owned two Kias and loved them.  My brother had owned two (I think) Kia's and recommended them highly.

My good used-car buddy was able to get his hands on a 2016 Kia Sedona LX minivan, and we made the deal.  I brought it home Monday night.

This Kai, the LX, is the second-from-the-bottom of five option levels.  My old Mercury was a top-of-the-line model.It had all the bells and whistles for a 2001 sedan.

This Sedona LX is toward the bottom of the lineup, but it has way more bells and whistles than my old Mercury.  And, of course, with the 3rd-row seats folded down, the cargo space is cavernous.  It has tons more room than Belle's Ford Edge, and it's a year newer.

I think we're going to really like this vehicle.