Man...

Don't hang out in the riot zones after dark.

First rule of gunfights.

If you do find yourself in the riot zone after sundown, don't get separated from your platoon.  That's why Rittenhouse got in the sh!t, and this guy looked solo, too, before the shots.

I'm thinking the dead guy was CCWing, too.  He's geared up to be open carrying.

I bet when they look into his background he isn't a felon like an Antifa would be.

Messaging

When you message is, "defund the police," you want people to think:

Huh, yeah, the police just might be more trouble than they are worth.  They could use a little less support.  We'd be better off with fewer of them.

The way you convince the average voter is more of that.  Talk like that.  The way you scare them to the hills is to riot and kill nigh nightly.  Average Americans look at unrest and disorder like that and think, ya know, maybe we need to double police.  And give them raise.

Who am I kidding.  They aren't listening to me, and never will.  And many of those folks rioting don't actually want that kind of police reform.  They want the madness and chaos.

Maybe we shouldn't make any more Joker movies.

Anyway, in a perfect work, I'd love to see some police reforms myself.  Stuff like:

1. Cutting out no-knock raids on all but the proven violent.  And maybe even them.  
2. Not using cops as revenue enhancers or enforcers.
3. Qualified immunity reform.
4. Cops concentrating on the hard cases, rather than easy stuff.  Busting weed smokers is easy, instead of robbers.  I sympathise with cops not wanting to get hurt going after robbers and murderers, &c., but...  That's sorta the job we, the Public, most want them to do.  
5. War on Some Drugs is awful at its root, and there should be less of it.
6. DA reform.  A lot of problem people have with cops is really problems they have the Distict Attorneys pushing the cops.  I have no idea how to fix DA's though.
7. Not confiscating perps' property without due process.  
8. Fewer laws.  We have over-criminalized EVERYTHING.  It'd be better if average folks sorta had a handle on what is criminal and what is not.  Better for the police, too.

I am being convinced

I didn't have much sympathy for that 17 year old kid in Kenosha.  He broke the first rule, at a minimum, I thought.  I thought there was no way he doesn't get hung up by his Buster Browns.  I felt bad for him, but thought dire consequences, for him, were inevitable.

The more details get fleshed out and the more we hear from his official defense the more I am persuaded.

What happens the day he walks out of court a free man?  Or the Minneapolis cops walk out because it is determined George Floyd died of a fentanyl OD?  I shudder to think.

First Rule of Gunfighting

If you are going to a place where you know there is probably going to be a gunfight, don't go there.

What kinds of places are those?  Hard to tell.  The answer varies.  One scenario with high degree of confidence?  Riots.  Don't voluntarily attend riots, strapped or not.  If a riot shows up where you are, surprise, unbidden, first priority is to try to un-ass from that place.  If you can't, then you might be attending a gunfight, but it is involuntary.  Always make it involuntary.

Failure to follow this first rule leads to bad outcomes.  And hot snotty tears of regret.  I follow this rule religiously.

Tell all the holster-sniffing 17 year-olds you know (he is a bit of a cop worshiper, apparently).  They have horrible judgement most of the time, boys that age.  And breaking this one rule could turn an otherwise good shoot into life in slam.  A text book case of self-defense shooting can turn into 1st degree murder because of this rule. 

Grocery Report

I talked about how stock is pretty much back to normal at my grocery stores. Even hand sanitizer.

Only one thing missing.  Lysol or Clorox wipes.  Once those are plentiful, I think that is the last thing on the list.

Getting Sporty in Wisconsin

With people getting shot.  Some in self defense.  Some as part of the commie riot mobs.  Maybe murder cuz he started it, maybe justified.  Why drive in from out of town underage with a gun in the first place? I dunno.  Thunderdome.

But, also having fun in DC.  You all had your blood vessels pressure tested by these trust fund white kids harassing super liberal Adams Morgan restaurant-goers with their commie ways.

This appalling mob behavior is unacceptable in a free society. pic.twitter.com/JZb3GRP9jE

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) August 25, 2020

That's how you make new conservative votes out of life-long Leftists.

It's why I avoid restaurants, still.  Outdoor seating is where the weather is.  And the animals.  I would not have done well with that mob.  I'll go inside when that is good.  Maybe order a beer if seated outside.  Something I can walk away from.

Silence is Violence?  Get out of my face with that.  I joined the military back in the day specifically to fight people like these pinkos.  They are the bad guys.  This whole thing does not sit well with me.

"These aren't commie riots!  These are mostly peaceful protests about racial injustice!"

Yes, the first day or three in June were riots mostly about George Floyd.  And now the stuff in Kenosha is mostly about Jacob Blake, the first day or two.  But after the first week of June in Minneapolis. and this in Adams Morgan, DC, it's commie mobs rioting and destroying.

---

Adams Morgan, the neighborhood, was the up and coming city section in the 90s, after Dupton Circle and environs had become established and gentrified, so it is on the tail end of trendy now.  As it too is getting spendy, the weeds of greater wealth and aging patrons applies.  Gentrified.  I don't know which is the hot young new-new up and and comer section of the city is now.

Ankle Holster for your Stop The Bleed kit

Intriguing.

Keeping your one CCW pistol in an ankle holster?  Meh...  you could have some solution closer to hand?  Ok it might be better if you are carrying in Maryland of NYC and you don't have any permit but decided to risk it and carry anyway.

But keeping your first aid kit there?  That's an idea.  You ran out of real estate on your belt with your holster and spare mag, a pants pocket has your carry knife.  Hell you might have a BUG gun in a pocket holster in the other pocket....

But keeping your trauma bandage, touriquet, and kwik-clot on an ankle pouch might be just the thing.  Lighter than most pistols, too.

Andrew Pollack, Parkland, FLA

I wanted to save this link for reading later.  Well, watching later.


---

edited later:  it was shorter than I thought it would be.

JJ

I don't know much about motorcycles, but styling is a subjective thing.  I watched a lot of Jesse James motorcycle builds on the TeeVee back in the day.  It was fascinating to watch.  And while I am sure a whole slew of folks loved the way the finished product looked, it wasn't for me.

Nowadays he's dabbled in firearm fabrication.  If he goes in order, this is his 68th gun.

Things I like.  That style of hammer, I like the look of.  I like the rear slide serrations.  The comp on the front is well blended, but the serrations don't line up.  It might be the angle of the photo, tho.  I have chainlink cuts on my mainspring housing like the front grip serrations

Every fabricator loves to square off the trigger guard.

What I don't like.  The grip panel is fine, but not for me.  Same with the trigger style.  And who knows what the internals are like. I'd need an hour and a sharpie to really judge them internals.  My old gunsmith could tell the sear-hammer engagement and which hammer hook was lagging the other just by pulling the trigger.  I'd use the sharpie and a lot of disassemly/assembly.  I can maybe tell if the disconnector is loose that way.  Passing judgement on the extractor tension is easy, and hell, I can teach you that.  Once apart, hammer-slide fitment is also easy to check.

But you know what doesn't bode well?  Out of the gate?  What is up with that sear pin?  C'mon little fella.  Don't be shy.

Trump's Announced Agenda

For his second term.  

Decent stuff, if he can pull it all off.  Achieveable.

Nothing about the 2nd Amendment, though.  Pity.

---

Twelve more years!
Twelve more years!
Twelve more years!

4th Circuit Changed its Mind

I missed this a couple weeks back.  Court Case.

A local-to-me gun store DOES have standing.  The case can proceed.

The case had been dismissed last year, but now it is revived.

You see, Atlantic Guns and all other Maryland gun stores lost sales since 2013.   A law was passed that said you had to have a Handgun Qualification License to buy a handgun.  You applied with the police, you got the training, you got the fingerprint, you got the passport phote, you paid the fee, you waited a couple months, and THEN you were allowed to shop for a handgun.

All the old restriction are still in place.  Even with the HQL you still needed ANOTHER background check (and NICS as well to keep the feds happy) at time of purchase, and a 7 day wait, and a chamber lock purchased.

Well, that's a lotta hoops.  And people didn't want to jump through all them hoops.  So they didn't bother buying a gun.  So gunstores lost sales.  And these gunstores maintain these onerous regulations are so bad that they violate the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution.  I agree and wish them luck and hope Judge Roberts stops pretending... whatever the hell that guy is pretending... when this gets appealed higher.

So I got the neuropathy

My spine is kinda jacked.  Dunno how.  A few car accidents in my lifetime.  Lots of PT in the military.  Working in a brewery for most of a decade toting full kegs and beer cases and 50 pound grain sacks all over a wet cement floor.  Fell out of the attic once.  Could just be lucky, genetically. 

Anyhow, the neck one impact my right hand.  My thumb and forefinger are numb.  Which sucks because that is the thump I use to test and edge for sharpness.  None of the other digits could so that. 

My lumbar problems are on the left side, mostly.  Sciatica.  And now numbness and burning sensation in my feet, mostly the left.

Well, there is an anti-seizure medicine that helps with that.  Gabapentin.  Only been on it for a few days, but it appears to work.  If baseline is 10, it improved to a solid 8 in only a day or so.  Might be a 7 now.  I'd be pleased as punch if it gets down to 1 or 2, but with my luck I should only be hoping to hit 5.  0 is how everything felt at age 25.

But, gun content, my trigger finger is the unaffected left forefinger.  So, lucky me, no neuropathy there yet.  Got physical therapy scheduled. 


Gabapentin.

Should be the most important issue

If you bought a gun in response to the pandemic & rioting you just proved that protecting the 2nd Amendment is the most important issue in this election. Deny it all you want but when u couldn’t rely on the govt to protect u, u immediately saw the importance of your 2A rights.

— Colion Noir (@MrColionNoir) August 22, 2020

To all the Ppl who say that there are more important issues to vote on than the 2nd Amendment, I ask you, what’s more important than your ability to protect your life and the lives of the people you love?

— Colion Noir (@MrColionNoir) August 22, 2020

What's today?

Hoof.  The 22nd?  Crap, I got no blog post.

It's humid.  Them hurricanes are down in the gulf but it feels like they are passing Norfolk heading nor'west.

But I am not complaining.  We have knocked out the string of 90+ degree days in July and some mornings this August have been downright pleasant.  I love it when we turn the corner on summer.  I much prefer the colder seasons. 

Trump Re-Election Could Hurt Sales

Now I want Trump to win. 

Hurt gun sales after November?  Well what else do you want, gun sellers?  Egg with your beer?  Wasn't June gun sales as high as all of 2016 or sumthin?

I want ammo availability to bounce back after his victory.  I am sorta wanting to buy a gun, too.  So, good reason to help swing Maryland's electoral votes to Trump's column.

Automat

They refurbed the cafeteria in our office, but that started right at the beginning of the Current Inconvenience.    Re-opening is delayed.

But when it does re-open they are thinking prepackaged meals.  Self-checkout kiosk for paying.  Take-out only, of course.

And that got me thinking...

Maybe the Automat needs to make a comeback..   Talk about Old Skool.

Oh, my head

Splitting headache.

Fodder is sparse.

I did go to the grocery today.  Almost normal.  Name brand Purell available first time since February.  Paper products at 90%.  You want a 2-pack of Brawny full size sheets?  Out of luck, you can only get it in 6 packs.  Yeast and flour and pork chops and HT brand chicken thighs from North Carolina.  EVERYONE has a mask, too. 

Why am I this way?

Yes, I like and have old designs like 1911s and revolvers.

But there is a working rotary phone in my house.

I own more than one manual typewriter and occasional mail off a chatty missive.

My woodworking shop in the basement has few things that plug into the wall.  It's only recently I bought a drill that takes batteries in case I need to screw something in the driveway, away from an power outlet.  And my plug-in drill is a beast.  Too much drill for, say, driving a 1 inch screw.  Like hunting squirrels with a .44.

My watch is EMP proof. 

If I had a spot of and I wanted to put a steel building on, there are PLENTY of places that will put up a sheetmetal barn for you lickety split.  But I'd jones for a quonset hut, and all it's innefficiency. 

I shave with a straight razor when I have the time.   An old skool safety razor when I'm in a hurry.

I prefer wrough iron to mild steel.  Do you know why you can't buy wrought iron at the store?  There is SO MUCH labor to it. 

Why am I stuck in the past like this? 

Escape from Tarkov

A vidja game.

Combining First Person Shooter with aspects of Massive Multiplayer Online stuff.  And done by a Russian company, who really like their military sims.

Kitting yourself out with realisticly modelled weapons and also various ammo and accessories.  That will only get more realistic as the developers progress.  Because of this detail, this game is catnip for a certain flavor of Gunnie, for sure.  They use real names for everything.  So you will see PMAGs called PMAGs, for example. So if that is your interest, you can get hip deep in all the gun geek technical details when playing.

Not totally realistic.  You still get 'heals' but they sorta simulate the first aid process, if not the long recovery time.  You can still be shot, heal, shot again a little later, heal...  Eight or nine times?  More?  But what fun is a game where you get shot in the hand and then... done?

You have to loot for in-game money.  You use that pixel money to buy gear or better gear especially if you die before you escape.  A basic usable setup still cost north of 150k rubles, and you just have a Mosin in that loadout.




More for beginners.

Greyhound

I saw this movie on my week off.  I was kinda disappointed.  I was hoping for Saving Private Ryan, but as The Good Shepherd, the book it is based on.  But when I come to think about it, that would be incredibly hard to translate to the big screen.  As a big part of C. S. Forester's book is silent inside narrative in the Captain's head, and the movie only has the 2 hours or so to tell this story.  If faithfully executed, matching the book, well, that might not make the best action cinema anyway.

I am hampered by my preconceptions, as I have read the book.  More than once.  Having been a naval officer, one often gravitates to C. S. Forester stuff, at least eventually.  Someone going in cold might enjoy it without the quibbles I bring.

So, these limitations aside?  It is still pretty good as a movie.  Worth seeing, in my book, but no tour de force.

The Enemy Below and Das Boot are better U-Boat vs. Destroyer movies.  Balance of Terror, too.

The CGI quality is mixed, sometimes very good, but not always.  I wonder if they used a Fletcher class for part of the sets.

I did like how he elevated the mess mate that must have been in the book into a more major character.  That was actually a good touch. 

The trailer is more exciting than the movie.



If you have Apple Plus tv channel, or whatever, see it.  Don't get Apply plus just for this. 

!BLACKHAWK!

Saw this.  Did Serpa change it's holster retention mechanism from that horrible finger button?

Why yes they did!  I did not know that.

They still have the button kind (bottom) that folks grew to hate and now they have something different.  And you can tell by the price that something else is going on there because of the price difference. 

I'd go to the holster store to check this out, see how it works, but there are some problems.  Gun stores in Maryland aren't TOO het up about selling holsters.  So I have to go further afield.  And Rona is infecting the public places so availablity of retail establishments is hit or miss.  A Fun Show would be an option, but, Rona again.

So...  what do?

Help me Obi Wan Internet, you are my only hope.

Huh, that worked. Interesting. It is different with the button placement, with a non-trigger finger press.

Ok, I'm back

I'll only have one or two more of these silly posts then real posts and all NEW silly posts

Bloggin'

Uncanny

Almost perfect at predicting the future of the internet.





Don't forget to buy that sprinkler!

DC Industry

We used to be able to MAKE things in this region, in this company town.  Things beside corruption, busybodies, BS paperwork, and regulations.

This was in Southeast.


There is still a Torpedo Factory across the river in Alexandria, but it's now an art center, not a factory.

As bad as zombies

And you must prepare! Send em back to Dagon!

Fabulous Four

I watched lots of Leave it to Beaver, but never saw this four minute commercial. Now I want another typewriter.

Dammit T-Bolt

"You SAID you were gonna pump the brakes on the 16mm educational footage!"

What?  I did!  Remember last week when I crammed like eight of em into one day?  Gah!  Now it's like one.  Max. 

So this is what madness feels like.  Or, again, the afterlife.  No way of knowing.  I published this stuff back in the Spring.

Back then I needed the time off, now.  No matter what.  A lotta YOU got to stay home, and are now sick of being cooped up.  I had to go to work extra.  I hope your lives are back to normal at this point.

Your lotto numbers didn't come back in the time machine, tho.  You bastard.  No BAR for you. 

The National Film Board of Canada Presents!

Industrial Arts

Fraesh wood chips.

Stuff My Dad Did

And about when he did it.

Madness

Hey, Tbolt!

"Why do you keep showing these industrial films we saw back when there was a substitute teacher?"

I can't help it, I genuinely love watching these.  I know few others do.  I'll pump the brakes a bit.  Besides, I am AFK, and these are all on auto-pilot, member?  I set these up months ago, in the beginning of a disease pandemic.  For all I know I am dead right now. 

And you.  YOU had an unkind word about it.  I was just trying keep content up.  As I type this Kim Jong Un is sposedly dead.  And months later, NOW, I am dead too.  I bet you feel like a heel.

Or, I am fine.  Probably a better chance of that, actually, than lying on a slab.  I hope there is meat and toilet paper back in the stores.  This is like time travel.  Wait!  Tell me a winning May lottery ticket so I can take it back to April.  If it hits I will buy you a Browning Automatic Rifle.  Or, sell you one for $1 to keep all this on the up and up.  No, TWO!  Two rifles, not two dollars.

Copper

At one time I know that the symbol for copper was the same as the alchemical symbol for woman or Venus, but I had forgotten until I saw this video

I'm no explosive expert, but...

I've seen a few explosions in person, not on TV.

"That sounded like fireworks, T-Bolt.  Maybe it was a fireworks factory!"

Maybe.  It sounded like fireworks to me, too.  But I don't know.  Remember what I said before?  I am no explosives expert.

"There was a mushroom cloud!  That means it was a nuke!"

I am no explosives expert, BUT...  nah.

"This has to be one of the biggest non nuke man made explosions, ever, though!"

Again, nah.  When the Yamato blew, that was pretty big.  Texas City was pretty big, too.  Not to mention Halifax 30 years before that.  The unique thing about Beirut is all the cellphone footage.

"You know too much.  I thought you weren't an explosives expert, huh?"

~squint~

Our friend, Zinc

Lead

For the music

JUST STOP ALREADY!

Even MOAR STEEL!

More STEEL

We See Silver Alerts all the Time

Round here.

Like this one.

SILVER ALERT issued for missing 70-yr-old man from Aspen Hill: Michael Oliver is driving a maroon 2014 Ford Expedition w/ MD tag 5EC4433. Mr. Oliver is 5’9, 170lbs, last seen wearing black t-shirt. Please call 911 if you see Mr. Oliver or his vehicle. https://t.co/J44nlP0out pic.twitter.com/jkXfHdncWv

— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) August 2, 2020

Now, is this really someone with dementia driving off God knows where?  Or did he just need some 'me' time?  They are so frequent I suspect at least some of the later. But yes, find the confused old man if he has gotten confused and is wandering off to the office he went to in the 1980s to start up work. Please. I just hope they aren't abusing the system, is all, for unrelated situations..

Posing in front a cruiser means this individual is 'known to the police' though.

"At approximately 11:00 p.m. last night, a neighbor of Mr. Oliver called police reporting that Mr. Oliver had knocked on his/her door stating that he was lost. Mr. Oliver left the area in his vehicle prior to police arrival." Oh, dear.  More real, this.

Our good friend STEEL

Everyone has a tobacco product in their face at the steel mill.

B-36 Peacemaker