New Holiday We Should Celebrate.

 

40 Years Ago Today

 Zapped! was released.  Vastly underrated 80s movie.  Deserved an Academy Award.

Bloggoversary

15 Years!

Since I started this snoozefest.  Makes you wonder what the point has been.  In the end.

80 years since he enlisted.

 

And 2 days after my mom was born.

Bang the Drum Slowly

I got an exstension

 On my income taxes.  As soon as i get my energy, I'm hittin` those.

fast mover

 Gotta CT scan SATURDAY.  Faster than I thought, and nice little swag

Or is it jift

 My loss of stamina impacts my walking, and gift of gab.   I slow talk like a moron.

Backsliding

So tired.  I miss potato chips. 

No Energy on Sunday

So my make up stuff part of my body wasn't up to snuff.  Only productive thing I did was file for a tax extension and take a shower.  Self care is also below snuff

New post

Getting sent back for new biopsy collection.  Doc says "Just do THESE two tests." One a fancy a medical word, the other called "Dog-1."  Hey, sounds like a WWII callsign. 

Ooo, nice, Calumet Ukraine

 

My County

Yup, we have never elected anyone good here.  Elrich is also execrable. 

But I got my house in 1999.  This lack of new construction does help me.

Montgomery County do not re-elect this man https://t.co/6XwV2jF9YI

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 6, 2022

New Gun Owner

I was a young gun control Democrat who didn’t have a single gun in my home. A criminal decided to invade my house; then proceeded to shoot me with his straw-purchased gun. After that, I decided to purchase my first firearm. pic.twitter.com/B9MQAiGnwN

— 🔫UR a Smart Ass, Carl🔫 (@cleflore23) April 6, 2022

Biopsies

Biopsy results of my two big tumors?  Inconclusive. 

Urgent Care

They gave me antibiotics and an inhaler.  Still no work.  

And a chest xray and nose swab to be sure it wasn't covid or pneumonia.  It wasn't. 

Illness

There wasn't fever during the worst of it.  But there are half hours at a time when it spikes up to 99.9.

I feel bad, but if this is Covid it in no way lived up to the hype.  Despite all my misery, I'd expect Covid to be times 2 this, based on all reports.  I doubt it's Covid.  I never lost a sense of taste.  What little I have eaten has popped with flavor.

Running out of sick time fast.

Weakness and easy fatigue is my biggest current issue.  Oh, and the ongoing difficulty to swallow that's been building up longer than I had this cough/cold.  And almost certainly contributes to me weakness.  Two ceiling lightbulbs have burnt out this week and I am too weak to replace them.

Cough has moderated to 33% of its peak.  I only have a runny nose after a coughing jag.  O2 numbers are 95% or higher.  

Weird other symptom?  Body odor.  I rarely stink, but the past week?  Hoofa.

The swallow thing worries me the most.  I wonder if the Oncologist will continue to ignore that symptom when I see him tomorrow.  Prolly down another 10 pounds because of it, and he weighs me.  Pathology report on my biopsies must be ready by now.

In good news, the foot ulcers are making slow progress, so that is good.

Odds and Sods

I am happy Georgia is getting Constitution Carry.  That's awesome.  Are they state #24?  #25?

Larry Hogan was the best Governor the Lefty state of Maryland could hope for.  Any possible alternative would have been way worse.  Good job Larry.  The country as a whole could do much better than him.   I do not support him for President and think he is wasting his time in the primaries.  The country will not be looks for a milquetoast RINO in 2024, is my guess.  If he get's more than 20% against DeSantis or Trump or both I'd look for shennanigans.  

All gun control is racist.

Ugh

Still nothing.  Still feel like crap 

Under the weather blogging

Sorry about the crappy posting.  This cold is zapping me.

Yesterday I was feeling a bit better.  Got up, shaved and other ablutions, dressed and... nope, had to sit.  No energy.  Got to the door  knob.

And being under the weather has two connotations.  Bad storms ripping through this week.  Twisters and everything. 

Shut up and take my money

Lower 1/3? 1.93? nope. Introducing the new Primary Arms Hipfire riser. Check out link for full review and pre-order!https://t.co/A189RuWuax pic.twitter.com/OXJtfMEBuT

— Primary Arms, LLC (@PrimaryArms) April 1, 2022

5 2

I don't bounce back like I used to

This is expected because of the Chemo. 

Maybe it's Allergies

Maybe it's a cold/cough.  No fever and the cough is kinda productive. 

Anyway, still feeling poorly.  

If Smith had shot Rock in the knee we'd have something to gun blog about.  But no.   

Maybe it's Maybelline

Huh

TTAG rewrote my post/s as their own.   Good for them.  Happy to help.  They did expand a bit on it, and the message is spread wider.

Allergies

They were mild the first 45 years of life.

They get worse every year now.  A SInus headeache on the right temple and behind the right eye that rivals the best migraine. I hate this.  Debilitating.

Claritan and sudafed and tylenol work some.  Coffee too.  

How the hell did this happen?   

I am starting to get used to the pile on.  I can never not have a pressing medical issue.  And its usually 2.  Not since turning 50.  If everything gets fixed and better I'd breaka leg the next day.  

My Reply

 

But seriously?  I'd never CHOOSE to go back to Adventist, or any big hospital, for a procedure that could be done in an offsite outpatient facility.  Just too ponderous and innefficient.

Don't worry buddy

I am sure the Billionaire tax will be taking money out of the paychecks of folks that make $100,000 a year soon enough.

 

1. Unconstitutional
2. Impossible
3. How is it a billionaire tax rate if it kicks in at the $100 million mark? That's literally 10% of $1 billion https://t.co/xlEDnIchhi

— Tristin Rice (@tristin_rice) March 27, 2022

If it weren't for the 600 pound Gorilla

"The NRA... then we could finally pass some gun banning around here!  But the NRA controls Congress."

Well, crooked Wayne and his Crew can barely control their bowels and have to resort to fake PO Boxes on the board ballot envelopes to grasp to power.  So I guess it wasn't all them doing the legislative steering.  Maybe it's the constituents making up a majority of the voters in a majority of seats? 

Hogg is feelin' down

Which is always a good thing.

I’m so frustrated and I’m sad. You can do everything right you can turn out as many voters possible, you can bring the NRA to the weakest position in decades and still these politicians do not give a fuck.

it’s absolutely heartbreaking.

— David Hogg 🌻 (@davidhogg111) March 25, 2022

"If you can't swallow"

"Then you should be drinking protein shakes and smoothies."

I'd rather lose another 100 pounds than drink one of them. I am not so desperate to resort to those vile things.  

Just give me the laudanum, Hostetler.

It's the Steak, not the Coffin Nails

Still don't know why they call them that.  Ever tried to hammer a cigarette into balsa wood? It's a challenge!

In 1955, President Dwight D Eisenhower suffered a massive heart attack while playing golf.

What happened next brought on the BIGGEST obesity epidemic the world has ever seen.

🔴THREAD 🔴 pic.twitter.com/xoYevd9re8

— Sollozzo 🥩⚡️ (@MrSollozzo) March 22, 2022

These guys

 My State Senator doesn't consider that he may be a part of the inflation problem.

And did my Country Exec write for the Washington Post?  "World Ends Tomorrow; Women and Minorities Hardest Hit."

Infusion yesterday

Tired out today. 

Dammit Joe

First you goad Putin into invading, practically giving him permission, then you admit the sanction back then were actually not meant to deter him, and NOW you are trying to dare him into WWIII?  I'm really not feelin' it, Joe.

⚡️Biden: US would 'respond' to Russian use of chemical or biological weapons.

Speaking to members of the press at the NATO summit in Brussels on March 24, U.S. President Joe Biden said NATO would respond "in kind" if Russia uses weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 24, 2022

Ghost

So there has been a EXPLOSION of ghost guns in Baltimore.  Sposebly. 

345 last year, with 12 per in the Oughts.

How many of those 345 are just plain old 1970s (or 1940s) style serial numbers filed off and they just counted it as ghost.  I wouldn't put it past the State constabulary to conflate like that.

Or how many are a Polymer 80 with no work done to it at all.  A bad plastic cudgel.

We only have one confirmed shooting with an actual made ghost gun and that victim didn't die.  That argues for the whole thing being low risk.  If low risk, wouldn't you prefer MORE of them?

So, how will I know if the numbers are real?  Well, I got a guy.  Running for State Delegate.  Got my fingers crossed.   He might have the pull to confirm.

Of the 345, 32 are linked to a shooting or homicide investigation.  What does 'linked' mean?  'Linked' can mean they busted some mope shooting people with a glock and in his stuff was a polymer 80 in the clamshell, untouched.  And it had nothing to do with the crime to hand.  Mebbe.

No matter, the law is passed out of the legislature.  It will soon conference up .  And Larry Hogan, even if he vetos (a big if) will prolly get overridden.   If you made a gun from an unfinished lower you gotta hie to an FFL and get a number etched and on the books or you will stand before the man.  BEFORE it goes into effect.

Unclear if this is only a problem when your Polymer 80 gets turned into 81+ or just having the 80 is enough to burn you.  

She is right

It is just ASTOUNDING how quickly we went from 1 "Vermont" style CCW to 24 or so.  Like the blink of an eye, politically.  As fast as Prohibition became unpopular and repealed.   

And here I sit.  In Maryland.  Yeah, I know.  If the rest of the country keeps this up, I may luck out and my state will be forced to comply as a fait accompli.  It will have to be dragged kicking and screaming, but dragged it may well be.  

(That last sentence feels grammatically correct and grammatically awful at the same time.)

---

In other news, gas prices plummeted here, overnight.  Funny how some gas stations dropped the price by 36 cents while other did not, dropped in not as much.  And don't go "IUt's just he big brand gas station stealing extra profits!" Because the Exxon next to the independent are both the same in their sub 36 price drops.  I think they figure local traffic will bear that.  The commie here at work thinks it's all Big Oil trying to screw him personally, and he doesn't understand how futures markets work or that you aren't paying for what is in the ground at the station, but for the NEXT tank worth will cost.  That's why gas prices can drop precipitously in Novemember when Hillary loses even before the inauguration.  Assumption of a less punitive regime.  

Quite a Record of Achievement

Everytown

Update: 10 of those 15 states have now passed permitless carry. pic.twitter.com/nCSmF4fLnp

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) March 22, 2022

Five more for the To-Do list.

Here's the mistake publishers make

If you got a classic book cover art, go with that.  I mean look at these, for the same book.

 

The new one, top, leaves me cold.  Even if I was NOT an aficionado of classic 70 year-old book cover illustration, the top one has no soul.  (Ross and John are the same guy.)

If you want to or have to upgrade the cover art, is it that difficult to take a little extra effort?  I'd One-Click the bottom in a second, and pass buy the top if I was shopping for detective novels.

So that scope I got

They were able to get to both tumahs and get a biopsy sample.

The pathologist took and initial look an was all "???"

Inconclusive.  More lab info in one or two weeks.

Maybe surgery?  That'd be two different, NEW doctors to go to.  Abdominal and Chest area being totally unique and all.

"Uhh, take some prilolsec?"

Ok. I guess.

(Prilosec is a no-no with my chemo.)

---

In other news, regular hospitals are super tedious. My brain surgery was outpatient, and much easier and quicker than a camera down my gullet.

Sew buttons!

I do a lot of my own sewing.  I've gotten the 100 year old Singer motorized up and running, but most of my projects are sewing my hand.  

The Remington typewriter lives on the sewing machine cabinet.  I use that more.  

Most all my work is re-attaching buttons (and I have a decent sized jar of cast off buttons and from destroyed shirts) and mending blown out pants seams.

But the plastic container I keep my sewing supplies in is over full.

What I need is a metal cookie tin.  That'd be perfect.

Meditation

Phew!

pic.twitter.com/e4aLaQqD5R

— Lightspeed_Outlaw🇺🇸 (@breakonthru234) March 17, 2022

Now that WuFlu is about over

I noticed that there were two types of work from home peeps.  

"Keep doing what you are doing, you are doing great, we won't be able to let you do this forever, so take full advantage."  

"The state said we can open the office this Monday.  I look forward to seeing you at your desk at 8AM."

The first one was/is super productive at home and she is an asset to the whole operation, the second needs to be watched as if he was a kid in daycare in a room full of hammers and razor blades, and even then you are lucky to get much product out of him.

I am sure both kinds will be noted when the next wave of layoffs comes.   

It is a Tumah!

Laproscopy to check on one of em today.  Well, RIGHT NOW.  According to shedjool. 

I think I kinda feel it...  I'll know more in a bit.  And where I am imagining.

This is the stomach one.  Though they use the same system to go after the chest one for tests.  To get the chest one out they will prolly have to gut me like a fish.  But the gut one?  Easy peasy, Grampa Killah.    

Erl

You know, gas prices are in tune with the oil futures market.  

Can you imagine if the big wigs in the Democrat side of the aisle, go "You know, we've come around on this whole thing, and we are going to deregulate this industry a lot and approve pipelines and what not."? 

I think the industry would respond favorably and if you had shorted oil futures you'd make a mint.  

So apart from Pelosi making a killing for some reason it's good for everyone.

One this day

 2066 years ago, Gaius Julius Caesar, 55, noted author, Egyptologist, salad maker, and calendar enthusiast, died surrounded by his friends.

Crap!

I forgot to post.  

Got something for tomorrow. 

Nothing for today.

Uhhhh...  

What is it, 25 states got Constitution Carry?  Maybe Indiana, 26, if the governor is pressured to let the bill go by. 

26 is more than half.

Hard to argue with

I feel seen

— J T Bolt (@NewJovianTBolt) March 13, 2022

Why, T-Bolt?

"Why are 1911s superior?"

Huh, what?  I just woke up.  Where did that come from?

"You said it last post."

I did?  Lemme check.  Oh, that was just a throwaway line.

"So you didn't mean it?"

Oh no, I MEANT it.  But not like you think.  They are superior for ME.

I did all that gunsmithing.  I know the design inside and out.  If I munged up the sear somehow, for example, I could have a chance at replacing it and not making an unsafe condition.  I'm not that good with a sear stone.  I'd probably ruin half a dozen $20 sears before figure out how to finesse that tiny little facet into something satisfactory.  And I can test a sear and no if it is any good right now, with one hand tied behind my back.  And if it breaks is it trivial to get one of the only 50-some parts for it, and that will be true for years years to come.  And much of the rest is easier to fit compared to harmony in the hammer-sear engagment.

What I am saying is that I have the working of a 1911 down, pretty good. 

My pistol training was 80% Glock platform and 15% 1911 and 5% revolver.  100% pistol.  And it was hours and hours.  I, of course, would welcome more.  And refreshers.  Etc.  Training is good.  But one thing I sorta worked through is pistols are pistols.  Like "shoot/no-shoot" is the same with a M&P as it is with an M&P (semi/revolver).  I have no bias on that, and I have a bit of work inside the guts of a revolvers, just nothing like a 1911.  I can now run a Glock, when before the training that, for some reason, was my worst personally-performing platform.  

"So why not a Glock?"

Well, I don't OWN a Glock.  Nor have I taken a Glock Armorers class (though that takes a weekend, not weeks)

The 1911 is superior because it is the gun I know, the gun I have, and the gun I like.  It's my solution for me.  Not the solution for everyone.  The 1911 is superior in this very specific use-case.  Me.  And it works ok.  It has limitations, and I am aware of them,

I'm not here to argue with you over your SIG P369 or 302 (or whatever) selection or make fun of you for it or try to convert you to my preference.  I might look down on your for a Taurus Judge selection a little bit.  But for wholly different reasons.  "Revolver, fine. THAT revolver?  Meh...." I used to be that arguing guy.  I've gotten much better

If I signed up for training I'd prolly have to borrow a black plastic service pistol.  Range up a few times ahead of the class.  And that is fine.  But that's because the trainers say to bring a black plastic service pistol to a lot of these.

I've feel like I've mellowed

The blog used to have more rants.  Paragraphs explaining how 'commies are bad for childrens and other living things.'  And 'all gun control is an infringement and how about them loathsome Fudds?' 

I've said all that, for one thing.  And to go over it again is just repetitive.  Trying to keep things fresh from posts I did 10 years ago, as much as possible.

I can't just rehash the 4 Rules of Gun Safety posts every month.  Unless I can get some novelty out of it.  I can't rail agin' Metrocons because they all morphed into boring old Never Trumpers.  Ho hum.  

The assumption now is "Well of course commies are bad and gun laws are infringements, I don't need to tell ya."

Plus, the illness has taken some wind out of my sails. Slowed me RIGHT down. 

Funny memes get shared and spread on other platforms.  

No one wants to hear about how good 1911s are.  

Makes blogging a bit tougher, but my mellowness has me just going with the flow.  Good ol' inertia!

 

Plauge

Remember when it was ladybugs several years back?

Then stinkbugs?

It was supposed to be Japanese Murder Hornets 2 years ago.

Now this.  Parachuting spiders the size of a St. Bernard.  Not including the legs. 

Who's on our side?

Welly Welly Well!

Indiana legislature passed a Constitution Carry bill and send it to the governor.  He may well veto it.

Because of course.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle are generally anti-gun.  GOP ones are just the ones that sometimes get punished when that fact is revealed.  

Not every Republican is a gun banner.  Or there would be ZERO Constitution Carry states.  But the only way to reveal one of these creatures it to get them to sign off on serious revivals of firearm owner's rights.

Once revealed, pressure builds in pro guns jurisdictions.  To either make them reconsider and eventually force their hand to correct their mistake, or so turn them out.  

Is Governor Holcomb a squish?  I don't know, I am not a Hoosier.  If he vetoes the bill will a lot of people in the state of Indiana be disappointed with him?  I guarantee it. 

Indiana will be #22.  Or is it #23 now?

 

Oooo!

I know the answer to this.

Don't open that hatch, tank guy!  Better pray he doesn't have a larger Robertson screw driver.  Looks like a #5. 

This is why armor is supposed to be supported by infantry, especially in urban environments. pic.twitter.com/LwHxRdyWZc

— Louis vil LeGun ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (@LouisvilleGun) March 9, 2022

In Chicago

20 Shot, 1 Fatally...

You see similar headlines like that, outta Chicago for the last few years.  Maybe not a 20:1 ratio, but definitely a bias toward WIA vis KIA.

Criminals are shooting people, but not fatally.  

I am almost certain it was always thus.  If they highlighted it in DC papers in 1991, the ratio would be similar, I'm saying.  I don't know, and the papers didn't word it the same, but it's the way to bet.

Bad guys, using pistols, hopped up on panicky adrenalin, with insufficient marksmanship training and practice, yielding more survivors, all while conducting street level pharmacological services outside the law.

Why do WE care, in the legitimate firearm community?  Well, it's something to remember when CCWing.  If you have to use your pistol, the person trying to rob you might not fall down and close his eyes at the outset of the first exchange.  I mean, it's not like your purpose is to kill the threat, it's to stop the theat.  Those 20 shot, 1 fatally in Chicago might have been out of the fight or an innocent bystander might have caught a stray round, so unless it was 20 assassination attempts, those 20 beefs might have been resolved to the shooters satisfaction.  The news articles don't go into that.  It's not an after action report of much value, from that angle. 

And it is probably too much to ask for the Chicago Tribune to inquire and report such details.  Like they are even fully knowable.  

Golly, I want to retire to Cleveland

I wish I could have seen it in the 40s and 50s.

Never desired an AK

But I might be persuaded, depending on the features.

pic.twitter.com/DvcSO6H3jH

— Brandon Hannibal Donkey (@BHDonk1) March 7, 2022

Ok, Vlad

How much is Putin paying you, Secretary General of the UN?

In reaction to the report, U.N. Secretary-General, António Guterres doubled down on that message, calling fossil fuels "a dead end." 

 "Coal and other fossil fuels are choking humanity," Guterres says. Fossil fuel companies, banks and investors are all complicit, he argues. "Those in the private sector still financing coal must be held to account. Oil and gas giants - and their underwriters – are also on notice."

 Dang Commie Simps

Dick's Ammo

Marine buddy sez, "Went to Dicks.  Also, I went to a sporting goods store to get LaCrosse cleats for Biff and they had ALL the ammo!"

First, we are both from the Don't Ask Don't Tell generation of the military, but I already knew you are a former Marine.  Second, good news!

Lemme see what favored online supplier have in my preferred brand and caliber and... it looks like it always did.  I hadn't checked in a long time because, you know, feeling a spot poorly of late and not hitting the range.  So I wasn't depleting stocks.  

Hell, I forget what I wanted to lay in a bit more of.  Hmm. 

Just to save this as a reference

I kow in a year I will want to find this graph and won't be able to Google these with "Chart or Oil and Gas Prices under Biden" for some reason.

 

Tossed like a Caesar Salad

The NY AG's suit to dissolve the NRA.  Judge says don't be silly.

This despite the abject corruption and incompetence displayed by the leadership of America's oldest civil rights organization.  Their worry about avoiding jail has adversely impacted their ability to respond to attacks by Gun-Banner on the Second from that angle.  While Gropey Joe opens up new attacks on the natural right by going after PLCAA.  Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.  Trying to treat gunmakers, in the courts, like they did tobacco companies.  You know, Joey Applesauce, them companies DO make guns for the military and police, too.  Do you really want to put them out of business?  

And as for Caesar Salads.  You want me to believe an Italian guy that's been dead for over 70 years made that salad?

They vote, same as you

I’m in awe pic.twitter.com/ATJcC2GGFo

— Lt. Col. Hippolytus, Ukraine Patriotic Front (ret) (@Real_Hippolytus) March 4, 2022

Lindsey

“Well, now what happened is one of our Senators went a little funny in the head. You know, just a little funny and he went and said a silly thing.” pic.twitter.com/NEMViK0yOK

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) March 4, 2022

Yes, Fred.

This Just In

BREAKING NEWS

74% of Americans are DEE YOU EM BEE.

74% of Americans support a "no-fly zone!" This euphemism has done tremendous harm to the American public's understanding of escalation and conflict.

I'm very worried that Russian state media will seize on this and further misrepresent it to Russians. https://t.co/arwFvZseLN

— Emerson T. Brooking (@etbrooking) March 4, 2022

No longer having a gay old time

 

My Tank!

With all this armor up for grabs, now, after getting abandoned, there is something I always wondered about.  

When infantry disable a tanks tracks and make it immobile they then swarm it, avoiding the point end of the turret, and wary of other enemy tanks in machine gun range, which could ruin the dog-faces day...

The next step is to open a hatch, spray inside with a burp gun to lower their moral, then drop a grenade in there.   Rinse repeat on the next piece of armor.

The thing I wonder about is, why isn't there a latch on the inside to keep the hatch from being opened?  You lock your car door whenever you cross into the bad neighborhood downtown, why don't tanks? 

Just a Hollywood trope?
Yeah...

Now, sure, if they leave a hatch open and you sneak up on it, that's different.

I can't even see the firearm in this tweet

Kinda diggin this Jericho rn. What do you guys think?? pic.twitter.com/IeDFFCjC6y

— Huey Lewis (@HAv2RtrnVdeoTps) March 3, 2022

Yesterday was a good day

Why?  I took an extra-strength Tylenol at work around lunchtime.  Remarkably good spirits after that.  

I am normally an Advil person, but can't use them now because of the chemo drugs.  Nor aspirin.  I don't drink much for the same reason, counterindicative with chemo; acetaminophen is both fine, and the only recommended analgesic, now.   I didn't expect it to work so well with my thoracic pain. Nice.  Some good news, for once.  Nice discovery.  

Also, dinner was chicken Kiev.  No particular reason for the choice...

  

"I love Chucks!"

"I love converse shoes, they have always been popular, for decades and decades."

Oh, you sweet summer child.

Yes, they have been quite popular.  Stylish even.  For a very long time.  

But there was a time...  When Jordache jeans were popular...  From the mid seventies to the early 80s Chuck Taylors were NOT popular. Adidas and Nike were coming into their own.  And these shoes were not.  They were called fish heads.  Un-fashionable.

The only thing less popular were K-Mart blue-light specials. 

"We're gonna walk down to K-Mart and buy some shoes.  They only cost a dollar."

Poor placement

The first Ad Youtube thought would be good to serve up for me on this video was for an electric toothbrush...

Bit of a funk

And it's been AGES since I went to the range.  

I may need to venture out, now that my energy is up since the anemia is addressed.

Might be able to wear real big-boy shoes again, by the middle of the month. One of the things I may have to do is find shoes that fit.

Before all this foot ulcer thing happened I had found a house shoe (just like the Japanese!) that felt good.  $24.  I was so pleased I bought 2 more pair.  Now I don't know if they will be wide enough for comfort.  Fingers crossed.

But a trip to a big shoe store, if such things still exist, to try on shoes rather than go through the catalog-order, then order-return I usually do.  PIA. 

Skeptical

Look, I like Richard Hernandez.  Even trust his reporting.  But I have been burned so much the last coupla decades by 'factual' reports detailing recent events that then turn out to be wholly fantasy to just accept things.

If he told me my mother loved me I'd still look for other sources to confirm.

"The Russian battalion-sized airmobile force met stiff air defense and was immediately counterattacked by the Ukrainian mobile reserve"

"Unable to land follow-on forces, the paratroopers could not withstand heavy weapons and were scattered or wiped out. Equally serious for the Russians was the failure of their northern pincer to advance on schedule"

"IL-76s loaded with paratroops destroyed"

"Putin rolled the dice of war and didn’t beat Ukraine"

Now, I want these to all be true.  I am rooting for Putin to fail.  But the information streaming in is so strewn with misinformation and totally made up bullshit.  It's too soon to tell.  To paint such an optimistic picture for Ukraine.

Is the ghost of Kiev a myth?  Probably.  Is the Snake Island defiance a myth?  Probably.  I do so want both to be true.  

There is plenty of time for Ukraine to suffer awful setbacks and lose everything, though.  The only fact I trust right now is there are Russian military forces inside Ukrainian territory and fire is being exchanged.

I’m confused… pic.twitter.com/gKjv2m0NoM

— Jewels (@jewels4meee) February 26, 2022

The Whole Ediface is Crumbling Down Around Us

Notice that little things seems to break and fail for no good reason?  Like weird 0530 alarms, unset, by your Apple phone.  One example of many many.  I bet you've noticed it too.

"Back in my day!"  Yeah yeah, things were more reliable in the 80s.  Right.  I agree.  But why?

Were the 'Experts' more confident, with educations un-muddled with Marxism and Diversity training?  And folks were more serious because you had to keep a watchful eye on keeping stuff running because otherwise the Soviets might steal a march?

Maybe.

Or maybe the worlds is a bit more complicated and orders of magnitude more computer code is now woven into life's fabric.  Even if our Experts in that department are more competent and catching more bugs, there is still a lot of bugs that run up and bit you in the ass.  

Gov't involvement in our daily lives is also more prevalent.  We miss the days when the Post Office and the IRS was the only interaction we had.  Oh, and if our bank went bust we got together with the FDIC folks.  Now DHS is constantly watching our bank accounts, along with the IRS, now.  Because they can.  And TSA is getting our shoes and belts when we fly, briefly.  Every time we buy a gun the FBI has to be contacted and paid a fee, too.  Getting nudged all the time to wear a mask, buy an electric car, ditch your gas stove, have restrictors in your showerhead, use awful paper straws.  Yes, sometimes mandated, but usually the policy is to make the path of least resistance so you comply because you have no other path as easy to take.

And it's awful.

More on Fox Company

It was negative 30 at night. Have you ever slept in a 1950s surplus Army sleeping bag?  I have one of them.  It's AWFUL.    

I've never been outside in negative 10 weather.  Zero degree weather a coupla few times.  But always less than half an hour.  

Outside for days?  No thank you!

"Hey, T-Bolt, don't you talk about retiring to Cleveland?"

Yeah?  And? 

"No reason."

Pure Energy

People think nothing could have been done to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine, but that's absurd: if Putin thought the costs of invasion outweighed the benefits, he wouldn't have done it. He's a rational actor not a madman. And today it's clear Putin calculated correctly.

— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) February 25, 2022

"People who believe that nothing could have been done to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine thus imply that Russia's chokehold over European energy supplies was inevitable, but it wasn't. Europe could have easily increased, rather than closed, nuclear plants and natural gas."

Ban Hammer

Two 'conversations' talking over each other in two different instanstances.  So, four conversations total?  

First, in Tennessee. Where they 'banned' Maus.  But I heard reports it wasn't a ban.  It was "maybe this is more appropriate for a later grade?"  I have no problem with a school system deciding that, say, 5th grade was too young to introduce such a complicated subject in graphic novel form.  Maybe wait til 8th to bring it into the classroom.  I can see that.  Maus is good, but if it was my first graphic novel at at 11, I'd have sworn off the platform forever after.  

Then in Pennsylvania.  Closer to a 'real' ban.  Where Asimov would kick in.  Gonna need a list of all the excised whypipo authors?  But the organizers are going, "Oh, but that was all satire!  Can't you take a joke. Sheesh."  Mmmm.  Or did you get caught?  Or it could have been a great way to score surplus uncontroversial titles!  Something I'd have been thrilled to be in on.

I am more worried about the progressive woke latter, and less the reactionary holocaust-denying former, assuming the worst from both sets.  Why?  They are both awful, but there's a lot more of the woke types about, in sheer numbers.  I see them every day.  I never run into a troglodyte that goes Marge Schott on the 1940s. 

But that may be a factor of where I live.  I live is deep blue DC suburbs.  Maybe Texas is like that.  Full of holocaust deniers, while here I can't swing a dead cat and not hear "real communism has never been tried".    

Hotel Detective

It can't be a good job.  Being a House Dick.  Like being a School Resource Officer in a big High School.  But worse.

Tho, I'd think the Willard Hotel would have fewer Femme Fatales:

They have a patio on the roof now.  Great brunch on a Spring Day, with a downward view, it feels of the Washington Monument.  Makes the obelisk look shorter.  Good view of the Treasury, too.

"He put sugar in his claret.  If he wasn't a crook, he was a dangerous lunatic."  Oh, I agree.  Sounds like a furren type.  Prolly an Anarchist.

Last Stand of Fox Company

Been reading this book.  Fox Company was a 7th marine company under Barber, a mustang that fought at Iwo, defending a pass at Haguru-Ri.  I recommend it.  

But the point of this post is writing about the cold.  The battle happened after Thanksgiving but this was in an Appalachian altitude mountain range in an read the same latitude as Pennsylvania in the word winter in 30 years.

Unlike the 101st at Bastogne, the Marines had cold weather gear.  Cold pack (wool) overshoes over waterproofed and lined winter boots.  Three layer of pants, longjohns, wool pants, and windbreaker style over pants.  Four layers on their trunk.  Cotton undershirt, long johns, wool tunic, and an alpaca wool lined over-coat.  Wool hat under their helmet that had flaps that went down past their ears.  Winter gloves with leather or thick canvas mittens over that.  Some cut a hole in the gloves/mittens for their trigger finger.

The wind was funneled through that pass and came straight from Siberia.  As they were digging foxholes in the 16inch deep frosted ground, someone had thermometer and it said -23 Fahrenheit. 

That cold weather gear was good, but not enough. 

---

I always wondered what would happen if MacArthur had settled for establish a tough, defensive line from Wonson, west, making Pyongyang a South Korean city close to the DMZ instead of Seoul.  Giving Mao less provocation by encroaching too near the Yalu River, squeezing the Norks into a smaller territory with lass ability to cause trouble in 50 years.  "If you cause trouble, we push you back a parallel."

But that wasn't Dugout Doug's way.

Gun people have opinions

Gun opinions have opinions.  And just like all opinions, everyone has one and they generally stink.

And we are not shy about sharing our gun opinions with other people of the gun.  

You see another mostly-ally 'on the street' open carrying. (Really, it's at the register of the Sheetz, getting brefass sammich)  A Walther PPK.  In a floppy nylon holster with no retention.  At the small of the back.  What do you?

1. Point and laugh, "Loser!  What an awful gun!  Slide bite, much?  Yer gonna get that taken, then, nothing but tears."
2. Stare and judge silently.  Oh you ARE judging
3. "Hey buddy, you don't know me from Adam's off Ox, but, I'd carry with a better pistol and a better caliber and a better holster, and concealed.  UPGRAYDDD.  The J-Frame in your wife's purse she's never taken to the range is a better idea than that.  But you do you, Boo-Boo.  The grips are great, tho." 
4. If asked by the individual what you think of the ivory grips on his OC Gatt, say "The grips are tits, but, personally, that isn't my preference for a whole carry strategy.  That's just me."  Have polite explanations if follow-up questions are forthcoming.  

#1 might be true, but not polite for anyone but a best buddy.

#2 is the politest one.  Well, out loud polite.

#3 is a bit interjecting and innapropriate, sounding off uninvited.

#4 is polite, and satisfactory.  Trying to get around to #3, being your ultimate message.  But hell, what do you know?  Have some humility for once in your life. 

Me?  #2.  If I know the person, #4.  And more alert of people milling about that aren't him.  Silly.

 

When mask mandates get lifted

In my deep blue county.

"If it dips below 50 cases you can go to the grocery without a mask if you want.  Oh and After the 21st of Feb because this whole exercise is running out of gas and folks are getting sick of it:"

#BlueCovid

 

Elrich would have kept Montgomery Co. mask mandates in place until lower transmission rate reached https://t.co/qGO8BVxv88 pic.twitter.com/HrcrelFMYh

— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) February 18, 2022

Grazin in the Grass is a Gas

My gas stove is old.  I need to buy a spare before that become impossible.  With spare parts. 

Look, if the power goes out in the winter, the furnace doesn't work. Heck, the no pilot light oven doesn't either.  But the stove top will with a match or lighter.  You don't freeze.

Hmmm.  Expensive, but what am I saving money for, now?

Politics

Mid December:

"We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated — for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm"

Mid February:

"Nevermind.  Mandates lifted."

---

Well, that's good, I guess.  Except in that one province in Canada.

Malaphor

 We'll burn that bridge when we come to it.

I saw that on FB, and figured malaphor would be a vocabulary word I'd retain forever, it is such a good word.  I was wrong.  Fortunately Facebook brought it back round, as it is wont to do.  You don't have to wait til the cows freeze over.    

So I am typing it again to remember it.  MALAPHOR!

STUPID TRUCKER STRIKE!

Since it started there has been NO diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale (made out of real soulless Gingers) available in any form anywhere!

I am quite put out.

I recommend PET scans

You have to go high fat high protein no carb for 24 hours, and then you get to nap an hour when you get there.  And it's quiet, not like an MRI.     

Suckah!

Dig them mines!  Build America!  Say what you please!  Tar and feather them folks that want to take that away from you.

"I've heard this talk before but I never thought I'd hear it in America."  Evergreen furrener complaint.  Furreners that came here to get away from Freemasons in Latveria.  Wait, no.

So, it is good to have Freemason about, but not them dang Nazzees.  Fair enough.  Never been a fan of the collectivists, and the Masons don't hurt anyone.  

And if Freemasons were super powerful and ran the world by pulling the strings of power behind the scenes, how come they didn't pull the string to keep the NSDAP from rounding them up, putting them in the camps, with the lice and typhoid?  Sort of a counterfactual to the puppetmaster theme.    

You know this video goes into a lotta detail about why to not like Nazis and they had been squashed underfoot in total victory two years before.  People worry about Nazis a LOT, even then.  That's to distract you from the REAL threat.  Don't be a sucker worrying about who they tell you to worry about.  Should you worry about ol' Adolf, years dead, or that monster Stalin and Mao, them or their successors undefeated.  Though you can extrapolate the lessons of this video forward, but why not make that lesson overt?

Ohhhhh... it's a video about the Civil Rights movement.  20 years from this video the heavy lifting will be done on that. 40 years after, the Commies will be squashed without a shot, only to be squandered after both.

(Though we screwed up Ukraine, over the decades.  To prep for today's problems we should started back in the 90s.  Don't send in the 82nd now..,)

Never seen one before, but that's got all the makings of a run

Justin Trudeau happened.

 

pic.twitter.com/X24ojuSArI

— Christopher Smith (@Heypally78rpms) February 16, 2022

I dunno

Folks definitely criticized Trump for not doing more than SCOTUS picks to help out the 2nd.  But our voices were on things like here.  Gunblogs.  Blogs read by almost a dozen people, daily.  While Everytown gun banners have the ear of CNN.  Which reaches scores of people, daily.  Much bigger megaphone.

 

In recent months, the gun-control groups have increased their public criticism of Biden, which I find pretty fascinating. I'm not sure it's true Biden could do much more on guns than he already is. But they all seem to feel otherwise. https://t.co/t7V78jTRVr

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 14, 2022

'Your labs look good'

"But the tumor in your gut is getting bigger.  That's not expected."

Well, drat. 

That's gonna impact the unit's morale, again.  And since I am the CO, that falls on me to try to improve.

JayG

 I worry about Jay because of LaPierre money shenanigans nigh destroying NRA.   And say Wayne goes to prison.  One of his cronies is probably in line to take that spot with little the board can do about it, since they monkeyed with the rules.

I hope that's not true, but if it was true, why is LaPierre still there?

If the NRA goes defunct because all the malfeasance, where does that leave folks like JayG doing good work there in Fairfax?  Like yesterday's post?  

The NRA was always the 600 pound gorilla striding through the halls of Congress, scaring some freshman congresscitters half to death.  That gorilla wasn't perfect by any means, and didn't always hold the line, but it still did stuff.  If the NRA went away, the 2A community would still have money to donate to somebody.  Something would take it's place.  But it will take a bit to ramp that up to Silverback levels.  And that always worries me.       

I was wondering when they'd get to this

S&W CSX.

Black plastic construction for ease of fabrication, 1911 styling because of 1911 cache.  Cash-AY.

And JayG showing the ropes. Thanks Jay.

I kinda like it!  A bit small.  Got a Commander size coming?  You can get 10 rounds in a 9mm 1911 single stack.  10 isn't that shabby.  But this micro also has 10 rounds, and it isn't Commander size, it is smaller, so I am guessing a little thicker than single stack.  Yup, Jay just told me.  I wonder what the single-action lockwork looks like...  Funny, that's what I care about most these days.  I like the trigger safety dingus.  Nice form  

Am I shopping for a small gun?  No.  I am more likely to mess around with pistol optics now that that mod is maturing.  

Tuscany

The Washington Football Team finally chose a new name that didn't offend white Liberals that were white knighting for the Indians.  Now they are the Commodores!

What?

Indigenous names for sports collectives is out of fashion, and not woke.  But one team still has the original moniker appropriated from Indigenous peoples that were clearly exploited from colonialist robbing them of their traditional lands and resources.  The Las Vegas Raiders have adopted the name of the Tusken Raiders.  How politically incorrect.  Surprised some group of Star Trek geeks haven't made life uncomfortable for them already.  But I am boycotting the NFL, myself, until they change.  So there. 

And don't you dare call them the S-word.  That's worse!  

SUPER BOWL!

Nothing lasts!

When I moved in to this place back in the 90s the previous owner had put up a thin braided cotton rope, about four feet long, in the laundry area.  This they, and I, used to put hangered clothes on when emptying the dryer.  Sometime I leave the summer stuff on it in the winter and winter stuff on it in the summer.  No room in the closet upstairs.

Anyway, after only 25 years the rope broke. I have replaced it.  Nylon, this time.  Why?  It was the first suitable cordage I ran across.  Draped the old and busted, in orange, as an example to other cordage:

I guess I have no right to complain.  The washer/dryer combo is older than me, though it looks like someone probably replaced the dryer in the mid 60s.   

No Knocks

I'm going to take a controversial position here. 

I think police should be able to do as many no-knock raids as they can get a warrant for.  

They just won't be allowed to do it armed.

No firearms, no body armor, no shield, no taser, not pepper spray, no nightstick or espantoon...  They use a battering ram to gain entrance they must leave that outside.  Flashlight must be plastic, and not D-Cell.  

If they get aired out during this home invasion, thems the breaks.  And that'll probably be justified.  But it will keep tragedies from happening.  Well, tragedies that one direction.

Of course police can't be FORCED to go on one of these no-knock raids.  The unions would never stand for that anyway.  So tragedies from two directions during a raid is minimized. 

"The this dude is dangerous.  He'd shoot through the door if we did the warrant with a real knock and wait!"

Better arrest him when he's away from home, then.  More overtime for stake-outs that way, too.

Cultivate

I wanted to buy a corkscrew.  The one I had was shite.  Amazon has a bajillion.  Page after page for what is probably the same 3 varieties.  With prices for the SAME thing from $12 to $400.  

I got one.  It's better, but I'm not super happy with it.  

Why can't Amazon be better?  Why can't I just get a result of "show me only French or Italian made corkscrews."  I'd pay a bit extra for that.  I'd pay extra for an Indonesian one.  I am sure all the crappy zinc ones on there are Chinesium.

Well, there is a browser extension called Cultivate.  Never underestimate buncha frustrated weeb shut-in programmers who create extensions for frustrated users.  Cultivate flags possible US made alternatives when you are shopping.  

I guess if you were shopping for a Springfield XD (US company that imports plastic guns made in the Balkans somewhere) it might tell you to buy a Glock (Austrian?  No, that one is Made... in Georgia).  They claim they suss out with their algorithm, at Cultivate.  I guess they weight how many parts of that Smyrna Glock are source from Austria, and whatever contribution Genseo is making to that Grip Zone.

---

Another idea, Amazon.  In 20 years I have NEVER bought a hat that wasn't size 11 3/4.  Because that is my size.  Please, never show me a hat that doesn't come in that size.  Or 2XLT shirts.  &c.  

Amazon isn't really motivated to make themselves that much better.  What are you gonna do, go to one of Amazon's competitors with a better run web interface?  If a better interface did pop up Amazon would just buy them up and Borg any improvement into themselves.  Or just ignore the improvement because, again, where you gonna go?

Good.

It's easier to make this statement when it is already known that: 

• The victim had no record.
• The victim had a CCW.
• The victim wasn't on the warrant.
• The cops murdered an innocent man doing nothing wrong.

"A Minnesota gun rights organization issued a statement condemning the killing of 22-year-old Amir Locke, who was shot by a SWAT team on Wednesday."

We usually don't know those details so soon after the event.  If the NRA comes out in support of the victim and a week later everyone know he was a pedophile with a long list of ruined children behind him, then Shannon Watts says, "The NRA supports pedophiles."  So the NRA waits will the furor dies down.

But the NRA should take after the MN Gun-Owner Caucus in circumstance similar to this one even if some go "The NRA takes the side against the thin blue line!  They must hate the police now!" 

Mask Advances

If you put pantyhose over your head while wearing your China Virus mask it makes it more effective.  The panty hose makes the mask fit tighter, but it does make bank clerks and gas station cash register operators nervous. 

You know, Vice, if you put a plastic bag over your head and duck-tape it around the neck real tight, in 10 minutes it will be even MORE effective in not spreading the virus ever again. 

Cab-Over Pete w/ a Reefer on

You never see cab-over semis anymore.  They musta made a safety rule about them.  Or maybe Kenworth or Freightliner went outta bidness?  Naw, I seen that badge on new trucks.  Let me check this website I just learned about, LMGTFY.com.

Ah, it's DE-regulation that took away the cabover's advantage  "As length regulations have increased, the amount of cabovers has decreased. Now that longer units are allowed on the roads, the main advantage of these trucks, is no longer valid."  Huh.  I learned something today.

Still a bunch in wooden shoe areas of the world, like Dutch-Land.  Tighter roads and their own regulatory regime must still give a reason for the style.

Hundreds of Dutch truckers, inspired by their Canadian counterparts, are heading to Rotterdam for a major demonstration against mandates and restrictions in an effort to restore freedom back to the people 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/xo7I8IDLFb

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@TheVigilantFox) February 6, 2022

Cancel

 He's right.  

Cancel culture will only end when they go after someone like me after I say something rude and stupid and beyond the pale, and try to end me.  And everyone from J K Rowling on down to bloggers with 2 readers (as opposed to my whopping 9 readers) comes to my defense.  (Google, too.  This is blogger, after all; Google would have to stand on one side.)  And I prevail, and the other side hides in shame.

Though it won't be my defense, per se, it will be a defense of something much bigger than NJT and a stupid tiny gun blog.  It'd be a defense of freedom of speech and blow against censorship.

Boo! Ghost Gun

With Marylands AG pushing for ghost gun legislation, and now even Joey Ice-Cream pushing ghost gun legislation...

A buddy is printing a Hi-Power!

"pssspsssspssssss t-bolt psspsspsssssssssss" 

Oh, sorry, I meant Hi-Point.  And it has sparkles.  Just the frame, natch, but you can get the other parts separate and easy.

A Golden Gun is ideal when dealing with pesky Her Majesty's Secret Service types.

Fumbling for Traction

To stop their slide, we sorta expected Joe's grasping hands to reach for gun control.  I dunno why they think this will pass or might be popular.  Any more so than their other legislations.  At least THOSE had built in payoffs to entice legislators to go along.

If you wanna fight crime, go after criminals.  Don't go after the criminal's shoes or the criminal's earrings or the criminals other possessions they sometimes use to help them commit crimes.

"Feature" include:

• So-called Ghost Gun bans
  and...
• Private sales, regardless if the sale is legal or not

The only time where a gun-centric initiative bore any anti-crime fruit, to my knowledge, is when things like Project Exile were up.  But that's because it didn't go after guns, a morally neutral mere-deodand.  It went after the criminals, meting out long sentences for crimes committed with guns.  But locking criminals up, despite being a proven effective strategy, is not in fashion at this time.

"Project Exile was flawed, T-Bolt!  And probably raciss!"

Sigh.  Yeah, perhaps it was both of those.  So fix the flaws.  That's what we pay your lawmakers and preznits to do.

Poor Joe.  He's flailing.  Hate to see it.

Oh No!

The accurate groundhog, Milltown Mel, died.  Just before the Holiday.

What kind of weather prediction is it where he does look for a shadow but BECOMES a Shade?  

That's like Game of Thrones style long winter...

I hope Punxsutawney Phil can carry the load.

Coffee Horde

So, I overbought bean coffee last fall.  There was a supply chain crisis and I knew that coffee comes here on a ship and I didn't want to, you know, run out.  

Well that chain didn't snap like that, at Christmas time, and now I haven't made a dent in that over-purchase.  It's not THAT bad.  It's only like 7 pounds above and beyond normal requirements.  It'll get used.  

Other necessities are in over abundance under my roof.  I won't have a toilet paper problem unless the Spring of 2020 comes back and lasts a year. If I get to regularly baking bread, I might have to do better than 2 pound sacks.  I bake a loaf, eat about two thirds of it before the mold strikes.  Take a bit over a week.  Maybe not slice it as thin?   

I got a weather prediction for ya.

Finally

A television program to cater to the underserved Zombie enthusiast.  

--------

Unrelated, mayo instead of butter grilled cheese sammiches is alright. Not so great it knocks your sock off and you swear off butter. Just alright.

Rock Rock Rock

I kinda want a rocking chair.  

I guess I am off that age.

I think I am enamored with the idea of a rocking chair, but in practice, not so much.  It's hard and cold in the winter...  How good can it be for my sketchy back?

Kennedy got a Boston Rocker.  That certain style.

See, even HE had to pad it all over to make it comfy.  But knockoff are in the price point I'd want to spend.  There are lots of Chinese rocking chair with flat seat for $100.  I'd want something with enough refinement in the comfort to warrant $500 or so, give or take.  Made in the USA, often, too, at that price point.  Not always, but often.

This one is practically a Morris Chair.

And I liked the comfort of this style, the few I tried sitting in a coupla decades ago

Which brings me to another problem.  Where to put it?  Rockers take up a LOT of real estate.  I could put it out on the screened in porch, but then you are getting to the "is it too nice to be exposed to the elements?"  And then how often would I use it?  Too cold today.  I'd have to take up pipe smoking on the regular to force me out to it.  

This one is my favorite, but it's north of three grand.  Phew!  I'd have to be dying of some deadly disease to justify that purchase.  But it's a lovely modern design.

Only Criminals Will Have Guns!

Meh.

Lotsa folks include all 'gov't' in the 'criminals' category.   I don't agree with the 'all' part.

It used to be “if we ban guns only the criminals will have guns” and that still holds water, but now it should be “the Government wants to take guns so they will be the only ones with guns”

— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) January 29, 2022