I was just thinking about this stuff

 Wondering if it was still around.

Reason for CCW

"But they are CHILDREN, T-Bolt!"

They know what they did.

Seriously, don't shoot children that throw snowballs at you.

NRA and Maryland Shall Issue

Band together to take Maryland to court over the onerous requirements to buy a pistol that the other side openly admitted was for the sole purpose of burdening the exercise of a civil right.

(I like this over the bump stock case.  If you win the bump stock case and not the pistol buying case, that's like getting the crust crumbs but losing the pie.  'But it's about property rights, T-Bolt.'  That's not how it's gonna be remembered.)

To wit:

The current handgun qualification law requires residents in Maryland who wish to legally purchase a handgun to first fill out an application, obtain a copy of their fingerprints from a third-party, attend lengthy classroom instruction, pass a live-fire exercise, pay a $50 application fee, then wait up to 30 days for the state to process the information. Once these steps are completed, the purchaser must then follow Maryland’s additional laws and undergo another background check, pay another registration fee, and wait an additional seven business days before they can take possession of the gun.

And:

The state’s own expert witness admitted the law was created to “intimidate” law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right to buy a handgun.

Nice to NRA help out. Usually Maryland is ignored by them.

No.

I repeat.  No.    

No nationwide licensing.  Shouldn't even be statewide.

No, Larry

Don't say: "I want students back in classrooms March 1st."

Say: "I want students back in classrooms March 1st, and then we can start paying teachers again."

Yer welcome.  Shoulda already said September 8th, months ago.

Rep. Harris, R-MD

Andy Harris got in trouble with gun.  He's Maryland's last GOP congresscritter.  We used to have morebut the gerrymandering in this state is legendary and that cut out one or two others.

People act like he should be ashamed he was carrying a gun.  No, he should be ashamed that only elite Marylanders like him can.  I can't.  Not on the House floor, just like him, but not on Capitol Hill or DC in general or the Maryland street outside my house.  

Oh sure, I could hire a lawyer, pay a few thou, and get in through the back door.  I bet Andy Harris didn't pay fifty bucks to get a 'permit.'   

That injustice aside. I'd think hiding under a desk in that very chamber might've changed Nancy's mind about folks protecting themselves.  I don't think a few dozen CCWs in there would lead to a Sumner-Brooks situation, even with both left and right getting so polarized of late.  We have less honor-battles these days than 150 years ago.  If B1 Bob had been toting in the 80s I don't think he'd have popped Downey.  Just argle bargle.  

Hollywood Propaganda

Gabby Giffords wants to unleash the power of Hollywood to push her anti-American, anti-Constitution propaganda.  Or at least her teleprompter does.  

Really popular movies like WW84 had an anti gun riff. And those beats are really helping it with audiences, critics, and the box office.

Luckily for the good guys, Hollywood isn't what it used to be. 

Still.  Not nice.  It makes her organization look like Woodrow Wilson when he was flagging Birth of a Nation to advance similar goals.   I don't think Hollywood has that kind of pull.  And nowadays they'll have to force in some Chinese actors to keep another interest happy.  

---

Her teleprompter also thinks all cops are bastards and need gun bans too.

Head up

 "Hey, T-bolt, why do you keep your head up when shooting?"

Well.  Lately, I am looking for good hills to stand on.  And with the hardware in my neck, that's another requirement.  

--

My shooting training is all antedated by my spine issues.  I was lucky to start out with a trainer that really stressed keeping your head in a natural upright position.  Not to hunch over like I shooting into driving sleet.   

--

And really, my head doesn't go down much any more.  I can't fold bedsheets by myself.

Monday Bupkis

Don't really have nuffin. 

Been seeing John Moses Browning (pbuh) stories lately.  One even said it was the forgotten history of the man.  I dunno about that.  Any one with more than half a dozen guns probably has SOMETHING invented by the man.  

No, I don't think most gunnies are ignorant of JMB.  

Is it his birthday?  It was!  Saturday.  That explains it.  I am remiss not marking it my own self.  

Engraving Ol' Slabsides

 The 1911 has a lot of flat metal.  Engraving purty designs on guns predates 1911 by centuries.  But gunsmiths and gunnies are a conservative lot, so they commonly stick to the classic designs when engraving their pistols.  Which predates 1911 by millennia.  Scrolls and S's and C's.

If I made my living as a gunsmith I'd have eschewed the engraving side.  It requires more patience and a sharper artist's eye I than I possess

I've been enamored with Art Deco.   More and more lately.  It's spare and more muted and geometrical.  

Then the lightbulb went off and I put two and two together.  The style and pistol are contemporary. The designs can be very complex but don't have to be to still pull off a good look.  

I have seen Deco 1911s, but they aren't super common. 

In my fever-dream fantasy alternate universe where I make custom 1911s for a living I'd definitely try to remedy that.  

The Dead Don't Die

 Saw it, finally.

Everyone is in this movie.

Iggy Pop and Tom Waits and the RZA and Steve Buscemi.  They know Bill Murray from when they worked with him on Coffee and Cigarettes.   Or, wait, maybe they are all together because of the Director.

Donald Trump is in it. ALL through it.  So is George Romero and he beautiful small-town Pennsylvania.  At least in spirit.

Ben Solo, Danny Glover, and Chloe-umlaut Sevigny.  Carol Kane and Rosie Perez and Selena Gomez.  Tilda Swinton plays herself.

Here is the trailer.

Now that makes it looks funny, but that's because the trailer is paced funny.  The movie is much slower and tedious.

And, like I warned you for years, everyone that uses a shotgun for an anti-zombie weapon, or partners up with someone that does... dies.  Fails miserably. 

Doc Results

Podiatrist referral.

And hey, I am down 30 pounds for the past year.  What's my secret?  Painful naps instead of meals.  Also about 1/10th beer.

Doctor visit today

 Just my annual physical.  But me and my primary care physician are gonna have words.

I took the day off work yesterday, too, because the pain in my back and thus legs and feet was so bad I didn't sleep well.

I don't like how this treatment is going.  "Let's try this, if that doesn't work, this, and then... I'm out of ideas" is the universal refrain from all these medicos.  

I just want to regain the the physical capabilities and activities of an average 65 year old.  I am 51.

"I bet you got the originators of your problems in the Navy.  You should totally go to the VA."

HELL no.  Too few strories start with "well I went to the VA" and end with "and thus had a happy outcome."  

Pill pusher and back steroid injector re-consult next week.  Neck surgeon follow up the week after.

We've known this since the 7th

 You didn't need 3 National Guard, much less 30,000.  Pure theater, and telegraphed as same.  

The streets remain quiet between the Capitol and the White House as WTOP reporters @KenDuffyNews @aletweetsnews and @brett_snyder_ continue coverage of the Inauguration pic.twitter.com/rz07nlVEEQ

— WTOP (@WTOP) January 20, 2021

"Maybe it's because of the weather?"

The weather has been GORGEOUS.

Geneology

The T-Bolt side of the family.  My Father and my Father's Father, and so on.  They come from Germany.  Dairymen and Alpine herdsmen from Southern Bavaria, near Lake Constance.  

The first T-Bolt to come to this country in my line was Sylvester T-Bolt.  My grandfather's grandfather. He was recruited by German communities in upstate New York if emigrate because he knew how to make Limburger cheese and there was a want for that.  His older brother Peter came first.  

But his great Grandfather, John T-Bolt.  He was drafted into the Grand Armee, and he went to Moscow with the Emperor.  And got back.  Which is a feat in itself.

I sometimes wonder what his life was like on that long walk to and fro.  Well wonder no more.  

I had actually read that Tagebuch of a Napoleonic foot soldier, but it has been a while.  Let's see if Gutenberg has it for me. Nope.

At least the walk sounded pleasant and the food was good.

I think the hardship there makes up for all the hardship his descendents had afterwards, to date.

What is the funniest movie ever?

Okay, for me, it will always be Raising Arizona.  I saw it on the perfect night.  I was in the mood to receive all it offered.  I hurt myself laughing.

Mel Brooks did two of the contenders.  Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein.

I LIKED Groundhog Day a lot, but not the funniest movie.  There are lots of comedies that have much to recommend them as a movie but aren't laugh out loud funny through the full runtimes.  Big Lebowski is like that.

Caddyshack and Animal House are in the running.

Airplane!, of course.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail for some people.  I loved it.  Not all do.  

Pineapple Express when they shift it into overdrive.  Was not expecting that.  But it puts it on the list for me.

Me Myself and Irene for me.  Though Jim Carrey usually annoys me to distraction.

Clerks

And Arsenic and Old Lace.

"Meet your next Pillow!"

 "Why do we make out pillows in the shape of a cube?"

Because you are crazy.

Really BIG Magazines

A favorite of video game players, but here in meat space I usually avoid the extra big magazines due to reliability worries.

Smarter peeps than me have gone over this.

I am such a fuddy duddy I still still look askance to double stack magazine for the same reason, but regular Glock factory double stack have run like a house afire for 3 decades, so the fuddi-duddiness is on me.

But... are their any supersized  60 rounder magazines on the market that actually ARE reliable?  Not "Well, my drum mag has never failed ME." But never failed anyone.  And never failed anyone enough that they are accepted institutionally.  The last bastion tail-end acceptance group whose resistance to change is always achieved last.  

I mean, Magpul is highly regarded.  Maybe their drum magazine gets it right.  You tell me.

And those fatty box magazines intrigued me when they first came out years ago, and I was waiting patiently to see if they ended up with a decent history.

Family Safety Brief

 If they don't wanna come to the safety brief, they might not like the next safety drill.

Except the cat. I'd never do that to the cat. The cat has a perfect attendence to these things.

Downtown

 "So T-Bolt, you going downtown to watch the inauguration?  Did you go to the January 6th protest?"

Hell no!  

First of all, I am a local.  If we don't have a reason to go downtown, like a job, we rarely go downtown.  That's where you have to ride the Metro trains.  Which are probably on fire.  Or struggle to park and then get a parking ticket anyway. (DC can't tax the suburbs, so they get their revenue from traffic tickets.)

Second...  Crowds.  I avoid them.

Third, we don't do the tourist things here if we live here.  We call tourists 'tortoises' because of how slow they drive.  DC streets are tough to navigate as it is, and they gawp at the buildings the whole time.  So they drive like Sunday drivers.  All the time.  Erryday.

Finally, they have shut down the city from today til the 21st.  Have the subway stations are close, the bridges over the river are shut down south of the Exorcist steps and north of Alexandira.  Barbwire fences.  They have truly over-reacted, expecially since no one was planning to go to the city except Biden fans after the 10th. And the inaugruation is going to be a Zoom call, now, it seems. 

You are not wanted in DC.  Nor am I.  Not this week.