Saturday, February 29, 2020
Pandemic
No, not Covid-19 in China. Spanish Flu, from Kansas. 1920, not 2020. (Well, really 1918.) Wilson had a tyrannical stranglehold on the press.
It killed 675,000 Americans (and a lot more around the world.) Out of a population of 107,000,000. So, to meet those number we'd have to see 1.8 million dead in this country for this new thing.
Well, 'new.' It's just a mutated strain of stuff that's been around forever. Read the back of your Lysol spray can. It kills Corona, says so right there.
Friday, February 28, 2020
For Further Reading
Guns are specifically designed to kill: the logic error behind the whole gun debate
It delves into the logic and logical fallacies in the gun debate (and by, extension, other political debates, but I am glad it's focus is firearms, because, duh.)
It quotes James Wright (1995) inside: "gun ownership is normative, not deviant, behavior across vast swaths of the social landscape."
Some of the inconvenient-to-gun-confiscators gun research.
The money quote is this though:
"There are 423 million guns in the US. Each year, about 14,500 of them are used in a murder. Those are extensively studied, and that’s good. So now is a good time to start studying the other 99.9965721%."
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Well!
"It’s NOT your Trigger Control"
I just made a quantum leap in personal shooting performance proficiency by relaxing and doing my trigger right, finally. Will this rabbit hole upset that apple cart and get me better by doing... well not the opposite, but...
Look at me. Now I am excited about learning again.
"So you are telling me that while you are gripping the handgun with nine fingers (and your palms if you have built your grip correctly), that the little ole trigger finger is overpowering the other fingers in the hand and pulling the gun offline?"
Well, no. Sorta? It's only 10% of it? You should see what I do with the rest of everything when I screw up my trigger control.
Oh, you get into that in the very next sentence. I should shut up and read, and think... Ooo, and bookmarking. Looks like the class move around the country... good. I need to scratch an itch.
"if you are gripping the gun hard and increasing the pressure in the controlling fingers while you pull the trigger, you will be moving the gun. Switch that to gripping and THEN pulling (while maintaining the pressure) and you will fix your issue."
OK! I will try that. A single concrete item to test on myself. Good good.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
I am not at risk
Not me. But, as you all know, I am clearly way above average. So he's not talking about me.
Zombie Outbreaks and Anna Corinina Virus
For a time, they came from an army lab in greater Pittsburgh.
Now they always originate in China.
What do they have in common? Right, they are from cultures alien to the Western experience. With a dab of xenophobia/racism, or course. Black former slaves that are also somehow French. Treacherous Oriental types from the literal other side of the world. And Pittsburgh.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
150,000,000
BREAKING: Joe Biden claims 150 MILLION people have died from gun violence in the US since 2007
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 26, 2020
pic.twitter.com/bnt1NNmFZq
You'd figure housing would be cheaper.
What would it look like?
So if some event doesn't look like 1933, lets hope it doesn't look like Syria, 2013. Or the Balkans in 1995. Here. Over a big portion of the USA.
And it can't. Large areas of the continent would remain untouched by direct destruction and just have shortages.
Yeah, it's an ugly hole to speculate down.
The Next Big Crash
And I mean bigger than the Great Depression. Not like that piddly Obama Great Recession thing.
Thing is, when the Big Kahunavirus shuts down everything, with that crash look at all like the old style ones?
Breadlines and Hoovervilles and Americans seeing famine in the their neighborhood.
Is that prepper book 'preparing for the last war'?
I mean it is neat to be able can a shite tonne of maters in quart Ball jars and other skills grandma had back in the 30s, but I don't think the next one (be it in a month or 40 years from new, whenever it comes) will need them skills.
And the picture is evocative of teaching some of those old timey skills. Which is great and all, but, like I said...
And boy howdy I wish I had a walk in pantry like that.
But I guess I better get the thing and see what the innards of the 140 page book tells me. Three clams on Kindle. I'll report back. Buy extra TP and Spaghetti-Os, in the meantime.
(and if you look close, it looks like she is putting up jars and jars of Jelly Belly jellybeans! the Crash is gonna be delicious.)
Monday, February 24, 2020
Depression Lust
Lefties are doing it again. I'd say they are praying for it if they had a God-fearing bone in their shrivelled poisoned little bodies.
Also, they want a plague. Here. Coronovirus to explode and infect and kills lots of Americans, peaking near November. Conspiracy Twitter, so, I take it with HUGE grains of salt. Still, it is garbage people among us wishing horror on America and Americans. Gross.
Why? They are sure it's the only way to defeat Trump and usher in their Communist Workers People's Glorious Revolution.
Which is telling in itself. They don't think they can win without a crisis then their offerings must be truly awful.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Talisman 2
------------------------------
I talked about this before.
She must only talk to Leftist gun buyers. Leftists, as we know, are super violent. Not ALL of them, of course, just way too many of them. Try not to turn your back on one.
Sometimes it's the simple things
And that is plain old store brand white bread. I like American Cheese, but I won't judge if you are a Cheese Food Product, or even Cheez type person.
Butter. On this, no compromise. Dollops in the pan.
I have plenty of steel or iron pans and a gas range.
Only takes a few minutes. Cleanup is easy enough. And that is one damn fine snack.
If you are fancy, cut that sammich on the diagonal.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Progress on that weird news story
That's some crazy stuff going on.
Larry Hogan
A Republican governor popular in his Democrat marority state (my state, Maryland) that hasn't gotten that way by just going NeverTrump. He doesn't march in line with Trump, but he doesn't go out of his way to bad mouth Trump or try to dunk on him. Larry is his own thing. Seems to a be a genuine nice guy.
But just because he is likes doesn't mean the other politicians arrayed against him want to ever cooperate with him. They are fine with Larry being liked and a decent administrator and going with programs that are popular with everyone, but don't actually SOLVE an intractible problem created by past Democrat mis-rule.
Like make Baltimore Maryland less Bloodymore Murderland.
That would show their side all up, and threaten their cushy phoney baloney jobs. A corrupt mayor thrown in the slammer is one thing, but lets not go nuts, right?
Since Freddie Gray riots the cops are slow movers. They don't think the city has their back And they are right. So arrests are down 80%. The cops' hearts aren't in it no mo.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Violent
But I already knew they were like that, deep down. Just hate to see it so openly confirmed.
I welcome the hatred of the crooks who destroyed our economy. https://t.co/aZcdCFpeqt— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 21, 2020
Vote against the Dems like your life depended on it. It does. (You gotta click Bernie Sanders in that Tweet and scroll down to see whats on the mind of his followers.)
Drat
Reading a book. 1906. House on the Borderland. It's got some influential trippy colour out of space stuff going on that was a direct influence of H.P. Lovecraft and even Terry Pratchet. Sun rise/set and moon rise/set super fast. Space and time projection. Like a 1960s film student project.
It's a bit racist. Like Tolkien, the author depicts Irish people as swine headed bipedal monsters (JRR called them Orcs). I don't get my britches in a bind reading old stuff with different social sensibilities like some sort of Social Justice Warrior, waiting to be offended at the hint of prejudice. And Huck Finn doesn't give me the vapors, retiring me to my fainting couch. But, meh. I don't like it either. It doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the story, but it doesn't help it. I don't see it out. Unless it is part of the mood of the work. Have offensive stuff because of the times or because the character is offensive, heck I like that.
It's just ok. It's an important piece because of its later influence on other writers, just like The King in Yellow is. But I've seen this movie a buncha times because I live in 2020. The special effects were great for the time, but now they are old hat. And that was what the story mainly relied upon. 1906 CGI.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
The Deficit
Except maybe to say it went down during his administration. Of COURSE it went down. It tripled his first year. I would hope it would go down after that.
So, anyway. I doubt the deficit hawks sincerity now.
Do I like deficits? No. Does complaining about the deficit win anyone an election? Also no. But did I have any on-topic blog fodder to share? No, as well.
----
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Talisman.
And. We saw that Vice writer do just that.
This is Projection. There is a sickness, an EVIL in those people's hearts. We shouldn't be talking about guns. We should be talking about these people that inanimate objects can influence. That's madness. It really is. There really is a difference between us.
This is not new. 30 years ago:
By 'us' I don't necessarily mean good rock ribbed conservative Republicans. Plenty of Democrats or further left aren't under the object-compulsion. There are so called Republicans that shouldn't touch a gun and usually refrain.
I am just saying instead of gun bans we need to focus more on this sickness a lot of people have. Are they crazy and need treatment? Is something in the culture doing this we need to collectively eschew? Do parents need to re-double their efforts on teaching right from wrong? Yes on all three. Are we ever going to be able to expunge such behavior? No. Evil exists. But that doesn't mean the needle can't be moved a bit more in the other direction.
I'm not the sort that takes a shovel to any Copperhead I find in the woods. For one, it isn't legal. If I am not near a kids playground it is unnecessary. I like snakes, too. Live and let live. But bet your boots I don't take my eyes off such a dangerous creature.
This is why I can be choosy about which co-workers I will take to the range. Sorry Lew. You were too angry and too deluded and too lefty for me to even consider it. Don't literally froth at the mouth when talking about George Bush for me to consider being in the same room with you and a firearm not in my control.
There will be no new meaningful reformation of any sort unless Christians get married, have kids, and raise them up in the Lord.
— Michael Foster (@thisisfoster) February 15, 2020
Yeah, I don't know if that simple solution is effective. Or even provably moves the needle in the right direction. Probably doesn't hurt, but, there is almost certainly more to all this. Could be a positive single factor, but we did get here from there.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Relative Size
That cruiser in the backgound? That's HUGE. Much bigger than I'd have figured. You can't really tell until you stand on one. There are plenty of BB museums out there, you should check one out.
Baltimore class? Cleveland?
How bout this?
Fletcher class Destroyer. USS Haraden.
Also HUGE when you look at it from a landing craft.
Tiny tiny shells. Only 14 inches in diameter. Weighing about a ton.
Monday, February 17, 2020
Fun Show
Didn't go.
I haven't gone to one in while.
I'm not browsing for a purchase or purpose. I no longer get the giddy excitement I used to when it was new to me. I have my crates of ammo. Never did get a switchblade or blackjack, tho...
If Virginia 's HB961 goes through, three quarters of that show will be illegal. Mags. Semi-autos. ARs.
------------------------
BREAKING!
Cheers erupted when the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee voted to not move forward on HB961, the the "assault weapons" ban and magazine confiscation bill, for the year.@DelegateMark, who had been pushing for the bill, has a priceless reaction. pic.twitter.com/rvvF8JiWcO
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 17, 2020
Good news, for a change.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Grass Eater
So, now reflex sighted shotguns are sniper rifles?
You promised I could keep my hunting irons after you confiscated my AR.
Who trophy hunts plain old feral pigs?
This guy is wrong on so many levels.
Do you think real man should hunting &killing the animals? Do u think hunting it’s a sport? See this hunter so proud of killing this poor wild pig using sniper rifle and his dogs while he filming .RIP poor pig I feel sorry for you .RT if u are against trophy hunting pic.twitter.com/BHWImWVLfy
— DavidⓋ 🌱🦇🦉🐮 (@davidsting414) January 30, 2020
Well, that inconveniences me
It bans 'assault weapons'. But that's not important right now. It also bans magazines that hold more than 12 rounds. THAT is important to me.
Not just new sales. Possession. Having a regular $11 30-round PMAG in your pocket while standing on Virginia soil will be a felony.
Well! That's worse than Maryland. And gets around to my point.
In Maryland I can have that PMAG in my pocket. I just can't buy it in Maryland or give it away to free to someone while I am standing in Maryland. Up until now I simply travelled half and hour to a Virginia gun store to buy my PMAGs. This HB961 will be bad for ME. (The most important person in my world.) I'll have to drive to West Virginia in the future. Well, until Maryland gets the gumption to compete with Virginia on gun bans.
This nonsense has to stop.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
I don't like the future
But I can't do that anymore.
Also, knowing a bit of history, I hate being told I am on the wrong side of it by people that know near nothing about it. Imbecile. I'm glad your legacy is nearly erased!
Friday, February 14, 2020
Law
If the law doesn't apply to those kinds of people, why does it apply to me?
All nations end. That’s just life. When they tell the story of the breakup of America, having one set of laws for normal people and one set of laws for people in the government club will be part of our breakup story. Nations can’t last like that. https://t.co/rOVCi4PhAB
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) February 14, 2020
Grocery Bags
My state is considering banning plastic bags entirely. I guess then I will have to go back to just draining my used motor oil into the storm drains.
"But T-Bolt, that's ILLEGAL!"
Yeah? Well, prove it. You can't DNA test the sewer effluent. Or dust for prints.
Go bother someone else you busybodies. For the love of Pete. I don't want re-usable E. Coli bags.
This is as wrong headed as those EPA lawn mower gas cans that leak all over the place when you try to fill a tank. I don't want gas on grass! So, that evolution happens by the storm drain too.
My recycling all goes to the landfill. Aluminum cans are about the only thing that turns a slight profit. But my tax money goes to two crews and two trucks per neighborhood to haul two sets of trash to the landfill. One is in a Hefty bag, the other is in a blue bin.
All this virtue signalling over a fake crisis is so wasteful and pointless. So I will be wasteful to be contrary.
Thursday, February 13, 2020
This is a weird news story
Woman's husband is murdered by her brother. Brother kills self soon after.
Shortly after, she moves to Idaho to be with a new beau. HIS wife dies from an unknown illness. The new couple marries soon after. They run off to Hawaii, like newlyweds might. Names are Lori and Chad.
Thing is, she has/had two children, 7 and 17. The children have been sorta MIA since 8 months ago.
The newly married dude is a Doomsday obsessive. Written a couple dozen books about it, Newly married gal with missing children had recently gotten interested in the subject. It's what brought them together.
People start to notice these oddities.
Dead wife is being exhumed for a better autopsy, because this smells fishy. Authorities are asking her for proof of life of her minor children, but she has not complied.
Like I said. Weird. Messed up man. And why is it only now spreading to the news consciousness back east?
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Happy Birthday Honest Abe
Ooops. Lincoln got eaten alive by mosquitos during one of our wars and now someone told Hogg that's a war crime on Lincoln, so no the Harvard freshman is guilty of a thoughtcrime. Sad trombone...
What is the point?
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Soup's on
Little late this year.
And this year was beef stew. Not a soup, per se.
In the past I go with beef and barley, venison chili, senate bean, split pea.
The beef stew was ON POINT this year. Proud of myself.
I make it in a cast iron dutch oven. And it's it three quarters full. Makes 6 generous serving. The reason for the dutch over is so I can put that in the oven at 250 to simmer. That way I can't burn the bottom of the thicker stews/soups.
I hate the texture of onions and celery, but I like the flavor, so I replace the regular version with onion powder and homemade shallot salt, and celery seed. Beef, potatoes, peas, carrots.
No pics. It's stew!
Monday, February 10, 2020
Data Pr0n
DOJ and FBI tells us how many get shot and killed. The number has gone from the 8K's to the 11K's. Thanks Obama. Times 2 of that for suicide. So 30,000.
If you self report AND leave your contact info with the Federal Gummint, 100,000 people defended themselves with a firearm. (Defensive Gun Use) MORE than 30K.
Clinton era Centers for Disease Control (NOT a big fan of the Second Amendment) said 500K DGU.
So the the Obama era CDC. 500,000+ defensive gun use.
These are the LOW numbers. If you were deciding human rights for self defense just with math, then the Second comes out on top even with hostile statistical regimes. All the other surveys have a larger DGU rate.
Suck it, Bloomberg.
Sunday, February 9, 2020
AUTHORITAH!
I dunno how I feel about this. One, the arrested kid is prolly an ass. Two, the arresting officer is prolly one, too.
But you know, being an ass is rarely illegal.
Ugly
This is a subjective observation, but there is consensus. Seemingly.
Why?
Oh, it's blocky, and not sleek. The finish is only fancy if you do that after-market. But it's the same with plastic pistols that came later, and those are considered less ugly. Sure, maybe there is a design flourish on a M&P, say, that apparently give that one style points over the Glock. But are they really raising M&P that far above the Glock in the looks department?
Ok, let's compare it the 1911. A pistol that is considered much more attractive looking. And not a fancy one. Picture a stock 1911, parkerized, plain grips. Heck even paint those grips the same color as the rest of the pistol so it doesn't look two-tone.
And now the hard part. Set your prejudices aside. And just look at the two pistols and judge as if you have never seen them before.
I know it is difficult. The 1911 had a 60 year head start to get itself ingrained into the culture. It had to compete on looks with revolvers, but those types are much more widely different than the two semi autos in question.
Is there some Golden Mean that grants the 1911 an advantage in the styling department? Is that enough to place it head and shoulder over the Glock where most call one gun attractive and the other ugly?
(and if there is the Golden Mean cooked into 1911s... good job Browning!)
Saturday, February 8, 2020
I Remember That Too
Two years ago, climate bedwetters claimed that ocean circulation was at its weakest in 1,500 years. https://t.co/ZJDqMT13hNhttps://t.co/4KDr6IgpJS
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) February 8, 2020
Remember when...
Yeah, I miss those days when Dems and Lefties strived for that. And it looks like Wolf Blitzer does too.
Wolf Blitzer: "The Senate has clearly spoken now. @realDonaldTrump was acquitted."
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 6, 2020
Dem Sen Mazie Hirono: "Wolf, he wasn't acquitted..."
Blitzer: "There was a role call, guilty or not guilty. Not guilty was the majority. & the [Chief Justice]... announced that he was acquitted." pic.twitter.com/Tt9qoSmqRP
Friday, February 7, 2020
I'd have been married a long time ago.
WHO DID THIS pic.twitter.com/0wPod4RuXt
— The Red-Headed Libertarian ™ (@TRHLofficial) February 6, 2020
5 will get you 20
(When/if they convict him he will prolly get more than 5-20...)
I woke yesterday to the local news saying BOLO for a tall thin white dude with neck tats.
Well, I already sorta keep an eye on peeps with neck tats. Sorry non-meth-head kindergarten teachers that just happen to have a neck and face ink.
I say tall-skinny is a meth-head, but that's just an educated guess. I could be wrong.
Why did he get pulled over? Well the cops found a corpse in a house nearby and his name came up about it.
"Why do you care, T-Bolt? Don't you live close to DC? This is up nearer to Baltimore."
Yeah I commute to work near there. They cancelled school around my office during this manhunt. And I am unarmed because Maryland.
Well, I am not carrying a concealed pistol because Maryland. I am armed. I'd prefer to be better armed.
Dude's prolly half a county away, at least.
(update: they had caught him before I had left work for the day.)
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Have you noticed
Anchor around my neck
But he still appears, now and then. Guest spots.
Saw him recently, and my god. He looks like a Jeff Dunham puppet. Walter. Uncanny.
Walter should get a toupe.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Rush!
Real ID
They waited on me because my license was close to expiring. I must be one of the last.
If you get the option to make an appointment at your motor vehicle administration or department of motor vehicles or whatever you call it, do it.
There were two lines when I got there, 45 minutes early. The line to take a number. The appointment line was a dozen people. My line. It moved slow, because, of course it did. ALL lines at the MVA move slow. The other line, the one for people without an appointment? The peasantry? 60 people in that one.
Once the bureaucratic sloth worked through to me and I got my number I had about 30 seconds before that number was called.
Now, you need a proof of your social security number. An old W-2 did for me. A photo ID. And I had a passport for that. And 2 utility bills to prove you have an address. Piece of cake.
What was new was the warnings you had to acknowledge that you were a citizen eligible to vote and you promised never to be involved in voter fraud or any kind of vote stealing schemes. That was new.
Another new thing is if you bring your DD214 you can get "Veteran" put on your DL. So, now I guess I can get discounted meals on November 11th?
They said they'd mail it to me in 7-10 business days. It took 4.
Next on the list? In two months the passport expires.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
The Wrong Side of History
They are ignorant of History.
Hmm. I am ignorant of brain surgery. The closest thing I get to it is cooking and eating Scrapple. When someone slide "Wrong-Side-History" in the conversation, Ima tell them they are on the Wrong Side of Brain Surgery.
Monday, February 3, 2020
Board Voting Follow Up
Commenter Old Windways likes Massachusetts's James L. Wallace.
Rob Pincus over at AmmoLand is no slouch and he has recommendations here.
- Anthony P Conandro
- Graham Hill
- Robert Mansell
- Todd J Rather
- Steven C Schreiner
- Frank C Tait
- James L Wallace
Sebastian at Shall Not be Questioned pointed to the guide of another blogger that he concurs with and whom I also respect, Only Guns and Money. And he has some inside dope on the NRA. Read that post.
- Graham Hill
- Frank C Tait
- ---
Note the overlap with Pincus. Two separate folks that are fans of Hill and Tait.
You can't vote for more than 31 (!) folks and you have to get it in before March 29th. (Read the instructions your own self, you know how I make mistakes, don't trust me 100% to get it right.)
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Deep State
The ostensibly conservative members of same.
For year, DECADES, they have been mouthing conservative platitudes and principles that I shared, or thought I shared. They often touted these great principles with an elegance I truly appreciated. It's why I followed and listened to these pundits. They appeared to be walking the same path as me. (Some flat out lied and were stone cold socialists this whole time.)
But always there was a higher priority with them. An agenda that superseded those stated principals. The conservative Deep State had other principals. Unstated because they knew those positions would not go over well with their allies. Private principals that often contradicted their stated ones.
"Oh, you just SAID you supported the 2nd Amendment, and you are fine with instituting a Great Britain regime here? Oh, you just SAID you were against abortion, but you are all for taxpayer money fully funding Planned Parenthood abortion mills?"
The abortion part is just an example. That's not my issue. I just notice the disconnect, the dissonance.
So it's a betrayal as well as hypocrisy. It's all just so galling. I hope one of their cruise ships hits an iceberg.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
That's Reasonable
Cheap and fast!
And it will never happen.
The people making the false claims now will obstruct it from ever being rationally validated because they already know the conclusions. Their lies and fraud will be exposed and a massive money and political edifice focused on the subject will come crumbling down, to their detriment. Duh.