That Bullet Train didn't help...

NRA

Yes, I, too, am disappointed with the lack of statement from the NRA on the Castile shooting.  Except to hawk a sale.  And it is pretty much too late now.  Timing has passed them by. 

I totally understand not wanting to alienate hard fought-for allies in the law enforcement community.  The only ones there, these days, against us are the police chiefs.  But would it have really alienated them?  They brother officer is off the hook AND off the force.  They protected their own and purged the weak from their ranks.  They could have accepted a word about this issue now. 

The NRA didn't have to say something like "hang the cop up by his thumbs!"  The NRA can say they were disappointed and imply more training is needed to prevent senseless tragedies in the future and that everyone regrets the whole thing, all round.  Something sensible and non committal like that. 

Because the dues paying NRA members are people with CCW permits like Castile had.

What kind of statement will NRA release if an actual totally squeaky clean NRA member gets shot by a nervous cop in a mirror type situation next week?  Nothing?  And if that NRA member is white and they do say something, the racism charges will fly and it will certainly be bad optics at a minimum.  Would the NRA have lost that many members by being somewhat sympathetic to a black dude that was shot for no good reason?  A black dude pretty much an ideal ally of ours?  I dunno.  I don't know how they calculate stuff like this downtown.

And if the NRA is more of a GOP organization now instead of a firearm owner's right organization how does not saying anything help the GOP, too? 

I think Fairfax dropped the ball on this. If Loesch had just waited til the SECOND statement of hers to push the insurance she is a spokesperson for, maybe.  LaPierre would have been better. 

It's not helping me sway black co-workers that were leaning toward supporting 'our' side.

I'm not pissed, I just wish things had turned out different and figure this is a lost opportunity

Range 11 July

Ok, that was much better.  And I feel better, too.  I'd call it recoil therapy, but it was .22. 

CCI, 50 shots, 2 malfs, failure to eject on the second target in the middle of the string and the last round's case also didn't full eject on the fifty target.

In case you can't read the notes.  Started ok on target one, but flinched on the non-existent 11th round, favoring right on two so noted I needed to I reposition my finger.  Then they were centered and pretty darn good for target four and five.  Always one round out of position.  Can NEVER be perfect, no...

Blog Posts

There was a time I would've latched onto every little detail about the Alexandria Congressman shooting thing, to mine it for blog fodder.

Or that guy that gave himself a racing stripe up in Gettysburg.

Or go on and on how Pew claims that 14 million Americans claim to be members of the 5 million strong NRA.  Are the other 9 million friends or foes?  Dunno. 

Or the new M&P mod 2 and how that intrigues me. 

But my posting meandering don't go that direction so much anymore.  Already been down those roads a few time and looking for different paths.  

"Boring, T-Bolt!  Think of new and better fodder!"

I'm trying, I'm trying.

I promised pictures

Ugh.

31 shots of American Eagle 230gr.  Zero malfs of any sort. 

bad/good
4/3
1/6 
2/5 (but so ugly)
3/4
1/2

And the bad shots were 'called' in my head.  I didn't have to look for the hole to know they weren't any good.  Might be some so-called flinch creeping in, too.  Recoil anticipation.

I was too distracted about that racking-strength problem to properly concentrate at the task at hand.   But I did like the transition from the first to the second.  Before I fell off the cliff.   It was a better than usual first target then a marked improvement in the second. 

I think I will go a few sessions with the .22.  And dry fire.  Always more dry fire.  To combat that flinch.  

Democrats

Crazy, dangerous, Democrats. If you see any of these on the street, go from yellow to orange.

Maybe Vox needs to run some "how to talk to your angry resistance uncle" talking points this Thanksgiving pic.twitter.com/OWjDw8No5l

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 8, 2017

Neck Nerves

Good things about the whole neck nerves thing?

It doesn't hurt.  It doesn't keep me up at night.  I can move it mostly.   I cab tie my shoes, I can flip a light switch, I can type.  Hell, I can even shoot for the most part.  No worse than before.

I feel sorry for the poor sods in worse shape.  Remember, things can always get worse.

That's why the Doctor and I haven't already scheduled more drastic remedies like surgery.

I've known people that were in so much pain they slept on the hard floor and contemplated suicide.  Surgery fixed them right up.  I am no where near that bad off.

So that's the bright side.

The pessimist in me goes, "plenty of time for it to GET that bad..."

Update:  The meds may be working.  For brief periods throughout the day I feel stronger and less numb on that side.  Hope those feeling come more frequently.  

Whine, whine, whine

And now my tummy hurts.

Art Degree

This is Jennifer Summers

She grew up in Detroit, but by scrimping and scraping she was able to get into and graduate college in the late 70s early 80s. 

She moved to California to find work.  She waited tables briefly until she landed a position at a Beverly Hills art gallery for one of the biggest art dealers in the country.  That job paid well enough for her to get a red Mercedes convertible for herself.  Not bad.

If you major in Art or Art History there are great high paying jobs in Beverly Hills waiting for.  That's the message.  And everyone from 1984 onward wanted to be like Jenny instead of buckling down and getting an Engineering degree.  It's her fault the country is like this.  Everyone thinks if Jenny can do it then they can do it to.  And are heading for a disappointment.

Range 6 July

I don't have a picture of the target. Maybe later. I'm kind of bummed out about it. Not because my shooting was particularly poor, though it was.

 I was a little distracted by a new development.

It's becoming difficult direct the slide. If you insert a magazine and have to pull the slide back then release it that is now.... troublesome.

Have you ever heard an idiot say that his gun is safe to just leave around the house because his five-year-old son doesn't have the strength to rack the slide?   That's stupid.   Of course he has enough strength. If maybe just barely.  He just needs to adjust his technique to do it successfully.

 I never thought I would have to use those techniques. But here we are.

Instead of just gripping the slide and manipulating it, I don't have the grip strength for that.   In the arm strength isn't that good either at that angle. So now I make that motion as best I can while I also use my much stronger left hand to push the frame forward. This double action of both hands Is enough to get the job done, but only just.

 Fretting over this new development didn't help my concentration on accuracy.

I am taking some new medicine to help heal the nerves that are causing this. They haven't had enough time to really get to work but I hope it does work. This is kind of depressing.

Weird holiday week

It messed up my range schedule and I count on that for blog fodder.

N00b at work wanted to know where he could rent guns before buying.  There is a place within a mile of the office! 

But they don't rent to folks unless... you bring your own gun, you are a member already, or you bring a buddy.

Too many people have offed themselves at the range.  There were two instances that I know of.  Not gonna ask the specifics.  That is hard enough on those people. 

But their policies about rentals seems reasonable.  You can't just casually Cobain yourself there.  And I'm all for minimizing that. 

Mag Size

I don't want to see these mag bans get any more traction.  Right now I can buy a 30 rounder tomorrow in Virginia and Maryland won't say 'boo' about it.  But retroactively making it illegal possess in the state at some point in the future is just what they are ratcheting up to, here, by increments.

Not just ban all made more before a certain date.  Ban ALL.  Much easier for the cops to enforce.  Like they have in DC and Cali.  And is on the want-list for nationally, going beyond the Clinton AWB provisions. 

If the courts slap it down in California, and it stays slapped down as law of the land, I have less to worry about here.  And you have less to worry about nationally. 
 

That's some bad hat Harry

Independence

Go blow something up for George Washington, John Adam, Benji Franklin.  All them guys.

Night of Long... Truth-Fists?

So my Democrat friends are up in arms about the Dana Loesch NRA video.


"She calling gun owners to violence!"

Well, no, that's BS.  She is saying the only response to the ACTUAL violence of Dem Brownshirts is capital T Truth.  She isn't saying to go gunning for bike lock koshers or arsonists or vandals.

"I'm afraid of the extremist NRA!"

Well, stop being violent and stop encouraging others to be violent or stop being silent when your allies go violent or call for violence.  Lie down with fascists, get up with rubber bullet bruises from the constabulary.

Then I reminded them that NRA types aren't the truly strident gun org.  In fact the other organization think the NRA too milquetoast and weak sister.   Worry about them.  But not too much, they are mostly talk, too.  The ones that aren't also have a large 'defense only,' leitmotif for the most part.

"But it's violent rhetoric!"

Dana didn't start violent rhetoric, oh member of the resistance.  The Left have been masters at that and ramped it up so much that a campaign worker for Bernie Sanders and Dick Durbin tried to assassinate enough GOP congresscritters to get Trump impeached two days after this ad came out.  Mote/Beam.

"I'm still scared"

Well maybe you should be.  Tamp it down.  Stop trying to elicit a response because your lady was so awful that even Trump could beat her. I still can't believe how that happened.

So sad when that happens

Someone put out a silver alert for Bill Kristol.  He got out of the retirement home.

"I remember when all this used to be orange trees."

The speed with which we're recapitulating the decline and fall of Rome is impressive. What took Rome centuries we're achieving in months. https://t.co/4TVXc4C5Ex

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 2, 2017

Coins

This is a dollar coin.  It's worth $1.00

This is another dollar coin.  According to Hillary, it's worth $.76

Oh, fer criminy...

America's Hat!

Oy!

But it is humid out.  Like soup.  I'm schvitzin like a puddin' at a picnic.

I opened an account at Bank of America when I moved to this neighborhood 18 years ago.  It was a bank.  It was close.  They had lots of ATMs about then.  This was American suburbia back then.

I went back for the first time today with a bucket of change, counting on them to have those coin counting machines free for account holders.  Nope.  And the place has a combination check cashing joint and motor vehicles administration offices vibe, with a hint of third world.  For instance.  There are guards now.  The carpet is gone.  The linoleum is dirty.  The queue is long.  And no coin counting machine.  Drat.

"Why do you have an account at that anti-2A joint, T-Bolt?"

Well, I like to have two accounts.  One a credit union (from my Navy days) and one a commercial bank, this.  That way if one sector has distress I can switch over and have all my paycheck go to the ok institution and it's already ready.  And it's still Bank of America because of inertia.  I pay my manual and variable online bills through them.  Gas bill. Electric.  Ones where it changes month to month I don't want to set to automatic.  What if a water bill is issued for $2788.33?  Obviously a mistake, but I don't want that shooting off without my making it so.  Fixed amount bills go through the credit loan as do big loans.  Life insurance payments, car payments, IRA payments, home mortgage, all go through the credit union.  The amounts don't vary.

It's just how I got it set up.

Now I have to think on maybe setting up something besides the moribund Bank of America. 

Boring!

EVERYTHING I do is riveting and exciting.