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Open thread 4/19/23

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  • ghostsniper April 19, 2023, 8:56 AM

    But what’s more interesting is that he worked for the infamous and highly-storied 102nd Intelligence Wing. This unit was in fact embroiled in some major controversy and coverups, now deemed “conspiracy theories”, particularly in relation to 9/11, where it appeared to be complicit with the plot to withhold U.S. air response in order to allow the hijacked planes to carry out their functions.

    https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-41823-dark-clouds-roll-in

  • Trooper John Smith April 19, 2023, 2:31 PM

    April 19, 1775. Lexington and Concord.

    You know the rest. In the books you have read,
    How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
    How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
    From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
    Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
    Then crossing the fields to emerge again
    Under the trees at the turn of the road,
    And only pausing to fire and load.

    -Lomgfellow

    • Trooper John Smith April 19, 2023, 2:32 PM

      *Longfellow

  • ghostsniper April 19, 2023, 2:45 PM

    “And only pausing to fire and load.”
    =============
    I’m slowly researching the significance of that statement because of a recent purchase into untamed territory. In time I will be an expert.
    https://muzzle-loaders.com/collections/all/products/traditions-trapper-pistol-kit-flintlock

    • ThisIsNotNutella April 19, 2023, 8:59 PM

      Have you seen the Hungarian guy’s YouTube channel called capandball?

      • ghostsniper April 20, 2023, 4:44 AM

        Cap n Ball is a little bit further in the future for me but I’ll check that person out and subscribe for future reference. Thanx!

    • John A. Fleming April 19, 2023, 11:37 PM

      It’s very interesting, the manual of arms for military reloading of muzzleloaders, versus how it is done today. In those them days, they trained for speed of reload.
      In today’s practice, there is a concern that if a person doesn’t wait long enough after firing, there might be a glowing ember remaining somewhere in the bore, and if the next black powder charge is quickly poured in, well, you might lose one or more fingers or worse.

      So I was trained to wait a bit, maybe 30 seconds, before I pour in the next powder charge, and to darn sure keep my face and my fingers out of line with the barrel bore.

      Second, I’m not sure they used or needed to use a bullet starter. Between the bore diameter and the bullet caliber there must have been enough difference that only the ramrod was needed to start and seat the bullet.

      So target shooting today with muzzleloaders is a leisurely activity, lots of fooling around and grabbing of all the bits in your pockets and possibles bag. Plenty of time to calm down after that last shot and think about what you should be doing.

  • John A. Fleming April 19, 2023, 11:48 PM

    Pelicans are mysterious and enigmatic birds. Quite large too. I rarely see them during the day, perhaps one or two solitaires might be resting up on a marina piling. They don’t seem to make a lot of calls. I think I might have seen them far out from the shore diving for fishies. They don’t seem to take much notice of or interest in the doings of humans, it’s as if they don’t care at all, we are beneath them.

    The most reliable time I see them is at dusk, when a flight assembles into a loose V, and fly parallel to the shore, going from somewhere to someplace else. I watch them fly down the shore line, and then they disappear into the distance, I never see them land anywhere.

    They are perhaps my favorite shore bird.

    • John Venlet April 20, 2023, 4:30 AM

      John, we don’t really see pelicans here in Michigan, but in early March, while my wife and I were in Mexico Beach FL, we saw them almost daily while walking the beach. It was a real treat to watch them on the feed. As they glided over the ocean, not far from the beach, we’d see them gliding, then gracefully sweep upward and dive to secure their prey. We also saw them on the beach itself, which I was surprised to read you typically did not see them on land. I have a print of pelicans hanging in my trout camp cabin.

    • anon April 20, 2023, 12:04 PM

      A Wonderful Bird Is The Pelican
      By Dixon Lanier Merritt

      A wonderful bird is the pelican,
      His bill will hold more than his belican,
      He can take in his beak
      Enough food for a week
      But I’m damned if I see how the helican!

  • ghostsniper April 20, 2023, 4:40 AM

    One of the cool parts about Grouper fishing 30 miles out in the black water is the ride back.
    About a mile out from the marina we stop and clean the fish. Throw the scrap in the water and instantly the gulls, anhinga’s, pelicans, etc. show up for the feast. Sharks and Ladyfish too. The water gets frothy.

  • Casey Klahn April 20, 2023, 8:59 AM

    My comment got caught in the filter. I wouldn’t blame anyone for refusing it; I used a few barracks terms to describe my state legislature.

    • ghostsniper April 20, 2023, 1:09 PM

      I remember back in basic some under developed doods didn’t get hair on their nadlettes til they were exposed to barracks talk.

      • Kerry April 20, 2023, 1:28 PM

        This is a hilarious observation!

        • ghostsniper April 20, 2023, 6:59 PM

          Most barracks have one BIG shower with a couple dozen showerheads. The one in the barracks in Wildflecken was along the outside wall and that wall was floor to ceiling glass blocks. Nightime showers could be revealing.

      • Casey Klahn April 20, 2023, 7:01 PM

        If the GOPe members of my state legislature would just get theirs to descend, I’d be less aggravated. Doesn’t matter what the vote was, the new gun law is apostasy and renders the law-making body neutered and invalid. They may’s well have written an edict claiming to be the present-day embodiment of King George III, and dissolved their assembly.

        • Anonymous April 21, 2023, 4:42 PM

          Either the vote was fair and the Seattle-types got what they wanted/deserve – or it wasn’t and the Seattle-types still got what they wanted/deserved. Urban areas always out-vote rural areas. Think Portland vs Jordan Valley. Or Las Vegas vs Elko. Anywhere on the CA coast vs Alturus. For that matter, Seattle vs anywhere in Grant County.

          “Law” is what those friendly people in SWAT outfits and guns say it is; doesn’t matter what’s on or off the books. As They say, “the process is the punishment”. At best.

          Inslee got ticked at Idaho’s abortion laws – sent a letter to Little to not pass an anti-child transport abortion law – https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/health/wa-gov-letter-to-idaho-gov-abortion-laws/293-1997a79f-08f9-492d-8f66-ebd54f1ca2ce )

          Then Little responded:
          “It is hard to imagine why someone would leave Idaho for Washington when your state is home to sky high taxes, crime, and public encampments. Meanwhile, Idaho has turned back more tax relief per capita than any other state, we’re one of the safest states in nation, and we don’t back down to activists – we kick illegal public encampments off public property.”

          And I add: “An armed society is a polite society”

          I say it in all friendliness – time to boogie Casey.

          • Tom D April 21, 2023, 4:43 PM

            Didn’t mean to not leave a name.

  • ghostsniper April 21, 2023, 4:25 AM

    Baldwin walks.

    • ThisIsNotNutella April 21, 2023, 3:32 PM

      I’m big on Friend-Enemy Distinction and have little time for abstract notions of ‘Justice’ and all the other begrimed and shit-smeared trappings of Constitutional Republicanism… I mean just look where it’s gotten the USA.

      So not particularly worried or surprised by a well-connected member of the Ruling Class getting off. They just did what Dissident Rightists need to do, which is Take Care of Your Own. If you want to end up in the kind of world you would like to inhabit, you cannot get there with impartial blind ‘Justice’ for all. It has to be partial and directed towards your desired ends.

      All that being said, if they throw the book at the diversity/nepotism hire female shooting set armoress (sic) who bears most of the ultimate responsibility for the death then all good.

      • ThisIsNotNutella April 21, 2023, 3:35 PM

        NB: Obviously Taking Care of Your Own also means that sometimes you have to take out your own garbage if it runs too much amok… So don’t anyone have a cow.