Drifting Fate

I recently came down with the flu, and when I say "down", I mean down and out, O-U-T. It was he worst pain from the flu that I have ever had, bar none.  When I coughed, I thought the front of my skull was coming off. Fortunately, I made it to the doctor quickly and was put on Tamiflu, which I believe is shortening the course of the disease. I say all of this as a preamble to what the nurse told me as she handed me an extra mask, "Here, you'll need this, we're already at a national shortage." Ironically, my wife, who also has the flu, works in a medical office and had a patient who said she had been exposed to the corona virus.  The woman was overreacting, but the timing was classic and the degree of suffering made one think. It's been much talked about how China will lose much industrial and manufacturing capability due to the effects of COVID-19.  Similar to the United States, much of China's economic might is in small and medium businesse...

In the grand scheme of things, most of us rely on either an AR or AK pattern rifle for our long gun needs.  And, out of those choices, the vast majority will choose the AR.  It is currently the most common and popular rifle in the hands of Americans. (Picture from Defense Review article linked below) I'm doing this a bit backwards and linking to a technical article which will only be of interest to those of you who own ad run AR's.  I should really start with WHY you need an AR (and you do).  So, for those of you on the fence about purchasing, file this away for future reference.... and, it's a buyer's market out there for AR's.  Good ones are never going to be cheaper, so go shopping! Anyway, back to what I'm linking to.  It's an article by Mike Pannone.  Quick intro:  Mr. Pannone has the distinction of having been both in the USMC Force Recon and Army Delta.  To say he's qualified to talk about such things is a gross understatement. ...

Hello, All, I'm attempting to steer clear of the politics for the time being in a vain attempt to regulate my blood pressure... when the Hillabeast is behind bars where she belongs I'll comment. But, for now, this particular item caught my eye... the Kimber K6S DASA 4" Combat. While some would bill this as the modern iteration of the storied Smith & Wesson K-frame, it's probably closer in size to the Colt D-frame. Let's break the name down a minute - "K", who knows but I'd bet more than a sly reference to Smith's  of old.  "6S" - six shots.  In this frame size, the biggest competitor is the Smith & Wesson J-frame with is five shots of .38 special/.357 magnum.  "4"", is simply the barrel length, this offering originally offered as a 2" barreled snubnose.  "Combat", a welcome return to using names for tools rather than alpha-numeric gobbledygook.  Car manufacturers are doing the same thing.  H...

Good afternoon, What will follow is a cut & paste from Battlesight Zero.  It's a story about Sgt Robert Hughes, USMC. In a world of glorified pansies and "toxic masculinity", it's important we honor the real men, those who should be household names but only attain notoriety in their small circles because "someone may be offended" or, worse, but true, it doesn't fit the agenda. Imagine a world of Robert Hughes being pervasive throughout our society - what the selfless courage, determination, and will to prevail would mean for a country where that was the heroic standard, not how many times you can make a rubber ball go through a hoop. Anyway, on with the first installment of "People You Should Know":       In Vietnam, scuba trained Force Recon Marines conducted combat diving as a collateral duty.  Dive teams supported both the Army and Marines, performing a wide range of missions. Bridge inspections were a common task. Teams als...

Hello, Since it's been awhile since I posted, I figure I owe my faithful readers a recap of recent events.  To both of you.  Well, OK, just you.  Alright, fine, I'm teaching the dog how to use the computer. Impeachment went about as expected.  I run hot and cold.  Part of me says the Republican Party should have shut this down hard when it hit the Senate and promised anyone coloring outside the lines not only no funding but the exercise of every power within their grasp to crush those who didn't toe the line.  Yes, the show of force would have been that important. The other side of me recognizes that the longer the charade went on the greater the likelihood of Trump being ousted (all hail President Pence!), but it would have put on full public display the likes of Biden, Obama, Hillary, and the likelihood for the coup they attempted.  It is that serious and I can't help but feel Washington, DC, closed ranks and chose the lesser of the evils in te...

Seriously? Exclude certain pedophiles from prosecution if they are young enough?   What  about the victims?   Under what possible Progressive rational does this make sense other than to skew things in favor of Leftist  virtue  signaling?   Where will the lines be drawn?  Apparently not in CA, so much has been allowed to pass  and the Conservative Contingent has too small a voice to make a difference. "California introduced a bill SB-145 to protect pedophiles who sexually abuse innocent children from having to register as sex offenders. 'This bill would allow a person convicted of sexual offenses involving minors to seek discretionary relief from the duty to register if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor,' SB 145 states. "This would make it so a 20-year-old can now get away with molesting a 10-year-old in California because prosecuting this adult offender would constitute as discrimination. Making the predator regis...

This blog started out life as random emails I would send family and friends.  One such recent email broached the subject of the meaning of life.  As it was intended to be the first part in a multi-part stream, I felt it best to post it here as well so that the entire series, such that it is, is available to readers of the blog... So, lately I’ve been hearing an awful lot of, “at least he’s happy, that’s what matters,” “I just want my kids to be happy,” “do what makes you happy”.   Well, no.   I’m certainly not a member of the Everyone Should Be Un-Happy Department, but happiness is largely a byproduct of a larger attitude.  I came across this quote:  “The purpose of life is not to be happy.  It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”  -Ralph Waldo Emerson To be perfectly honest, that’s not the purpose of life either, but it comes a whole lot closer....

I'm seeing a fair amount of backlash regarding the commentary about the 1/20/20 VA rally, in general.  Not my comments, my readership can be counted on two hands... ok, one hand, but about comments in general.  So, let me make a few points.... "You weren't there, so you don't have a right to say anything."  Wrong.  That's a specious argument.  While some things come down to arm chair quarterbacking to be certain, this is a hackneyed defense when the offended really has nothing of substance to say.  This sort of stance negates all study of history, any oversight of any action of any organization, and is just plain foolishness.  It sounds almost right because it plucks on the heartstrings of empathy, and, yes, empathy is required, but, it's always required at some level. "Sure you would have committed egregious acts of violence if you had been there."  This is more of a retort than a real response to any specific commentary I've seen.  The ...

This fellow was flying the Hong Kong flag at the 1/20/20 VA Rally.  When asked why, he responded that, "It on seems fair.  They're holding ours." Amazing and exactly what we should aspire to be.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti

Yesterday, 1/20/20, was the large pro-2A rally in Virginia. What was accomplished?  That’s a question that already makes people uncomfortable. On the surface, it showed how peaceful and orderly the Right is. Take over 20,000 armed and angry people, mix them together and the result isn’t a single accidental shooting or even one minor arrest. That alone should speak to the quality of people concerned. Add to that nary a spec of litter (a widely circulated picture even shows multiple attendees scraping stickers off the road), and one would have expected worse from the Lutheran Women’s Club. But civic responsibility wasn’t the goal, was it? Between the breathless anticipation by the MSM of violence (there wasn’t so much as a twisted ankle reported) and “ominous chanting” (it was the Pledge of Allegiance), what did the Democrats around the Country see as opposition to a tyrannical power grab? Paper tigers. How you can have that much pent up frustration and anger in one place...

It is the morning of 1/20/20, MLK Day, and while the huge Shooting, Hunting, & Outdoors Trade show (SHOT) is going on in Las Vegas, thousands of civil rights and pro-gun advocates are gathering in Richmond, VA to protest the actions of Michael Bloomberg's bought and paid for politicians. The question is this another Tea Party movement, apparently born strong but to quickly die on the vine due to Conservative's natural reluctance to form a cohesive whole ("just leave me alone"), or is this our Lexington? When one looks at how all three branches of government have been stacked against the continuing effectiveness of the US Constitution, this may be too little, too late, no matter how peaceful or violent things get. Many people on the Right say the Constitution has failed and that's why we are here.  I would counter with the idea that it's not we whom the Constitution failed, but that we failed the Constitution.  We have what we need right there for the...