A follow-up…

Posted on by June 14, 2022

To yesterday’s post about gun control/2A

What is the role of journalists when covering America’s mass shooting crisis, and how can they responsibly report on tragedies like the recent shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo and Tulsa?

Those are complicated but crucial questions to answer, says Dannagal Young, a University of Delaware professor who studies the impact that news stories have on the public.

<snip>

This difference is called episodically framed stories versus thematically framed stories.

Full article HERE from NPR of all places!

I am reminded of something that Max Schindler (original director of Meet the Press) told me a number of years ago. He said words to the effect that give him blood and guts and he could get that on air for 15 minutes daily for 3-4 days. A tear jerker ‘good’ story might get 1 minute one night.

And Proud Hillbilly, references this quote-

“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty… The right to self-defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine the right within the narrowest limits possible.  Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”   St. George Tucker (1752-1827) Blackstone’s Commentaries: with Notes of Reference, to the Constitution and Laws, of the Federal Government of the United States; and of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  As quoted in the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008.

Obviously ‘we’ are NOT the first country to deal with this issue, and it is obvious that our framers thought long and hard on ALL of the Bill of Rights.

Miggy and the folks over at Gun Free Zone have been beating on this for years, along with John over at No Lawyers- Only Guns and Money. There used to be quite a few more ‘dedicated’ gun bloggers, but they have by and large dropped out of the blogosphere for any number of reasons.

And a bit of ‘fun’ follow up- The grands had to go ‘help’ clean up the school for end of year. Of course there was a little ‘payback’ for them in the form of a bounce house waterslide and hot dogs after they finished…

And light kids and obviously SLICK waterslides allowed them to LAUNCH themselves… LOL

And the granddaughter screamed all the way down and looks like she got about a foot of ‘air’! LOL

And PP ended up helping with the food… Thanks to her and the other parents for leaving the kids a ‘positive’ impression of school!

Sigh…

Posted on by June 12, 2022

Grands can and do wear out…

Not often, but it does happen occasionally!

PP sent me these from day before yesterday (all day at the pool) and yesterday (playing with ATVs).

Neither of the kids even made it to their bedrooms… LOL

I never thought of an ATV as a ‘bed’…

I envy their ability to sleep anywhere and in any position!!! I could do that…60 years ago…

Musing…

Posted on by June 11, 2022

To all of my friends 50 years old and up… most of us are going through the next phase of our lives. We’re at that age where we see wrinkles, gray hair, and extra pounds. We have run households, paid the bills, dealt with sickness, sadness, and everything else life has assigned us. We are survivors… we are warriors in the quiet… we are men and women…like a classic car or a fine wine. Even if our bodies may not be what they once were, they carry our souls, our courage, and our strength. We shall all enter this chapter of our lives with humility, grace, and pride over everything we have been through, and we should never feel bad about getting older. It’s a privilege that is denied to so many.

While the young point and laugh, snickering about how ‘dumb’ we are, they don’t realize most of the ‘technologies’ they enjoy today were developed or improved by us. And many of us stood proudly in the line of patriots that have defended this country for over 246 years.

They also don’t realize how good they have it, both in the freedoms they enjoy, and the bounty of America, yet they continue to run both the country and us down.

I pity them…

Whimsy…

Posted on by June 10, 2022

Gotta give it to the Brits, they DO have a sense of humor!

When asked to ‘name’ a new icebreaker back in 2016, the ‘winning’ name was Boaty McBoatface!

When the boat was actually commissioned, a ‘better’ name was used by the government, but they DID name one of the assets on the ship…

Full article, HERE.

Two years ago when the Brits got their P-8 ASW airplanes, this showed up on the side of one…

Not saying there were ‘miscreant E-4s’ involved but…

Of course the Brits aren’t the only ones that do stuff like that. Hawaii did that back years ago. Except they didn’t get any ‘good’ names/naming conventions like the Brits. They winner was…

Yep, The Bus… sigh…

Book promo…

Posted on by June 9, 2022

First up is Ben English with his memoir of his time with the Texas DPS- Black and White: Tales of the Texas Highway Patrol

As always, click on the cover for the Amazon link.

The blurb-

BLACK AND WHITE: TALES OF THE TEXAS HIGHWAY PATROL
You know I never saw an officer, an EMT, a fireman or an ER crew ask anyone what their politics were, and then refuse to care for them because of their answer. The color of skin pigment, the last name, the amount of money in a bank account, none of that mattered. All that mattered was someone needed help, and they had the skills as well as the burning desire to do so. Yes, they are only human and internally flawed and prejudiced as any other. But their true nature, their crowning glory in mortal life, is their ability to rise above those flaws and prejudices when called upon. In a world of hungry, destructive wolves, they stand as the sheepdog who serves and protects the flock.

This is book that is not necessarily an easy read, but it is well worth it. Ben told me he had problems writing it, and I can see why. He revisited both the good and the bad of his 22 years with DPS, and I’m sure it brought back things he would rather not remember.

Next up is W.L. Emery with his latest book- Magic Employed

The blurb-

He’s back! The itinerant wizard with the sesquipedalian vocabulary is back in another anthology of short stories. Accompanied by his traveling companion Mirrabelle, Otheldo encounters mermaids, a violent demon from another dimension, and an evil wizard who has enslaved an entire tribe of fiendishly powerful ape-men. The good news is that he’s employed.

Lawdog and Cedar Sanderson have another comic out- Astro Lizards

The blurb-

A few brave lizards, and a gecko, with the right stuff. Two boys growing up in Africa explore the possibilities of explosives, with their reptilian pals. AstroLizards tells the tale of the nascent Nigerian Spac… er, well, an attempt was made. Sapper Lizards tells of the brave enlisted lizards and the wonders of ammonium triiodide. Finally, the Major’s tale of epic battles against beetles and a nose round out this comedic book. You can color the story in yourself! Or you can read and laugh and read again.

Last, but not least, Sarah Hoyt has another Barbarella out there- Barbarella #10

The blurb-

Snerk…

Posted on by June 8, 2022

Friend of mine who lives on the Leeward side of Oahu sent me this one…

A small parcel of land in central Oahu is the site of another standoff between a group claiming ownership of the land based on Native Hawaiian ancestral rights, and a company holding the modern land title.

The unidentified group took over a 5-acre lot in an Oahu agricultural subdivision in September, and proclaimed themselves the rightful owners by “heirdom.” 

Full article, HERE from Hawaii local.

Here is a picture of the location-

This used to be part of the Dole Plantation back in the day, and the whole area on both sides of the road were pineapple fields for miles!!!

We were stationed at NAS Barbers Point, just southwest of this area, and the base was bordered by sugarcane fields owned by C&H Sugar. Now it’s all been broken up into small parcels and sold who knows how many times over.

When we were there, if you weren’t Hawaiian, you couldn’t buy land, you could ‘lease’ land for 99 years and build a house on it… And even then there were ‘native Hawaiians’ that would routinely try to ‘claim’ the base and surrounding land as ‘home land’, along with houses people had built, ESPECIALLY if somebody went on deployment and the wife/kids went back to the states for any length of time.

And you didn’t go into certain areas from Nānākuli to Makaha, and you sure as hell didn’t go to the beach unless you wanted to get robbed and your vehicle screwed with. And Mililani Town wasn’t safe after dark, along with a lot of the north end of the Leeward side of the island.

When the new base housing was completed in 1997-8, it was never occupied as the base was ‘closed’ in 1999. However, all that ‘new housing’ (red box) was sold to ‘native Hawaiians’ at less than the cost of building the houses… sigh…

I’ve said for years what we need to do is close the bases, pull everybody back, and let Hawaii TRY to make it on ‘tourism’…

In 40 years in and out of Hawaii, I never really enjoyed the island OR the locals and their attitudes toward ‘Haoles’. We were often called Opala, which is Hawaiian for trash, but they sure did love the money!

Sigh…

Posted on by June 7, 2022

Long day yesterday dealing with ‘things’ and the VA, so I can’t brain…

And I ‘think’ we are seeing peak Dunning Kruger on guns right now…

Battle of Midway ends/D-Day +24 hours…

Posted on by June 6, 2022

Due to an erroneous voice report that transposed BB to CV in the retreating Japanese forces on 6 June, the American forces under Spruance continued chasing the Japanese to the west. A second element of Japanese ships was located by the Enterprise scouts at 0730 and attacks launched against both groups.

In the meantime, attempts to salvage the Yorktown were continuing…

The timeline for the Yorktown was as follows-

June 5th: 1308 Vireo takes Yorktown in tow.
June 6th: 0200 Hammann, Balch, and Benham join.
0415 Hammann puts salvage party aboard.
0600 Hammann ties up alongside Yorktown.
1335 Torpedo wakes sighted.
1339 Hammann sinks.
1845 Submarine sighted on horizon.
June 7th: 0501 Yorktown sinks.

The Yorktown had been abandoned on the afternoon of June 4th. That night the Pensacola and Vincennes departed to rejoin Task Force SUGAR, while Task Force FOX moved off to the eastward, except for the Hughes, which was detached to stand guard over the Yorktown. 

By the morning of 7 June, all American forces were enroute to Pearl Harbor to refuel/reprovision after Yorktown sank.

This was a ‘win’ for America, and many consider it the turning point in the battle with Japan. Thanks to HYPO, the Battle of Midway was essentially a victory of intelligence, allowing the Americans to know when/where the Japanese were going and roughly who was there. The Japanese didn’t know the US carriers were there until attacked.

Two years later, almost to the day, Operation Overlord would kick off at Normandy with the landings. D-Day was actually postponed until 6 June due to weather.

Some facts from 6 June-

  • 150,000 Allied soldiers land on the shores of Normandy.
  • 5,000 vessels with 30,000 vehicles crossed the English Channel to France.
  • 13,000 men parachuted into France.
  • 11,000 planes were involved.
  • More than 300 planes dropped bombs.
  • 9,000 allied soldiers were dead or wounded after the first day.

The main fighting had started moving inland on the 7th and places like Bréville became synonymous with the determination NOT to give up! The Brits held Breville and eventually took Caen in what became a seven day battle.

American parachute troops had a 9 mile bridgehead on the evening of June 7th, even after the blown drops on the morning of the 6th, with disassociated dribs and drabs fighting and joining together as a coherent force against the completely surprised Germans. The two bridgeheads of Omaha Beach and Gold Beach at Port-en-Bessin were still being contested by the Germans.

The 1st and 29th infantry divisions, which have had very heavy losses since the landing on Omaha Beach, but continued to advance. The 29th Infantry, on its way to Isigny-sur-Mer, but behind schedule.  The 90 survivors of the Rangers battalions at Pointe du Hoc, are isolated on a thin strip of Land at Pointe du Hoc and are so understrength they cannot fight their way out to Grandcamp, their assigned target.

From a scattered start for the Americans, things began to come together and they begin to press the Germans into retreating.

Another YGTBSM moment…

Posted on by June 5, 2022

Commiefornia has already put a plan forward to ban natural gas/propane in homes starting in 2026…

New homes built in California starting in 2026 need to be powered by all-electric furnaces, stoves and other appliances if California is to meet its ambitious climate change goals over the next two decades, according to a state pollution-reduction plan released Tuesday.

Full article, HERE from Time.com

BUT, LA had to go them one better…

On May 27th, citing the climate crisis, the Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to ban most gas appliances in new construction, a policy that’s expected to result in new homes and businesses coming equipped with electric stoves, clothes dryers, water heaters and furnaces.

More than 50 California cities and counties have adopted similar rules banning or discouraging gas hookups in new homes and other buildings. 

Full article, HERE.

Ummm… This from a state who is ALREADY having power issues, including ‘unscheduled’ brownouts, power cuts to prevent forest fires, less power available than the state needs when it gets hot, etc. Yet they want to reduce use of oil/gas 91% by 2045!

And they have to go buy power on the open market which is NOT cheap. Oh, and remember they want MOAR electric vehicles too! But they aren’t building anymore power plants and Diablo Canyon is due to sunset and be shut down in the next year or so.

But they go buy power from guess where? Palo Verde! Which is, oh by the way, a nuclear power plant in Arizona!

Can we say hypocrisy? I knew you could!