For a dose of strange beauty on this strange, ugly day: the most amazing photo of Saturn. The eccentric geek who gave the world the wonderful Project Gutenberg. Airport “security” from a Muslim woman’s perspective. It takes guts to say this these days: “Addiction is not a disease of the brain.” “Socioeconomic collapse and preparedness timing.” From a guy who’s been living it. Fourteen thousand rounds missing? I wonder why they even bother to report this? From what I’ve heard over the years from National Guardsmen, Army reservists, and other part-time military folk, this is just par for the course.…
Category: Guns and Gun Rights
Of course.
As if promoting the local scoundrels wasn’t bad enough … (Here’s the non-editorialized version for those who’d rather have their news filtered through the MSM rather than through Sipsey snark and righteous outrage.)
Here it is: The “before” picture of the rifle a reader generously donated for me to customize and raffle. Next step: Sometime in September I’ll be posting two or three custom camo candidate designs for you to vote on. Sometime in October (assuming no major glitches), I’ll have the rifle painted and ready for your online inspection.
Returned from a lightning trip to Montana last night bearing warm memories and a freezer full of Highland beef (which my friend L. and I will divvy this morning, with some going to my vet in part payment for excellent dog care). I also returned with the generously donated raffle rifle. It’s not the Mini-14 we talked about but a rebel rifle that offers even more potential for Customized Claire Camo. I should be posting photos later today. Also plan to be catching up with both email and deadlines. I had less Internet access on the trip than I anticipated…
People sometimes ask how I feel to be writing for S.W.A.T. magazine. Am I conflicted? Hooboy, am I. The short version of the reason I write for S.W.A.T. is that Rich Lucibella, the publisher, is more stubborn than I am. The slightly longer version is that I have the utmost respect for both Rich and Denny Hansen, S.W.A.T.’s long-time editor. I think Rich and I are pretty much attuned, philosophically. Denny and I … not always so. But he puts up with me in gentlemanly fashion and both guys have always been wonderful to work with. Both are also men…
Many hat tips today. To S, C^2 and Matt, another. Have you noticed that companies you deal with online increasingly force you to place symbols, capitals, and numbers in your passwords — under the illusion that their nannying guarantees a password stronger than any you could possibly invent for yourself? In its own inimitable style XKCD notes the folly of that. Another bank closes. But not for the usual post-crash reason. Nope. Just the usual governmental reason. “A right to be forgotten”? There’s an interesting concept. Could it really interfere with the right to free speech? More village self-defense. But…
“Three deputies equals one SWAT team.” A memory from reader ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ (a former LEO) of a moment at the dawn of the “bad new days” of total militarization. Russian villagers defend their town. (Tip o’ hat to Matt, another.) A thorough history of “The Nixon Shock: How Nixon stopped backing the dollar with gold and changed global finance, a 40-year-old decision that still echoes in Greece, Ireland, and the U.S.” And a perfect example of how sloppily the most momentous decisions get made by Our Masters. AntiSec. Revenge of the nerds. Raising a fist to death in the Warsaw Ghetto.…
Boy, your responses to the possibility of a customized rifle raffle were more than I could have imagined. (I think the prospective donor of the firearm is reading this and snorting, “I told you so!” right now.) So … I’m thinkin’ we’ll do this. The earliest I’ll have the rifle is the end of this month. Then I need to work on its Custom Claire Camo. So late September or early October looks like a likely time to go live. I’ll probably rough out several designs and post them for comments in September. The creative suggestions have been wild and…
Well, how about a raffle ticket for a used gun? Or maybe bid on an auction for a used gun? See, here’s the deal. A person calling himself the Easter Bunny (seriously; he doesn’t dare go by Anonymous because these days the FBI will bust you for that) has offered me a gun to raffle or auction. Here’s the further deal. His catch is that I design my own camo pattern (he suggests Peeps and melons but I dunno about that) and offer this as the world’s first (and perhaps only) Claire Camo firearm. The probable gun is a Mini-14,…
Well, maybe it’s actually the one-and-only Girls-Only Peep Shoot and Melon Exploding Expo. It was kind of an impromptu thing. Yesterday, my friends Gerri and Lorri (not their real names) and I braved rain and ankle-deep mud to spend a couple hours at a local quarry blowing away paper targets, those obnoxious little Easter Peeps, and (finally) rotten cantaloupes. The main purpose of the excursion was to get Lorri shooting again. Between the ages of five and 13 she was quite the marksgirl, taught by a loving father who liked to take her hunting. Then her dad dropped dead. She…