Trump now ready to release FISA docs, as some predicted, he was forced to wait until after the investigation as investigators could have used the release as a reason to charge him with obstruction of justice.
Video of AZ police raid on parents who didn’t take their son to the hospital after his 105 fever broke.
Happy Hump Day. As Pie (the character not the commenter) reminded us last post. SugarFree would like me to post the following definition: FUPA-ariy. The place (or location) of the FUPA. You’re welcome.
I really respect the ingenuity of the USMC. Its like they built a soapbox derby drone.
Stephen Breyer thinks that not letting federal agencies broadly interpret their own regulatory rules is “the greatest judicial power grab since Marbury v. Madison”. Umm, okay. As long as federal courts are grabbing negative power — that is, the ability to only strike down more regulation — I’m okay with it, I think.
Theresa May sacrifices her Prime Ministership (Ministry?) in final attempt at Brexit deal. Crazily, she seems to believe that the referendum has given her a clear mission to separate the UK from the EU.
“My lumps, my lumps, my lovely lady lumps,” Sarah sang to herself as she walked into the Oval Office.
“Who’s there?” Donald hollered from the open door to the Presidential shitter.
“Sarah, sir!” she yelled. He grunted in reply.
“Whatcha gonna do with all that junk?” Sarah continued singing. She ground her crotch against the corner of the Resolute desk. “All that junk inside your trunk.”
“What’s that?” Donald called.
“Nothing, sir!”
Donald flushed the toilet, a loud bang gurgle coming from the bathroom. “Goddammit,” he said.
“I’ma get get get get you drunk,” Sarah sang,, spinning away from the desk, grabbing both of her breasts and then running her hands down the various convexities of her body to her fuparairy.
“What?” Donald asked and then flushed the toilet again.
“Get you love-drunk off my hump,” she sang in a whisper and threw herself onto the Oval Office couch, which collapsed with a room-shaking crash.
“What the hell was that?” Donald screamed.
The Oval Office door was kicked open and two Secret Service agents rushed in the room. One tripped over an ottoman and turned into a sloppy forward roll that landed him on his back.
“Mr. President!” the standing one yelled.
Sarah groaned from the destroyed couch and the agent down on the floor fired into the ceiling.
“I told you boys to fix this damn toilet!” Donald said and flushed again. “Dammit! I need a knife to break it up.”
“For fuck’s sake, Bob,” the Secret Service agent told the one on the floor.
Bob looked up at him sheepishly and said, “Sorry, Andy.”
Andy did a tactical shuffle around the ruined couch and pointed his weapon at Sarah. “You!” he shouted. “Get off what’s left of the couch!”
“Anybody got a poop knife?” Donald asked, standing the doorway of the Presidential Shitter. His pants were off, but he was still in his suit coat and shoes.
“Are you hurt, sir?” Bob asked from the floor. “Should we call medical services?”
“Get up off the floor,” Donald said. “What if someone walked in right now? You look ridiculous.”
“Yeah,” USA hat said from Donald’s head, “Yew look like a friggin’ idiot or somethin’.”
“And get Pie up before some hippies show up and try to push her back into the ocean,” Donald said.
“Haw, haw, haw,” the USA hee-hawed.
“Pie, Mr. President?” Andy asked, finally off the floor.
Donald pointed at Sarah who was struggling to roll over. “Her. Pie. Her!”
Bob and Andy holstered their weapons and hauled Sarah to her feet.
“Do none you have your family poop knife with you?” Donald asked as they worked. “Mine is in New York.”
“No, sir,” Bob and Andy both mumbled.
“I don’t know how people get by without a good sturdy poop knife,” Donald said, shaking his head.
“They probly use a stick or sumtin,” USA hat said. “Fuckin’ white trash.”
Donald patted the USA hat gently to console it.
Sarah straightened her dress and wiped crumbs from it. Her face was beet-red under the thick layer of foundation.
“Go find me a poop knife!” Donald ordered the Secret Service agents. “I don’t care if you have to tear apart the entire White House to find one!” Bob and Andy scurried out.
“I’m sorry about the couch, Mr. President,” Sarah said in a quiet voice.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Donald said.
“And on your special day, too,” Sarah said.
“Total exoneration,” Donald said. “What a special thing. I love that Bob Mueller.”
“Ex-oner-ation,” USA hat drawled.
“Total,” Donald reminded his redneck hat. “Total exoneration.”
“Yes, sir,” Sarah said. “We’ve got them now.”
“I’ve got them now. Me. Total exoneration. No collusion. No obstruction. I am President No!”
“Yes, sir,” Sarah mumbled.
“A press conference, I think,” Donald said. “Let’s get you on TV. All those losers that doubted me are going to get their’s.”
“Tear ‘em a new cornhole, Donnie!” the USA hat cackled.
“Say, Pie,” Donald said. “You got your family poop knife on you? I got a real tough one in there.”
“N-n-no, sir,” Sarah stammered.
“You’re a big girl. Surely you need a poop knife. Not even a little folding model?”
Sarah shook her head until her hair hid her eyes.
“A ruler,” USA hat said. “There’s gotta be a good ole ruler around here sumwhere.”
What’s shakin’ today? I’m tired and I want to take a nap. Will I get one? Signs point to no. I found out today that no matter how annoyed you are at your wife sleeping in and leaving you to handle all the kid stuff in the morning, one wrong way to accept her apology is: “You gonna be sorry every week?” I should probably buy her some flowers or wine.
Oklahoma gets $270M from maker of OxyContin. States are going to get a bunch of money. But not actually prohibit anyone from using it.
Is Australia the Antipodean Florida, or is Florida the Northern Australia? Now we just need to import the snakes that eat the cane toads… I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before.
Robot authors? They’re already in what passes for the sci-fi market today.
Firstly, what is Minimalism? Minimalism is a value system that at its root is a focus on things we value most and cutting out everything else that does not and that only serves to distract us. In so doing we create freedom, more time for family and experiences. We take away debt, stress and jealousy. It is simply a way of living where we are invited to be more intentional about how we spend our time.
Minimalism is supported by a few common ideals: simplicity, quality and multi function for the possessions we do keep; fiscal responsibility; rejection of consumerism and a high consumer literacy (knowing and recognizing sales tactics that contribute to mindless consumerism). Minimalism is more than decluttering and re-organizing. It is purposeful living. Keeping things that only add value and bring joy to your life. That makes things rather broad. The way people live a life of minimalism can run a large spectrum. Some folks have tiny houses, others a backpack of 51 items, others have 2 cars, essential possessions, and a simple house in the suburbs.
Nicodemus and Fields Milburn
In the summer of 2017, my wife and I both stumbled upon minimalism separately. She read Joshua Becker’s The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own and I heard Joshua Fields Millburn on Tom Woods’ Show (episode 775). We watched Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus’ documentary, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things on Netflix (currently still available). After watching the documentary together we both agreed to try minimalism. To be honest, we did not find it too drastic as we already subscribed to some of the tenets. We were always financially responsible. A few years prior, we we began to me more intentional in our buying decisions and in our giving as we felt a need to live a little closer to Jesus’ teaching of simplicity and generosity. We felt like minimalism was a good tool to help us reduce our materialism and align ourselves more fully with Jesus’ teachings on possessions. Having said that we began the process of going through our possessions to determine what to keep, give away, and throw out. How did we decide what to keep and what to give away? In general, most minimalists will say that an item that you keep must contain value, serve a purpose, and bring joy.
We chose to minimize room by room. We started with our bedroom. The easiest things to minimize are duplicates and things you don’t use. Despite thinking we were already living simply, and despite four moves in the previous 5 years in which we donated unused items each time, we still filled 3 or 4 trash bags with clothes and 2 more trash bags with stuff we threw away. And that was just our bedroom. We were in shock. In one way we were shamed by the waste and accumulation, but we were also pleased with what we were able to cut out of our lives. Surprisingly, this past summer we went through our closets again and gave away an additional 2 more trash bags of clothes! How? Well, the other major stumbling block to minimalism is “Just in Case Items”. I found it really hard to let go of just in case items. I didn’t want to waste money replacing something I got rid of it. But the truth is, if an item is “just in case,” it is already unused. It won’t be missed.
The next room we tackled was the kitchen. I largely stayed out of that, but be warned minimizing common areas/possessions without your family or living partners can result in mistakes and anger. Anecdotally, minimalist Joshua Becker relays an episode of minimizing his kitchen without his wife and throwing away a football Jell-O mold only to discover later that his wife was searching all over for the mold because it was for his young son’s sports themed birthday party. In our kitchen, once again, duplicates were an easy item to toss. Why we went through four moves with two rolling pins is beyond me. We focused on keeping items that we actually used. We also looked at replacing some of the things we had with multifunction items. For example, my wife ditched our white and red wine glasses and replaced them with glassware that works for both.
Technology is a great benefit for us on our minimalism journey. I love to read, but rather than have a ton of books around the house, I have a ton on my Kindle. Rather than having boxes and boxes of photos like my parents, I have digital photos and I scanned in my parents’ boxes of photos many, many years ago long before I became a minimalist. It is also much easier to tag and organize digital media. Our kids are not at the point that they are churning out artwork, but when they do Becker suggests takings pictures of any special crafts our kids make that will be thrown out or replaced by their newer artwork. That is a huge space saver.
This Christmas we adopted the need, want, wear, read approach to gift-giving. It helped restrain us and my in-laws from buying things we do not want or buying the kids too much. It’s nice knowing that when gift giving time comes around each of us will be getting only 4 gifts. I think it will help the kids as they get older and make their own lists to be very selective and thoughtful about their requests.
So nearly two years in and minimalism is a keeper for me and my family. We are still working at it as evidenced by the paring down we did again this past summer. It did take some will power to overcome some of our old ways of thinking, but embracing minimalism certainly makes us happier and less stressed. Our house is easier to clean and more organized despite a 3 year old that loves to make messes. The age appropriate toys that we have for our toddler are minimal but treasured by him. None of his toys are gathering dust. And that really helps reduce the clutter.
A Random Note:
-Minimalism also makes it easier when you find a snake in the house to go room by room moving stuff and checking to make sure there are no more motherfucking snakes in the motherfucking house.
Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas! And what a glorious morning it is for everyone except those who were brainwashed by the mainstream corporate media into believing that the President of the United States conspired with a foreign power to win the presidency. The fall out continues apace with many asking how the hell could so many in the media been so dangerously wrong and/ or such lying scumbags. Alex Jones created less damage with the Sandy Hook conspiracies that he propagated years ago and has apologized for a thousand times over and yet he has been banned from polite society while these shitstains are still thrust upon us as being our betters.
Anyone skeptical and willing to provide an opposing viewpoint to the hoax was banned from CNN and MSNBC.
Meanwhile those who should be begging for forgiveness from the public are writing the typical “Republicans/conservatives pounce” type stories without an ounce of shame.
Time we had one of these again. You know, the preview of some of our articles upcoming…and the plea for more material. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE send in some material. This place is so much richer when we get the Glibertariat sharing their experiences, expertise, weirdness…whatever.
OK, pleading over – now, what is coming up in our 1100 Central time slot?
Tuesday we get a Minimalist article from Trials and Trippelations. See how I made the description minimal. *waggles eyebrows*
Wednesday … if SugarFree finishes the maintenance on his Dungeon, we should brace ourselves for The Hat and The Hair. I am still on the edge of my seat, wondering if they will find Gerry Ford’s gold!
Thursday sees us getting a lesson in slang from the old Graybar Hotel. You know, the Joint. The Pen. Whatever you call it, some Prison Slang brought to you by Elspeth Flashman.
Friday… steel yourself for the wonders of Tonio’s Part 4 of A Chronicle of the Insurgency.
The Weekend should see our usual fun and games. Not Adhan, mexican sharpshooter, and OMWC carrying the load as usual.
Monday we are hoping for Part 5 of Animal’s series on Lever Guns. Talk about authorship by public demand.
As for our 1900 Central time slot… well, not really in a position to tell too much right now. However, Friday will see a beloved figure return. And the cryptids (who I am still not on speaking terms with, yet) will probably weigh in on the early evening time slots this weekend. Imma going to be at an Expo elsewhere in the Midwest, come Sunday – so you will be in the hands of the more competent Glibs TPTB next week.
So, I guess we’ve all talked enough about how the Trumpaloes got to Mueller and managed to achieve a Clintonian victory without the body count, right? In more important news, I am standing a solid second in the Glibertariat March Madness Bracket, although those in 1,3,and 4 have more potential upside. Fifteen out of 16 is the best I’ve ever picked. Although I can only get at best 7 of 8 in the next round.
Michael Avenetti just got arrested for trying to extort Nike. He was already on the fast-track to disbarment, but he’s gonna get some prison time with it.
They were gonna stick a camera in his pee hole, but circumcised him instead. The NHS, not only are they lower quality, but you can’t sue them afterwards.
It was John Browning’s Industry, Everyone Else Just Worked in It
The Winchester/Browning guns
John Browning’s first design from Winchester was a world-beater. The famed Ogden gun builder dumped the toggle-link action that originated with the Henry and instead designed a locking-block lever action, producing what was finally an American express rifle, a repeater capable of handling the most powerful cartridges of the late black-powder era. This was the 1886 Winchester, originally offered in the popular .45-70 Government, the .45-90 Winchester Center Fire (WCF) and the steamrolling .50-110 Winchester.
At a stroke, then, Winchester and Browning not only matched Marlin’s .45-70 Model 1881 but surpassed it in the power stakes by offering not only the more powerful .45-90 but the big .50 buffalo gun cartridge. The 1886 was later offered in the .40-82 WCF, .40-65 WCF, .38-56 WCF,.40-70 WCF, .38-70 WCF and finally the smokeless-powder .33 WCF.
The 1886 Winchester.
The Winchester 1886 would be made until 1935, when it was redesigned and released as the Model 71, chambered for a new generation of high-performance cartridges. But more importantly, the Browning-designed 1886 and its locking-block action was to form the basis for an entirely new generation of Winchester lever guns.
Remember that neat little pistol-caliber carbine the folks at Marlin brought out in 1889? Turns out that three years later, the Browning-Winchester alliance had brought out a competing product, the great Model 92 Winchester, which was to become seen in countless Western movies and television shows. No less than John Wayne favored the 92 in action—packed Westerns, but outside of Hollywood the 92 found a big following as well. Chambered in the .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 and .25-20 WCF rounds. Later, the .218 Bee cartridge would be offered as well.
The 1892 Winchester.
The ’92 Winchester was and is (the company that calls itself Winchester today has re-introduced the gun, and many companies make replicas) a light, handy little rifle, slick and fast-handling. It’s something of a minor mystery that the ’92 was never offered in the cartridge that the U.S. Army was using in revolvers at that time, the .45 Colt, but the modern Winchester and replica manufacturers have addressed that need. Cimarron makes a big-loop Winchester 92 replica with a 20” barrel in .45 Colt called the Rio Bravo, and best of all, Cimarron’s version lacks the idiotic add-on “safeties” found on the Rossi and Winchester models. They are neat little things, and one of these days I’ll probably buy one.
Winchester and Browning were far from done. Two years later, the first lever gun to properly be called “America’s Rifle” was introduced.
The 1894 Winchester was a slightly elongated version of the 92, released originally chambered in two black-powder cartridges, the .32-40 WCF and the .38-55 WCF. In 1895 Winchester changed the composition of the steel used in action and barrel and released the ’94 in two new smokeless-powder rounds, the .25-35 and the .30-30. This made the 94 Winchester the first repeating rifle to be offered chambered for dedicated smokeless powder cartridges. Finally, in 1899, Winchester also introduced the .32 Winchester Special; it’s a matter of “common wisdom” in the shooting community that the .32’s slower rifling twist and larger bore size was more friendly for black-powder loads and so was intended for hand loaders who had a big store of black powder laying around – or maybe for some stubborn holdouts who thought this newfangled smokeless powder wasn’t really around to stay.
It was with the .30-30 that the Winchester 94 hit its major success. If you mention “Winchester” to most shooters, the ‘94 is the first rifle that will come to mind. The ’94 Winchester in .30-30 is, especially east of the Mississippi, almost synonymous with “deer rifle,” and even today, “.30-30” is damned near synonymous with the Winchester ’94. There are damned few rifle/cartridge combinations better suited to hunting whitetails in thick woods than the fast-handling, agile ’94 chambered for the .30-30. It’s not often a manufacturer hits on such an ideal combination of gun and cartridge.
The Great ’94.
The ‘94 was so popular, in fact, as to become the first American-made sporting rifle to sell over 7,000,000 copies. The 1,000,000th Model 94 was ceremoniously presented to President Calvin Coolidge; the 1,500,000th copy to President Harry Truman and the 2,000,000th to President Dwight Eisenhower.
The U.S. War Department even bought a quantity of ‘94s during World War 1 and issued them to Army Signal Corps troops stationed in the Pacific Northwest overseeing the harvesting of timber for aircraft. If you can find one of these ‘94s with the Ordnance Corp symbol and “US” stamp, it will command a fancy price from Winchester collectors. In World War 2 the Canadian government bought a number of ‘94s to issue to forces guarding the West Coast against a possible Japanese incursion, thus freeing up the standard Lee-Enfield rifles for Europe-bound troops.
In recent years the fate of the Model 94 has become somewhat mixed, as we’ll discuss in Part 6. But if you can lay hands on a Model 94 Winchester chambered for the .30-30, preferably one made before 1964, you have a world-class timber rifle that will easily handle big whitetails and black bear out to 150 yards or so, and best of all, if you give it even a little care your grandchildren will still be using it for its true and intended purpose.
But only a year after the immortal ’94 burst onto the market, Winchester was to release something different.
Big Medicine.
In 1895, the final Winchester/Browning lever gun hit the market. The Model 1895 was the first lever-action Winchester designed and produced solely for smokeless powder cartridges; not only that, it was offered chambered in some real powerhouse rounds. Eventually offered in chamberings including the 7.62×54mmR, .303 British, .30-03, .30-06, .35 Winchester, .38-72 Winchester, .40-72 Winchester and .405 Winchester, the 1895 took a step away from what was a piece of Winchester tradition in loading from a box magazine, thus allowing the use of spitzer bullets.
No less a famous – or maybe notorious, depending on who you talk to – sportsman than Theodore Roosevelt favored the ’95, carrying one chambered in the .405 Winchester on outings in North America and Africa. Teddy killed animals up to the caliber of African lions with his “Big Medicine” and often spoke fondly of this new modern lever gun. And like the ’04, the ’95 saw some martial use, as the Russian government bought around 300,000 of them chambered in the 7.62x54R round better known as fodder for the Mosin-Nagant.
So, in the late Nineteenth century and in the opening years of the Twentieth, Winchester truly dominated the lever gun market. But the still weren’t alone. The folks at Savage and Marlin were still patiently cranking out guns.
Savage’s Single-Minded Success
While the original 1895 Savage had been chambered only for the .303 Savage, a proprietary round roughly the equal of the much more popular .30-30 in performance, Savage saw the light quickly. When the 1899 Savage was released, Savage added the .30-30 as well as the .25-35, .32-40 and .38-55 chamberings to the line.
Savage never sold as many guns as Winchester, but they had a latent prize in the 99. It’s beefy, tough action would stand the test of time better than the lighter Winchester guns, as it was better suited for the more powerful smokeless powder cartridges that would be introduced in the early- to mid-Twentieth century. The solid striker-fired Savage, with its signature rotary magazine, cartridge counter and side ejection, would only gain ground as time went on, and the 99 in a wide variety of chamberings is still a common sight in game fields across North America today.
Marlin’s Steady March
During these years Marlin didn’t innovate overly much. The big-bore 1881 was made until 1922. The 1893 and 1894 rifles would continue in production, the 1893 until it was redesigned as the 1936 (later just the 36) and the 1894 and the .22 caliber Model 39 until, well, now.
During these years Marlin seemed content to play second fiddle to Winchester. They sold rifles that were roughly the equivalent to Winchester’s in performance; they were a little cheaper, a little less popular, but they kept Marlin going through to the early Twentieth century, when a key little difference in gun design would begin to give them a slowly-increasing advantage over the 900-pound gorilla in New Haven.
And Then This Happened
In the early years of the Twentieth century, shooters began to see the beginnings of a revolution in sighting equipment. Optical sights – scopes – weren’t really a new thing, having been used to good effect in the Civil War, but the original models were long, cumbersome, heavy and unreliable. But in the early years of the new century, scopes began to become more practical. Improvements in lens-making and in scope bodies would turn the telescopic sight from an expensive novelty to something within the reach of the average shooter. This would tip an advantage away from the company that had dominated the lever-gun market since 1866, as the side-ejecting Marlins and Savages were better suited for scope mounts than the top-ejecting Winchesters.
There was news on the ammo front as well. In 1915, a fellow named Charles Newton (who would by himself be a good subject for a gun article) had been messing around with some groundbreaking bolt guns and designing cartridges for them. In that year he brought out a new cartridge, not a big-bore black-powder thumper but just the opposite; this was a medium-caliber, high-velocity round for the newest smokeless powders that were still coming into the market.
The cartridge came to be known as the .250 Savage or the .250-3000, and it was the first rifle cartridge to break the 3,000 feet per second muzzle velocity level in a factory load.
The .250 Savage was the first but wouldn’t be the last. Gunmakers and shooters were still learning the possibilities of the new smokeless powders. Muzzle velocities and chamber pressures were rising, but American shooters would find gunmakers up to the challenge. Lever guns would be a part of this; as the world moved into the smokeless powder era, old designs would be modified, and new designs would be produced to meet the new ammunition. It was an exciting time to be a shooter. More on this in Part 5.
