Yesterday It Was 39 Degrees Out And Even Snowed A Bit

In other words, perfect weather for the first USPSA match of the season.

This would be a classifier match with 7 classifier stages and a field course in the shoot house.

So I showed up to the range in jacket and sweater, checked in, and started wandering the stages 

Kinda chilly, but at least the ground on the range was only soggy but not a complete morass of mud.

Spencer, Tosh, Jason, and Steve soon arrived and we then checked out some stages together and then gathered for the shooters' meeting.  

I was RO for our squad and we had two people who had never shot USPSA before on the squad. So after a pretty detailed safety briefing, and going over the basic range commands we got started.

First stage was the shoot house which was pretty straightforward except for one potential 180 trap, and a lot of fun.

Then we started going through the classifiers.

Quite a nice variety with new classifiers I;ve never shot before and the El Presidente for a classic touch.

Lots of fun.  

I did find out the mage pouches I had on my belt didn't quite hold the PDP magazines securely while running.  This resulted in them falling out as I ran to the next shooting position, which got some damp sand/dirt in them. I brushed them off and got what I thought was all the dirt out.

Not so much. This would be a problem on the next classifier stage

I was zooming through the next classifier which had 3 strings with reloads in the first two strings.  On String One I was zipping along did an great mag change, all Alphas and was doing great.

Then string 2.

I reloaded with a mag that had a bit of the gunky sand stuck that had worked its way down in between the top and second round in the magazine and the second and third rounds, stopping the gun twice, and messing up my score nicely.

On the upside, it allegedly made me look really good by immediately acting to clear the sequential jams and taking remedial action to get the gun back in shooting order.

First failure of the PDP and I really can't blame the gun.  Others had similar fun experiences, with even Glocks jamming due to the dirt clumping into the mags.

Annoying enough, when I got home and stripped the mags down to clean them, there was no dirt left inside.  Those two clumps were it. Weird.

It was a fun match and I got in over 12,000 steps chasing after shooters on the stages, especially the fun stages where they started up front with targets and have to run up-range to get to the next array.   A little cardio workout and sprint to stay ahead of them was very much in order.

So I was all sorts of tired by the end of it.  Spencer, Tosh, Jason,  Steve, and I all then went together to a Coney for a quick late lunch and headed off.

The scores came out and I finished in the middle of the pack of competitors and behind Tosh but ahead of  Spencer,  Jason,  and Steve - by three points in the case of Steve, and eight points on the case of Jason so we're all pretty darn close performance-wise at the moment. A fun time with a great bunch of shooters.

Not a bad start to the shooting season, but I certainly can use more practice and need to get to the range more. 

Dam Trouble

What happens when you have 20 inches of snow pack quickly melting and days of non-stop heavy rain at the same time?

A really bad time for a lot of dams in Northern Michigan, and for the people living near them. 

The Detroit News: Northern Michigan lake drained after dam failure in Alcona County

The Detroit News: Residents told to evacuate downstream of west Michigan dam

The Detroit News: Cheboygan River remains less than 5 inches from top of dam. Friday updates

Dams with their spillways fully open are still not keeping up with the water, leading to the risks of the dams failing and evacuation warnings and orders have gone out.

Bridges are also at risk of failing with two already having failed: 15 Michigan bridges close, 2 fail as flooding concerns mount 

The views of the massive volumes of water coming out the spillways and still not keeping up with the flood is rather wild to see:

There's lots of homes being flooded and roads being washed out by the force of all the flood water. 

the Detroit News: Northern Michigan lakeshore, homes surrounded by water after flooding

Thankfully, no one had been reported to have been hurt of killed by the flooding and hopefully and in following evacuation orders that will continue to be the case,  It's still a massive and terrible blow to people there having their homes and property destroyed.

The Detroit News: Michigan faces new road challenges from 'historic weather challenge'

It's quite bad up there, but with luck the rains will let up and allow for the dams to catch up with the water flow and avert further damage.

Gun Controller Advocates' Projection

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax was touted as  a "Gun Safety Champion" and feted by Giffords.   Gun Safety Champion is gun control advocate speak for Gun Banner.

He was the decisive vote for Virginia's Red Flag Law, a law that was touted as reducing violence with firearms by confiscating them from those suspected of potentially being a danger to themselves or others with them - a with a lack of proper due process to boot.

In short, he was a major advocate for gun bans under the guise of gun control.

And he just shot and murdered his wife before killing himself.

Bearing Arms: Former Lt. Governor and Giffords 'Gun Safety Champion' Kills Wife, Self in Northern Virginia

If his murder of his wife wasn't such a stupid and unforgivable criminal waste, one might almost be amused at the irony of his actions. 

Gun banners once again projecting their own homicidal violence onto the law abiding rest of us.

One should note that all of the laws that  Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax passed, every single one of them, did nothing to stop him from murdering his wife and then offing himself.

If A Fine Is A Tax for Doing Bad . . .

Then a Tax is a fine for doing good.

With it being tax day, I did good enough, and as a result had to write a check to the IRS as I under-withheld due to doing better this year than last year.

A pity that Election Day isn't April 16, when everyone's tax returns are fresh in their minds.  

Anything Progressives Don't Like Is Genocide!

Progressives, that word just does not mean what you think it means.

Juno News: NDP MP Leah Gazan’s “MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ genocide” sparks widespread mockery 

In the latest example of the cheapening of the term genocide, Leah Gazan of the New Democratic Party of Canada and Member of Parliament had this bit of nonsense to say:

“They provided $0 to deal with the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+. Rates of violence are increasing, and the PM is turning a blind eye.”

First, before we even get to the ridiculous acronym, there is no ongoing genocide of "MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+" in Canada, as in none, nada, zero.

Words mean things (or at least they used to) and there simply is no genocide going on, no matter how much people want to feel  that  "MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+" are not just special but win the victim Olympics by virtue of simply being "MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+" and then claiming they're suffering form a genocide.

Again, for those in the back, and members of the NDP, there is no systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group, nor any systematic and widespread  extermination or attempted extermination to wipe out MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ from Canada, and it likely wouldn't be considered a genocide even if there was such, as the acronyms are not a and there is not a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group but a hodge-podge of people mainly defined by their sexual proclivities and interests. 

A government not providing funding to government programs to do your preferred government things, or to NGOs to do NGO things that you want is not a genocide.

Much like the progressives' false claims of a Genocide in Gaza, this cry of Genocide is simply untrue and does not conform to the facts nor to reality.

Now, on to the ridiculous acronym and further showing why there isn't an ongoing genocide of the multiple people and personalities that make up MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+, and boy, there are a lot of them.  As, after all, the acronym stands for:  Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two‑Spirit (a term that is used by some First Nations to describe people who embody both masculine and feminine spirits), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual people.

At least it constitutes that until another interest group can get added or new special group identified. 

First, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two‑Spirit are not missing nor murdered as part of some ongoing official or unofficial scheme, or plan.

The majority of murdered and/or missing indigenous women and girls in Canada sadly tend to be disappeared or killed in one of two main ways: 

One, by other indigenous persons in acts of domestic violence; and 

Two, by engaging in the sex trade, whether willingly or not and experiencing a violent end as a result or disappearing either voluntarily or not and ending up in other cities to participate (willingly or not) in the sex trade, The majority of those who become the murdered or missing in the "MMIWG" tend to be associated with the sex trade, again whether voluntarily or not.

It's certainly very ugly and not acceptable, but it is not a genocide.

You Make That Deal? I'd Make That Deal!

A Somali has culturally enriched Minnesota by stealing at least $11 million dollars from the state's Medicaid program and was caught doing so.

He was given a choice at his arraignment:  

1. Pay $50k in bail money and surrender his passport; or

2.  Pay $150k and keep his passport.

Being a criminal but not a complete idiot, Abdirashid Ismail Said chose option #2, and promptly took his passport and fled with the country with the stolen $11 million dollars.

American Wire: $11M Medicaid fraud suspect flees US after judge lets him post bail, keep passport

I'd make that deal, how about you, you make that deal? I don't blame ya! Damn good deal!

That he was given such a deal is a sad commentary on the state of the justice system and judges in Minessota.   I mean, they clearly cannot do math, and have never heard of game theory at all.

A Convenient Scandal: Swalwell, The Media, and the California Democratic Shakeout

Democrats and the mainstream media have a rather incestuous relationship, where they benefit and cover for each other.

Now that the Democrats need to whittle down the field of potential Democrats running for governor of California due to the jungle primary system that they created, Eric Swalwell has to go.

You see, California Democrats instituted a jungle primary where the top vote-getters, regardless of party end up on the ballot.

The idea behind the jungle primary was to eliminate Republicans as candidates for office.

However, with such a large field of Democrats running this time, with none of them willing to conceded, this has created the potential for the unthinkable - the two Republican candidates may end up being the sole survivors of the primary with the larges share of the primary vote.

The Democrats can't have that. Would seriously upset the one-party apple cart.

So, the Democratic field of candidates must be reduced and if they won't leave, willingly, conditions must be arranged to make them drop out.

PJ Media: The Morning Briefing: Eric Swalwell's Gubernatorial Bid Gets Hit By the #MeToo Train

So, and funny how that happens, credible allegations of serious sexual assaults that happened over many years, on the part of Swalwell have suddenly and most conveniently surfaced now. 

It knocks him out and serves as a message pour encourager les autres  that if there's dirt on them and they're not a star of the party, they may want to step back.

So why reference the media?  Because the Democrats and the mainstream media both knew about his activities, and both covered it up so long as he was a party member in good standing:

 

Yep, this reporter is stating Swalwell's behavior towards women was known - since 2013 - yet neither he, nor other reporters, nor the Party, breathed not a word of it or gave it any coverage til now when it is politically convenient to do so. 

Democrats talk about a War on Women and they sure are fighting the War on Women all right - on the women. 

The Dems are cosplaying with Handmaid's outfits while tolerating sexual harassment and outright assaults on women so long as the perpetrators have  (D) behind their name, and the media both covers it --and covers it up -- for them.

Mamdani Bans Times Square Public Celebration of America's 250th Anniversary

meaww.com: Fact Check: Did Zohran Mamdani ban celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary in Times Square?

The answer is yes, yes he did.

The fact that the reason given is that there is insufficient police resources to protect the celebration is most convenient indeed -- considering it is his deliberate budgetary decisions reducing police resources. 

A special Times Square ball drop for America’s 250th birthday will still happen, but most people won’t be able to attend in person. Organizers confirmed that the event will take place at midnight on July 3, even after Mayor Zohran Mamdani introduced an emergency rule that limits many public events during the FIFA World Cup period in New York City. 

Rather pathetic, that.  

Mamdani has over $165 million to spend on funding for legal defense for illegal immigrants, but can't be bothered  and claims the city cannot afford to protect a celebration of America for Americans.

One of America's leading cities, indeed one that considers itself to BE the leading city, will not be holding a public celebration of this nation's 250th Anniversary.

Quite pathetic, but quite in character for Mayor Mamdani.