Smokin

The House just passed the bill with more than the 2/3rd vote, so if there is a shutdown, then it is 100% on the Dems. They pulled the debt ceiling increase/removal, which was the worst part. Still spending way too much, but only the bill is 10% of the original length, which is progress. I would still rather have seen the shutdown and a massive spending cut as the requirement to open the government back up. We're spending money we don't have like a SNACKO who put everything on black in Vegas and is now borrowing money trying to double up to catch up.

It also could go the other way. The silencer he used was apparently 3D printed. If I can buy a 3D printer and make a gun and a silencer, why regulate them at all? Clearly the laws regulating silencers were made completely irrelevant by a printer anyone can buy on Amazon.

It would be a good way to test our physical and political capability to respond.

I didn't say anything about "feelings", so strange to bring it up and even stranger to put it in quotes as if I said it. Thoughts and feelings are very different and far too many people confuse the two. I don't put any trust in rumors, especially rumors from DC from 'someone closer to the issue' (apparently I only get to "feel", while they get to "think"). Assuming the rumors are true, which is a monumental assumption, needing to learn and people not liking her are no problem. Likeability is not a qualification for a cabinet position. Needing to learn sounds like an insider critique of someone that isn't an insider. Washington, and thus our country, would be better off with fewer insiders. Unprepared is a different matter, but I think (not feel) that it would be far easier to walk in prepared for a meeting with the President on a specific subject than to walk into a firing squad that can ask anything they want.

Based on the fact that she was a Democrat and is now a Republican, she is likely fairly centrist unless she had a massive swing in her beliefs or is a slimy politician (redundant?) that saw an advantage by switching sides and went full tilt right. Saying that she is a D wearing R's clothing is not very enlightening considering how far many Rs (like Trump) are from historical core conservative principles. I'm starting to think that all it takes to be an R in Washington these days is to adopt the D's platform from 10 years ago.

Leupold's Deltapoint Micro looks awesome, but currently only available for Glock and SW M&P. Only $250 with their military discount. I really hope they expand the line to Springfields. Most of the additional bulk for the sight is at the back of the slide rather than on top.

Interesting... everyone knows that blue tape means blanks meant to confuse the enemy

Props to the opposition Parliament members. Ignored the threat of martial law, climbed fences, stared down guys with guns, and held a unanimous vote to end the martial law. Technically has to be signed off by the President, but clearly he's done.

You know nothing about me other than what I have posted on here, which has been less than 1000 posts over the last 20 plus years. Hardly enough to be able to decide that I live in a bubble. Perhaps you're just projecting? i have not called out Trump's crimes because, as Bashi pointed out, they are actually misdemeanors that were elevated to felonies by AGs that are clearly out to get him. It is my understanding that for one of the crimes he was convicted of in NY, he is literally the only person that has ever been charged for that specific crime. He was convicted of a business crime that the supposed victim made a bunch of money off of. Convicting someone for a felony for a victimless business crime is unheard of. I stand by the statement that if he had not made enemies of the left by becoming President, zero of those crimes would have been prosecuted. On the other hand, someone evading $1.4M in taxes and illegal gun purchases is something any AG should prosecute. This is only partially about Hunter. There is enough evidence that Biden used his office to influence foreign states to profit his family to easily merit a grand jury, but that will likely not happen now because of the pardon. Which crime should we be more concerned about: a business man claiming he properties are worth 10% more than market value to get better loan terms or a sitting VP selling favors to foreign powers to bring in millions for his family?

I compromised nothing by voting against a politician that would continue our last four years of national decline (which has only helped China). Calling out corruption in our government is not cognitive dissonance, it is the lifeblood of a republic. I also have no problem calling out Trump or any other Republican for corruption. I don't think Trump is a saint, but I also think that your calling him a criminal when he has clearly been targeted by the exact type of personal prosecution that Biden used as an excuse to pardon his son is ironic. If Trump had not be President and simply stayed a business man and still did everything that he has been charged with, I think there is exactly a zero percent chance that he would have been charged with anything, let alone convicted. On the other hand, people are charged with gun law violations every day, so Hunter's prosecution is entirely reasonable and could just as easily happen to a nobody. But the big story here is not that Biden pardoned his son, but by doing so he is trying to hid his own guilt.

To be fair, I'm pretty sure my truck would be sticking out past the white hashes... Small parking garages are a pain, just one of the MANY reasons I try to avoid going to big cities. @Duck's commuter car use, that sounds pretty nice. But even saving $300 a month, there's no way I ever actually save money buying a commuter car since I'll still need a truck. Maybe I'll need to look more carefully to see about chargers in the commuter lot because auto-drive to/from would be pretty sweet.

Not even remotely surprised. First, as many have said, Joe's a corrupt politician at his core and closing all investigations into this would protect himself as well. Second, his son was facing a potential lengthy prison term. I get that the right thing to do was to let justice happen, but I doubt many fathers would have been able to let justice run its course when they could just sign a pardon.

Just make the playoffs a round 16 teams, that way you can figure out who is really the best while still getting most of the SEC in regardless of record/ranking to make the money people happy because we all know that's what the sport is really about anyway.

I think there is also a large group like me that is solid middle of the road. Have an EV, don't have one, I don't care. Just don't make me subsidize your car purchase and charging. Also, don't try to convince me that they're the greatest invention ever, that there are zero downsides to them, and any potential problem is simply that not enough people are buying them which causes production issues. That is a one sentence summary of multiple conversations I've had with Tesla owners. It's BS and any rational person would see it. I drive an F-150 and I like it in general, but just like any other vehicle, there are significant pluses and minuses to it. For example, Tesla's autopilot makes Ford's Bluecruise (autopilot-ish) look like the code was written by a bunch of jr high kids for a science project. But I can drive 750 miles without stopping for gas, and when I do, I have another 750 range 5 minutes later. Or a 5 gallon jerry can in the bed gives me another 100 miles in an area where I can't depend on finding a gas station. I'm happy that Musk is doing what he's doing and pushing technology development. Once battery advances make an EV reasonable for me, I'll be happy to read a book as my car drives me to the airport.

I doubt there is a much dirtier energy than lithium ion batteries from materials mined and largely assembled in countries that either only pretend to follow environmental agreements or don't even pretend to try. And that's not even starting with the slave labor problem.

Nice, I'm looking at a similar project next summer before the tax rebates expire, minus the EV. Just not practical for my part of the country and lifestyle. Are you doing both wind and solar? I haven't gotten into the detailed planning yet, but I'm thinking the combo would be helpful when the weather is bad (dark clouds often equal lots of wind). The EVs would have been great living on base as an LT. Free "gas" for all of UPT.

Totally agree. Until battery tech gets way better, a full electric truck just isn't realistic where I live. But I would be interested in a good plug-in hybrid. One that could drive a to/from town on electric only, but then still be able to drive 500+ miles without stopping to charge/gas up. I briefly considered the Lightning and planned to use a gas generator as a mileage extender until I did the math on how many additional miles I would get on a night of charging from a portable generator. I don't remember the exact math, but it was something like 15 miles for 8 hours on a 100lb generator.

I know the vast majority of truck owners use about 10% of the capability of the truck. But, if you're one of those 10% and use it off road at all, take a look at the clearance. A cybertruck parked next to my truck the other day and I was floored at the difference. The cybertruck looked like it has 33" tires from the factory and somehow has the ground clearance of an Accord. If you don't take your truck off road, then this is irrelevant.

Based on the picture they chose, it looks like Navy Times is not a fan. If Navy Times is anything like AF Times, that might be a good sign.

Agreed. I like the idea of Musk rolling in and chopping heads, but platforms that we have literally built our national security plans around probably needs a bit deeper look. Cameras are great, until it's cloudy...

Factory. I'm thinking about getting into reloading, buy my wife tells me I have too many hobbies already... I think Barnes bullets are absolutely awesome. As I mentioned before, I dropped a pig in its tracks with a 9mm. The bullet punched through bone and lodged in the spine. I found it cutting up the pig and the pedals were perfectly intact. No lead bullet is going to do that. Also, since I eat what I shoot, the thought of a lead bullet retaining only 50% of its weight is disturbing. That means there is a lot of lead in that meat. Copper bullets retain close to 100% of their weight and copper is ok to eat and even good for you in small quantities. So, for me, copper bullets are a no brainier. They work better to drop the game quickly and they're better for the meat. If you don't reload, there are a couple ways to get Barnes rounds. Barnes makes a few rounds themselves but they're a bit tough to find. Same with some other manufacturers. Federal makes a bunch of rounds with Barnes bullets and they're at most stores and on www.guidefitter.com with a military discount for not much more than you'd buy lead locally.

Taking your chosen or potential home defense weapons pig hunting is a great trial by fire. Pigs are similar enough to humans that I understand military trauma medicine schools used to (maybe still do?) shoot pigs then have the students try to patch them up to practice for human gunshot wounds. Gel tests are only worth so much as humans are not made of uniform gel. You see a gel test that only penetrates six inches (that's what she said) and you might think the round is bad. Until you realize that a human chest is mostly lungs surrounded by a relatively thin section of muscle/tissue/ribs. In the hunting world, I hear far too many people talk about 'knock-down power' as if that were some quantifiable thing that actually kills something. Animals and people alike die from either loss of blood pressure (bleeding out, heart shot, etc) or from stopping the signals that control the body (head shot, severing the spine, etc). Shooting pigs has made me realize that short of an actual cannon, they're going to take a bit to die from a lung shot regardless of the cartridge, including rounds far more powerful than most would consider for home defense. I've had fellow hunters lose a medium sized deer hit with a 300 win mag in open country because it ran away. Pigs will also fall over in their tracks with quality bullet in 9mm if you shoot their head/neck/spine/shoulder. People will be no different. I'm going to get some of the rounds that @brabus mentioned for the 300BO and give them a try. I'd also highly recommend anyone looking at a new bullet to look at Barnes all copper bullets (haven't tried them in 300BO). I've shot 7-8 animals ranging from pigs to elk with them and the furthest any have run has been around 30 yards. All have opened completely and the couple bullets I've recovered have retained their pedals despite hitting bone. I have them in my home defense guns for that reason.

One downside of 300BO is round expansion if you're going the suppressed subsonic route. You need to buy a high quality round or shoot normal supersonic speeds or you risk it not opening up. I've shot a pig with a suppressed subsonic 300BO, heard the nice thwack indicating a good hit, only to watch the pig trot away like nothing happened. My mind was blown until I looked more into that round afterwards and found it was notorious for not opening up at subsonic speeds. I'm sure the pig died, but not even close to recoverable with no blood trail in a swamp. If that were some dude that broke into my house on drugs, he'd require many more rounds to stop him. I had that gun as a backup home defense gun and swapped out the ammo for full speed rounds after that. I also had worried about rounds missing or going straight through a bad guy into my kids rooms, but decided after that I would just have to keep my home's geometry in mind if I woke up to a noise in the middle of the night. Might be easier said than done in some houses depending on the layout. Edit to add: depending on the shotgun, I've had nearly as many feed/ejection/misc problems with shotguns as I have with a well maintained AR. So don't let the 'ARs are more difficult to operate' though keep you from using one as a home defense gun. I think a good AR is absolutely the best home defense gun you could get. Few bad guys will break into a possibly occupied house by themselves unless they're really high. Then you either have someone that will take many rounds to put down or multiple bad guys to deal with. Either way I want more rounds available than most shotguns offer.

Physically resided on a farm? No, but my family does have a farm where I spend a fair amount of time and has switched 3 crops in the last 5 years, so yes, I have an idea. If there is a potential to double the income, farmers will figure it out.

True, wheat prices would jump considerably, but would recover for the next harvest season. We're still paying farmers not to farm and many of the midwest's most productive farms are growing corn to turn into gas rather than feed people. There is considerable excess production available and that's not even considering some of the greenbelt acreages that could be farmed productively but are basically just hayed for the tax savings. If people thought prices would continue to stay high, many of those greenbelt people would jump off the sideline and start leasing to nearby farmers.