With every court decision, I become more convinced that SCOTUS has been compromised. There is no limit to what powers they will allow the government to take unto themselves.
COVID
Oh Nose!
A birthday party for a 60 year old man in the UK was a superspreader event for the Omicron variant of COVID. Fifteen of the eighteen attendees were tested positive for COVID, with every one of them being fully vaccinated, and most having already received booster shots. This, in my mind, is sold evidence that the vaccine doesn’t do a thing.
It seems that, with all of the breathless panic over this Omicron variant, we should keep in mind that its most common symptoms are a cough, fatigue, and a runny nose. Now the powers that be keep saying that the vaccine wards off serious symptoms, but the only person in the US who has been hospitalized with this variant was fully vaccinated, so there is that.
Of the first 43 people in the US with this variant:
- 40 were symptomatic.
- 34 were fully vaccinated.
- 25 were under the age of 40.
- 14 had traveled internationally in the past two weeks.
- 14 received boosters.
- 6 had shortness of breath.
- 6 had previously had a coronavirus infection.
- 3 lost their sense of taste or smell.
- 1 was hospitalized (for two days). The one hospitalized was vaccinated.
- 33 had a cough
- 24 complained of fatigue
- 22 had a runny nose
So we are in a panic over an illness that we used to refer to as a “chest cold.” That was before we began testing everyone. This is just stupid.
Meanwhile, the liberal press in South Florida is demanding that DeSantis restore the COVID lockdown.
COVID
Firing the Officers
Here we are, watching Europe on the verge of going to war, and the US military is worried about firing officers who don’t want the jab.
Arts and Crafts
Building Gaston
Before I began on this build, I wanted to review the Glock trigger system, just to be sure I was familiar with what I would be building. So here is a video that explains the Glock trigger pretty clearly. If you are going to build a Glock, this is a good place to start.
On opening the kit, I read through the instructions to make sure I had no questions, then I went in search of the instructional video. This was the best one that I could find:
The frame itself requires less than 10 minutes worth of work to be ready for assembly. I didn’t use a had drill. I have a drill press, and feel a lot more comfortable about drilling something like this with a press than I do with a hand drill.
When you need to remove the tabs, it’s easier to remove them before you put the frame in the jig. Make the cuts with hand cutters (I used a set of dykes and a pair of end cutters) then put the frame in the jig and smooth out the cuts with a hand file. I used a flat file with fine teeth, then polished it a bit with some fine grit sandpaper. It looks pretty good.
In all, the machine work took less than 20 minutes. It was MUCH less difficult and involved than doing an AR lower.
When it came to installing the parts kit, I hit a little bit of a snag. There were no parts kits available at 80percent.com, so I took a chance and ordered a PATMOS compact lower parts kit from Right to Bear. Cost $60
Because of that, the video from 80percent may not be as complete as you would like, but it is still a big help. I was worried that parts from two different suppliers would be a problem, but it turns out that it isn’t.
The only real snag here was in getting the pins in. A couple of tips: It was MUCH easier to insert a punch through the frame, trigger, and slide release from the left side of the frame, then insert the pivot pin from the right side of the frame. Using the punch as a slave pin and gently tapping the pivot pin with a non-marring hammer from the left was the easiest way to do it.
Another difference was the Mod 1 rear slide rails that come with the frame were not one piece like in the videos. They are two separate pieces. I simply put them in place after the trigger assembly went in. Other than that, the entire assembly went together in less than 30 minutes. In all, completing the frame took less than an hour.
If you look closely at the picture below, you will see that I still haven’t cleaned up the burrs from the removal of the cross frame member. I am holding off on that until it is time to fit the barrel and slide. I will clean that up and smooth things out with a Dremel and a fine round file when I go to fit all of that together.
Here is a second video that may help you with the assembly.
So far, the cost of this build has been the frame at $150, plus the lower parts kit at $60, for a total cost for the assembled frame of $210. I have $640 remaining in the budget for this build.
As usual, I will remind everyone that I receive no compensation for using the parts and suppliers that I use, and that I have no relationship with them, other than being a customer. All prices paid are the same available to anyone else in the public.
Military
War Warning
There is a high probability that Russia will conduct open combat operations against Ukraine within the next 30 days, and possibly much sooner. The likelihood that the United States will be involved in hostilities is slim, but
If that occurs, widespread cyber attacks may take place against NATO countries to disrupt C3 networks. This will likely involve internet and telecommunications networks worldwide, as well as potential power grid attacks in Europe.
The American Redoubt Radio Operators Network is reporting:
In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded 1,463 ceasefire violations, including 142 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 815 ceasefire violations in the region.
In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded 161 ceasefire violations, including 97 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 32 ceasefire violations in the region.
Members of the armed formations denied the SMM passage near Zolote and Molodizhne, Luhansk region, and delayed its passage for more than two hours near Olenivka, Donetsk region.*
The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske.
The SMM facilitated and monitored the operation of and repairs to critical civilian infrastructure.
The Mission continued following up on the situation of civilians, including at three entry-exit checkpoints and the corresponding checkpoints of the armed formations in Luhansk region.
The Mission’s freedom of movement continued to be restricted, including at two checkpoints of the armed formations in Donetsk region. Its unmanned aerial vehicles encountered instances of GPS signal interference, assessed as caused by probable jamming.
Make sure that you have alternate means of communications with friends and family. Understand that credit cards, banking, and ATMs may not function without communications networks.
Arts and Crafts
Sunday Afternoon in the shop
My rifle Project- “Kyle” is currently at a standstill.
The upper is mostly done. The barrel is installed in a slick side upper, as is is the gas system and forend. The rest of the upper is on hold because JP rifles is out of LMOS enhanced bolts. Mine has been on backorder for several weeks. I know there are other LMOS BCG’s out there, but I have good luck with JP rifles, so we will just shelve the upper for a bit. Once that BCG arrives, I will install it, the dust cover, then check the headspace and call the upper complete.
I am not going to even start machining the lower yet. That is because I am waiting for a Larue trigger. The machine work only takes about an hour, so until the trigger arrives, there is no point in continuing. If I get impatient, I will just get a Geisselle SSA and complete the project. The Geisselle is a better trigger, but I am trying to hold costs down a bit.
Still, I had some time to play in the shop, so I went ahead and completed the lower for Project Gaston. This is my first 80% pistol build. I decided to go with a polymer 80, so I wound up selecting the GST-9 from 80 percent Arms. Here is an overview:
The next post will detail what I did to complete this pistol. I will say that I hit a couple of snags, but a bit of ingenuity enabled be to overcome them pretty easily. More on that later.
Race baiting
History Fail
An Orlando TV station did a report about how some residents found and removed a street paving brick that had “KKK” engraved into it. Here is the quote that stuck out at me:
“There was ignorance in the past here. Remember this is the South, so that’s one of the things that you’re living with when you come into the South,” Jenkins said.
Sheehan and her friend are both potters. With their artistic eye, they do not think the etching is new.
“These bricks have to be fired to a really high temperature. And they’ve been there for hundreds of years,”
Impossible.
- The KKK was founded in 1865, which isn’t “hundreds of years” ago.
- Orlando was founded in 1850 as the settlement of Jernigan, not “hundreds of years” ago.
- Orlando didn’t pave its first street with bricks until 1907.
The media is full of shit.
Police State
Water Gun= Deadly Weapon
A water gun is a deadly weapon, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department, who arrested a 14 year old boy for shooting a 12 year old girl with one. He is facing a felony charge of “shooting a weapon/missile in a public or private building that could cause death or great bodily harm.”
So now the boy’s family will have legal bills in the $100,000 range, or they will be forced to take a plea deal. This is ridiculous.
Uncategorized
Certification
Licensure is where a governmental agency grants a person legal permission to carry out an act. Licensure frequently, but not always, involves certification. Once a license exists for a certain activity, it usually becomes illegal to carry out that activity without having that license.
Certification is a process whereby some agency declares that a person, an item, or process meets some set of standards. Sometimes a certifying agency is the government, sometimes it is a private company. A certification is only worth anything if everyone can believe that the standards are actually being enforced.
When a person graduates from high school, they receive a diploma. A diploma is a certification from the school board that declares the person whose name appears on that diploma has met the standards of a high school graduate. When a person shows you a high school diploma, it is supposed to mean that the person can do certain things: read, write, perform mathematical calculations to a certain level, those sorts of things.
You will note that I said SUPPOSED to mean. There are so many exceptions, diplomas haven’t meant anything for decades. A diploma doesn’t even mean that you were there for class for the majority of the time.
Now California has given up even pretending that a high school diploma means anything. Since they have declared that students can not receive a D or an F, every student, no matter how incompetent, will be at least a C student. A California high school diploma is worthless, and now the powers that be have admitted that.
The problem here is that colleges and employers nationwide will accept the diplomas, and the unearned grades attached to them. A high school diploma in California is now no harder to get than a fishing license.
Me
Illegal as Hell
I ordered my wife a Christmas gift from Amazon. It was on sale at a ‘Black Friday’ price of $349 and a delivery date of December 6. The package was reported to me as “lost in transit” on December 9. I was told to cancel the order and reorder it, so that is what I did. The new price was $620 with a delivery date of December 17. I contacted Amazon to ask them to honor the original price. This is what I was told:
We strive to maintain low and competitive prices on everything we carry. We constantly compare Amazon’s prices to our competitors’ prices to make sure that our prices are as low or lower than all relevant competitors. As a result, we don’t offer price matching.
I explained to the guy that I was not looking for a price match, I wanted Amazon to honor the price that they originally offer it to me for, and since it was THEIR fault that it was lost in transit, they should be the ones to replace it at the original price.
The associate then told me that he could send out a replacement, but that replacement would not arrive until January 19. Checking the Amazon page, they still list the item for sale, and are still advertising a delivery date of December 15-17, with 8 more listed as being in stock.
They have put me in the position of having to buy this item at nearly double the sale price, if I want my wife to have it in time for Christmas.
In fact, this sort of thing is illegal in Florida. It is called a “bait and switch” scam, and is a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Practices Act. A person who is the victim of a bait and switch can get damages plus up to $10,000.
I am going to send a certified letter to Amazon’s Registered Agent. If they don’t help me, I will contact an attorney. All I want is what I paid for at the agreed upon price.