This makes me itch to get out the fishing rod and head for the Stanislaus or the Mokulumne.

Great war time imagery for a noble purpose

Thanks to Chant du Depart for this.  Follow the link for more.

All of them have it, and they want to give it to you too!

Turn about is fair play.  She's full of germs!

This is more like it.  A girl you can take home to meet the parents, and no germs!

Speaking of imagery and it's message, just what is Hillary trying to tell us with her choice of propaganda?

Make no mistake, Hillary and the progressives are well aware of where this symbolism comes from, and they happily embrace it.  The same cannot be said for the embarrassing LIV's who idolize her.

Although they call themselves Democrats, or more often now, Progressives, that's just another version of totalitarian.  They yearn to control every detail of your actions and thought, and claim as much of your wealth as they can.  Does anyone believe, knowing Hillary as we do, that if she could get away with it, she would lock up or otherwise destroy anyone who opposed her?

Our motto should be: 

No more Clintons, ever again.

Mao would be pleased that he and his ideology has penetrated so deeply into the American political body.  Given that Mao happily murdered millions and millions of his own people in his quest for ultimate power, one must wonder why Hillary and the progressives have such a warm spot in their political hearts for he and his ilk.

Why would any awake American take a chance on a vote for her, or indeed any progressive, given this?

Via Weasel Zippers.

Related and relevant:  Hillary Clinton argues "we have to reign in American's support for Second Amendment rights."  Reign in those pesky Constitutional rights!  Now she is even sounding like Mao, who did disarm his subjects, just before he began murdering them.

Some good news to end the day

 From The National Journal:

 "The House Judiciary Committee will hold a markup of an amended version of the USA Freedom Act on Wednesday, a surprising and sudden move that would essentially nullify the government's ability to collect bulk metadata of Americans' phone records."

  "The more aggressive Freedom Act is sponsored by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the one-time mastermind behind the post-9/11 Patriot Act, from which both the Obama and Bush administrations have derived much of the legal authority for their surveillance programs. Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, has vocally condemned NSA spying since Edward Snowden's leaks surfaced last June. The bill has long been supported by privacy and civil-liberties groups who view it as the best legislative reform package in Congress."

This is one much needed action to push back against the massive state apparatus that is fast gaining total control over normal Americans.  Although Obama will never sign it, the mere passage in the House and later, after November, in the Senate, will show the people who their friends are in Congress, and who are not. They can vote accordingly thereafter.

Swimming hole of dreams

Looks like a scene from the first Pink Panther movie

Freckles, they are good

Cree indian, 1903

Weird

Via APOD

Taken only two weeks ago, the Sun was captured sporting numerous tumultuous regions including active sunspot regions AR 2036 near the image top and AR 2036 near the center. Only four years ago the Sun was emerging from an unusually quiet Solar Minimum that had lasted for years. The above image was recorded in a single colorof light called Hydrogen Alpha, inverted, and false colored. Spicules cover much of the Sun's face like a carpet. The gradual brightening towards the Sun's edges is caused by increased absorption of relatively cool solar gas and called limb darkening. Just over the Sun's edges, several filamentary prominences protrude, while prominences on the Sun's face are seen as light streaks. Possibly the most visually interesting of all are the magnetically tangled active regions containing relatively cool sunspots, seen as white dots. Currently at Solar Maximum -- the most active phase in its 11-year magnetic cycle, the Sun's twisted magnetic field is creating numerous solar "sparks" which include eruptive solar prominences, coronal mass ejections, and flares which emit clouds of particles that may impact the Earth and cause auroras. One flare two years ago released such a torrent of charged particles into the Solar System that it might have disrupted satellites and compromised power grids had it struck planet Earth.

Rainy in the high country

Went to the mountains yesterday and it was a beautiful day.

Today, if you get high enough, you might get rained on.

Artillery long shot record

On February 12, 2012 the longest operational artillery shot in U.S. Marines history was fired from a M777 Howitzer. Marines dropped the 155mm M982 Excalibur round on Taliban insurgents 36 km away — more than 22 miles — in Helmand province, Afghanistan. It killed the group of Taliban fighters.

The M777 howitzer is a towed 155 mm artillery piece which made its first combat appearance in Afghanistan. The M777 is often combined with the Excalibur GPS-guided munition, which allows accurate fire at a range of up to 25 miles.

Via Weasel Zippers

Meteor over Toronto on Sunday

SMOD's little brother.

Take your daughters to the woods to shoot

With a day as beautiful as any this year, and both daughters at home today, I ignored my sore throat and  decided to take the eager girls up to the forest to do some shooting.  

We had a CZ 75, a Kahr K9, a Seecamp in .32 acp, and a TC chambered in .17 mach 2.  Add an ammo can full of reloaded .9mm Luger, and we were ready to rock.

The girls had to take some selfies with their cell camera so they could show their city friends what a cool dad they had.

We drove up past Ham's Station on Highway 88, turned off on Cat Creek Road, and dropped down into the canyon of the Mokulumne River.

It's a long, long way on this road to anything, so it was no surprise that we saw no one and heard no one the whole time we were there.  A quick detour onto a side road brought us to this cathedral of pines, and the perfect place to shoot safely.   We set up our Zombie target, and began the fun.

The little Seecamp is designed around the .32 acp round, and has a long, long trigger pull.  Not too accurate beyond maybe 15 yards, but pleasantly snappy just the same.

The Kahr K9 was also fun.  I got a big laugh when I loaded up the magazine and asked the girls if they "wanted to shoot the Kahr." 

Relaxed and entertained among the pines.

Later, on the way home, we called the wife and son, who had other demands on their time this morning, and convinced them to meet us for dinner at the Ione Hotel.  Great Italian food with the whole family is a fine way to end a day like this.

Spiritus Sanctus

Dreamscape

With a touch of cabin porn