Gun Thread: First March Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving hell did it get to be the First March Edition? I told 'you people' March was coming, didn't I? Hmmm? Well here it is, and we have not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Sundays this month!! I am exhausted just thinking about it!

Current Events: I generally like to take a break from current events in the comments but I think the situation in Iran, and to a greater degree the implications here at home, warrant an exception. If you would like to discuss what is going on I'm OK with it, particularly with respect to the potential for acts of domestic terrorism and the various threat scenarios, and general self-defense preparedness and best practices. Having said that, please think before you post. Thanks.

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (215) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Carbon Steel For The Loss!

Seasoning steel pans is an exercise in frustration and failure, unlike the same process with cast-iron. I am not a metallurgist, So I can only guess at the difference in the surface's ability to absorb oil and then hold onto it in its polymer state. But I do know one thing...that expensive carbon-steel pan is a huge pain in the ass to season, and the seasoning is as fickle and transitory as a puff of smoke in a windstorm.

Big Pan is as evil a cabal as any on earth; their teasing bromides about the superiority of their products should be outlawed, and their executives banished to a world of stuck-on eggs and burned steaks.

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (379) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First World Problems...

That's one of my favorite lowball glasses, and because I am a big fan of Old Fashioneds, it gets heavy use.

Alas, it suffered a chip, and while it wasn't particularly expensive, it is a nice solid, heavy glass that adds to the enjoyment of my cocktails! So I wasn't about to toss the thing. Remember, I am a cheap bastard!

So...what to do?

Some 600 grit sandpaper, a thin punch, and a very long time carefully sanding smooth the jagged edge, and all's right in the world!

A First World Problem AND a First World Solution!

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (217) | Trackbacks (Suck)

After 47 Years Of Asymmetric War, We Finally Have A President Who Understands

The Islamic Republic Of Iran was founded after a revolution overthrew its monarch. That revolution was aided and abetted by a cabal of western countries, including France and America (thank you Jimmy Carter!), and various leftist political groups that found Iran's embrace of the West and Israel to be unacceptable.

Soon after the Shah left Iran and his replacement failed to consolidate power, the Mullahs rushed in. They had been fomenting revolution for years, and the most fanatical of them, Ayatollah Khomeini, seized power and promptly imprisoned or murdered his political opponents, in particular the starry-eyed leftists who saw Iran becoming some sort of progressive Nirvana.

They were wrong, and instead Iran became the epicenter of Islamic terror, with its tentacles spread across the world. They also created proxies within other countries to facilitate their expansionist goals in the region. Much of the Islamic terror that spread through the West could be traced to active or tacit support from Iran and its theocratic dictators. They also created a comprehensive surveillance state within Iran, and ferociously enforced their version of Shia Islam. Other religions withered, women were cast back into the 7th century, murder, torture, and rape became a tool of the government, and it was all supported by the insatiable thirst for Iranian oil, coupled with the typical leftist support of anything that degrades traditional Western culture.

Iran's targets were Israel first and foremost, and America. Little Satan and Big Satan, and they didn't pretend anything different. For 46 years the goal of the dictators of Iran was the destruction of Israel, the destruction of America, and a global conflagration that would usher in the end times that would return their 12th Imam, a tenet of Shia Islam.

It was war against Israel, America, and the West, but the flaccid thinkers and accommodationists who passed for western political elites wouldn't, or couldn't understand that there was no accommodation to be made with a theocratic dictatorship whose goals were clear. So they mostly ignored the war, accepted the casualties, and hoped that kicking the can down the road would eventually moderate the savagery of the Iranian government.

They too were wrong, and Israel's behind-the-scenes work to degrade the Iranian nuclear program was the only thing that kept the West from a third World War, this time with nuclear weapons.

That is, until the election of Donald Trump!

Trump's courageous decision to face Tehran head-on

The strongest argument that President Donald Trump’s political opponents can muster to decry his decision to order American forces to join with Israel to act against Iran is that he is launching a “war of choice,” rather than seeking to avert an imminent threat to American interests or security. Even his sternest critics, such as the editorial page of The New York Times, acknowledged that the government of Iran is not merely a brutal oppressor and a constant threat to the rest of the Middle East as well as to the West, but also combines a “murderous ideology with nuclear ambitions.”

Every U.S. president for the last quarter-century has asserted that America will never let Iran get a nuclear weapon and was prepared to use force to prevent that from happening. But only Trump seems to have fully grasped the stark nature of the threat that Tehran poses to the United States—and the world.

The goal...perhaps the only goal...of the Iranian theocracy was the production of nuclear weapons to be used against Israel, America, and probably Europe. Any other interpretation of their actions is arrant nonsense or willful ignorance. The Iranian dictators were excellent practitioners of the Muslim penchant for lying and misdirection, or "taqiyya." And the world was content to be fooled!

But not President Donald Trump. In fact, his own brand of American taqiyya seemed to work rather well on Iran, whose leadership was surprised by the attacks of February 28th. The Iranians assumed that their own obfuscation would buy them time, and that their own attacks on American installations, Israel, and a few other Arab nations in the region would be on their timetable.

Whoops!

Israel's decapitation of the leadership, combined with a massive degradation of Iran's military infrastructure that only America could achieve, has created the opportunity for another revolution in Iran...one that will hopefully usher in a government that will consider the welfare of the Iranian people to be paramount.

If the American and Israeli attacks continue, and if the dictatorship's power base is damaged enough be attacked from within Iran by whatever coalition is being cobbled together, and if that coalition can create a functioning government, and if its neighbors do not begin to meddle, then the Iranian people have a chance to become what they once were, a vibrant, energetic, successful culture!

There are a lot of "ifs" in that paragraph, and there are no guarantees, even with the staunch support of America and its clear-eyed president! But it is difficult to imagine an outcome that is any worse than the current state of affairs.

But the established world order has come to an end. Iran will not be the dominant player in the Middle East, and will find it increasingly difficult to continue its evil ways around the world, even if by some malign turn of events the theocracy survives.

And...hopefully...President Trump is parsimonious with American treasure, and does not commit to a rebuilding of Iran at the expense of the American taxpayer. It is the Iranian people who should do the work!

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (348) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Book Thread: March 1st, 2026 [MP4]

[click to embiggen]

Good morning, ‘rons and ‘ronettes. It’s time once again for the monthly MP4-hosted Sunday Book Thread. Dress is country club casual, but ladies are encouraged to indulge in shoes, such as this:

So ask the barman for an Old Fashioned, covfefe or tea and let’s get started!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (349) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 1 March 2026

Top Story

• OpenAI has announced a deal with the Department of War with - apparently - the same limitations that Anthropic was demanding. (Tech Crunch)
  
  Guess Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, really pissed someone off.
  
  Sam Altman of OpenAI knows when to lie, and sometimes also who to lie to.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:02 AM | Comments (155) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night Club ONT - February 28, 2026 [2 D's]

Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino. We've spiffied the place up a bit tonight. Hope you notice. The carpets have been cleaned. Starlight mints are now available at the bar. Fresh cakes in the urinals. Lavender and vanilla scented plug-ins in the ladies room. Coat check area has been sprayed with that stuff they use for bowling shoe rentals. Come on in!

This is an open thread, so report, speculate, and pontificate as desired. Current events continue to develop. Just don't be a jerk or a troll. Club ONT security will remove offenders.

[Top photo: Cataract Falls, Tennessee (ten minutes from Gatlinburg)]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (472) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die

Shockingly, I think I've only seen one other movie this 21-day-stretch, the 1945 classic "Brief Encounter," which is semi-relevant. But rather than talk about that masterpiece, I thought I'd give you a review of a new movie that doesn't suck--an increasingly rare breed.
--
I was talking to a friend (who's been on a David Lean kick) about this movie, and she sighed and said "I hate...today."

This isn't so much a reflection on the quality of Gore Verbinski's latest joint Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die so much as its character, and more the character of our times. She had watched Brief Encounter, which is intensely human, personal and moral, and it's a big, jarring jump to a black comedy about the death of humanity, school shootings, and the rise of "fake reality".

I like Verbinski. Early in his career, it seemed to me that he made a lot out of some thin material: Mousehunt is basically a cartoon about two guys versus a mouse, and is far more entertaining than it should be; The Ring I liked better than the Japanese original; and of course Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl—based on the smash hit amusement park ride?—was a remarkable achievement blending old Hollywood swashbuckler tropes with CGI technology.

It's probably his best film and very possibly his ruination, as the first two sequels dominated his output in the '00s with predictably deteriorating returns artistically (if not financially). He had a hit with his quirky CGI Rango—which grossed a little bit less than his flop, The Lone Ranger, showing how weird the movie biz can be sometimes.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die looks to be a flop, too, looking like it may not break $5M in its opening weekend.

Would you go on a quest with this man?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM | Comments (157) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - February 28, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) a spin and it landed on woodworking on a lathe.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (100) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, February 28

Courtesy Troy Rubright

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside for just a little while.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:05 PM | Comments (69) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Nazis, RINOs, Islamofascists, and Other Infiltrators Who Should Have Been Purged Long Ago Are Having a Bad Day

Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡
@shanaka86

They did not bomb Iran. They waited for Iran's entire leadership to sit down in the same room and then they bombed Iran.

Months of intelligence. Thousands of hours of surveillance and signal intercepts. One variable: the moment the Supreme Leader, the President, and senior military command gathered in a single location at the same time.

That moment was 8:15 this morning. Daylight. Every previous Israeli strike on Iran came at night. June 2025 launched in darkness. October 2024 after midnight. Iran's entire air defense doctrine is built around the assumption that Israel attacks in the dark. Israel attacked in broad daylight because the target was not infrastructure. The target was a meeting.

Reuters confirms strikes targeted Khamenei and Pezeshkian. CNN confirms months of joint US-Israeli planning. Israeli officials confirmed the strike hit the location where Iran's top officials were gathered. Whether Khamenei was moved before the strike or extracted after is the most consequential unknown on the planet right now. If before, someone inside Tehran's inner circle told Jerusalem when and where the meeting would happen. If after, the strikes hit the room and he survived. Both scenarios are catastrophic for the regime.

Because Iran's leadership now knows three things. Israel knew where they were meeting. Israel knew when they were meeting. Israel knew who would be in the room. And everything we watched over the past month, the F-22s at Ovda, the tankers at Ben Gurion, Al Udeid emptied to zero, 270 transport flights, all of it was the delivery architecture for one precision strike on one gathering.

Every future meeting of Iran's senior leadership now carries one question: does Israel know about this one too.

This is not a military operation. This is the destruction of institutional trust inside a regime. Every general who sits with Khamenei tomorrow will wonder who told Jerusalem about today. Every IRGC commander who receives a meeting summons will calculate whether attendance is duty or a death sentence. Every secure facility in Tehran has been proven insecure.

In June 2025 Israel killed 30 generals in the opening minutes. That was brute force across dispersed targets. This was a scalpel. One meeting. One moment. Months of patience.

Iran fired missiles at six countries in retaliation. Most intercepted. One civilian dead from debris in Abu Dhabi. Saudi Arabia responded by pledging all its capabilities against Iran. The Gulf coalition that did not exist yesterday exists today because Tehran built it by attacking everyone simultaneously.

Israel traded one morning of precision strikes for the permanent destruction of Iran's command cohesion.

That is not a battle. That is checkmate disguised as a first move. https://open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans

Marjorie Taylor Greene
@mtgreenee

I did not campaign for this.
I did not donate money for this.
I did not vote for this, in elections or Congress.
This is heartbreaking and tragic.
And how many more innocent will die?
What about our own military?
This is not what we thought MAGA was supposed to be.
Shame!

Thomas Massie
@RepThomasMassie

10h

Acts of war unauthorized by Congress.
The U.S. is attacking Iran according to AP.

The "ex-" degenerate who supposedly converted to Catholicism and gave up being a living pincushion is now singing prayers to Allah in Arabic:

He's also calling for terrorists to blow up federal buildings.

DEPORT.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:00 PM | Comments (1396) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Feb. 28

The photo above, of a Lady Banks' Rose not too far from where we live, is a repeat. But I thought the flag was appropriate for today. And the flag is up over the rose bush again, too. This is a prime season for lovely flowering shrubs and small trees. This rose only blooms once a year, but it stays in bloom for several weeks, and it is worth changing your traveling route a little to see it if you have one in the neighborhood. We have several in our neighborhood. Not all this big.

Wee Kreek Farm Girl first alerted us that this rose, Rosa banksiae, both the yellow one and the white one, grow in the desert, including a record-setting huge rose in Tombstone.

Posted by: K.T. at 01:00 PM | Comments (43) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Reactions: All the Right Nazis and Islamic Apologists Is Losing Dey Shit

Noah Pollak
@NoahPollak

1h

One of Trump's greatest legacies will be how he blew up a half-century of western diffidence, restraint, and failure on terrorism. As the era of Islamic terrorism began in the 1970s, western countries (very much including Israel) spun up all kinds of pseudo-sophisticated theories and excuses to avoid carrying out the only successful policy, which is killing terrorists -- as many as you can, whenever you can.

There are entire university departments, think tanks, media outlets, NGOs, foundations, and political parties devoted to promoting self-defeating, enervating fictions about terrorism designed to tie the hands of the West. We just have to live with it, deal with it, accommodate it, accept the barbarism. Terrorists have grievances. It's partly our fault, after all, because reasons. There are no military solutions. If we're nice to the terrorists they will actually help us stabilize the region. The tropes go on forever and they are invented by people who want the west to lose, and who would rather be wrong but appear sophisticated than be right and appear crude.

Trump wants our side to win. The winning approach to terrorism is very simple. Bomb them to smithereens. Kill them off. Decapitate the regimes. Sanction them until they have no more money for jihad. Trump gets it, because unlike so many people in politics, he doesn't care whether Harvard likes him.

Winning is going to generate a real peace dividend for America. Finally dealing with Iran -- the head of the snake -- will enable the US to step away from the Middle East. It will send a message to our adversaries that the big dog is still in charge. And very enjoyably, it will sweep aside decades of dumb elite groupthink about how we have no alternative but to cut deals with terrorists. Thank you President Trump.

Guy Benson
@guypbenson

1h

The emerging consensus among many elected Democrats is some version of:

'To be a clear, Iran's outlaw regime is deeply evil, exports terrorism around the world, pursues genocidal nuclear weapons, is drenched in American blood, and slaughters its own civilians en masse. But..."

@CAGovernor
Gavin Newsom:

"The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons. The leadership of Iran must go. But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people. President Trump is putting Americans at risk abroad because he is unpopular at home."

"As this unfolds, California stands with the Iranian-American community in our state, recognizing they have many friends and loved ones who have fought bravely to chart their own future to end decades of state violence and denial of basic rights."

Cavernous Nostrils weighs in:

Candace Owens
@RealCandaceO

51m

We will never forget that they MURDERED Charlie Kirk for this war and he knew they were going to do it.
His spent his final days mentally anguished, texting the very people who would ultimately betray him.

In honor of Charlie, I STAND AGAINST ISRAEL.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:00 PM | Comments (618) | Trackbacks (Suck)

REPORTS: THE AYATOLLAH HAS BEEN KILLED

Also killed, reportedly:

The head of Iran's "Justice" Department, responsible for the mass killing of protesters

the Ayatollah's number two

The commander of the Revolutionary Guards

You know how Muslims always pretend to want to have "negotiations" while they prepare for their next sneak attack?

Well Trump just did that to them. He's been pretending he wants to talk as he's been moving US assets into strike position, trying to get them to stop murdering citizens while he prepared the death-strikes on the regime. Awesome.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 09:58 AM | Comments (745) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[There is something dreadfully wrong when you can see the bottom of a coffee cup.]

*****

Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to take care of. (Rulz for those of you in Kip's Bay)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be exceptional, don't be Pretti Good.
3) Running with sharp objects will result in permanent record activity.
4) Have a great weekend!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:00 AM | Comments (276) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The US and Israel Have Launched Military Strikes to Take out the Iranian Government

News is breaking fast.

Much of the Iranian leadership is alleged to now be dead or to have fled.

Donald Trump: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.”

Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands.”

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 06:36 AM | Comments (321) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 28 February 2026

Top Story

• OpenAI has raised $110 billion in new investment from Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank - sort of - valuing the company at somewhere between $730 billion and bankrupt. (Trading View)
  
  A lot of the stories just report the numbers and not the strings wrapped around them.
  
  Amazon for example chipped in $50 billion, but only $15 billion up front. The rest requires OpenAI to either deliver AGI - human-level intelligence - or a successful IPO. And the deal requires OpenAI to commit to an additional $100 billion in spending on Amazon's cloud services, on top of the $38 billion deal they've already signed.
  
  Nvidia invested $30 billion - much less than the $100 billion discussed previously but not a small amount either - apparently on similar conditions that OpenAI spend all of that and more on Nvidia chips.
  
  SoftBank is also in for $30 billion, but I've seen no details of what they are getting out of it other than a slice of the pie.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (282) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Do You Believe In Miracle Memes?

Howdy Horde! Welcome to Friday night. This week, the hottest subject in meming has been the meltdown of our neighbors to the north over the US beating Canada for the gold, so there's more than a couple of memes on that topic.

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (496) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Rumor of War Cafe

Bridge over Colorado River at bottom of Grand Canyon
by @eamberg

Dog who's lost all of his hair due to terrible skin allergies gets his fur back.

Baby duck is reuinted with his brothers after behing rehabbed.

Baby elephant just being cute.

A golden retriever Christmas.

Little girl teaches puppy how to get down from the stoop.

This better not be AI. Or this one.

The problem with AI slop is now I don't even post really good videos because most really good videos are fake. I now search for moderately-good videos, figuring you wouldn't use AI to make a fake moderately-good video.

Airport police dogs go on break together.

If we could all take as much pleasure in life as this dog...

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (237) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Week In Woke

Everybody is Insane
@colorblindk1d

The New York Times ran a piece on their homepage about a guy getting deported even though he had lived in the US since a teenager and had been here for 20 years, and waited until the end of the article to mention that 19 of those years were spent in prison for murder.

"Bioethicist:" drinking milk is Nazi (cuz it's white).

I would like to enter into evidence Exhibit A: Bioethics Professor at New York University, Arthur Caplan. As with most bioethics experts, we can stipulate based on undisputed public statements by Professor Caplan that he is ignorant of when life begins, so he supports abortion. He also does not know the difference between the DNA structure of a man and the DNA structure of a woman, so he believes in transgerderism. Others may argue that killing and mutilating human beings is an act of malice, but a) that does not disqualify anyone from being a bioethicist, and b) there is no rule that a professor has to be born with common sense or even a brain.

His ignorance of basic biology in these areas is not the point. It is more about his knowledge of chemistry. Under consideration is his public assessment of the properties of whole milk. "Nazis were enamored of whole milk as well," he wrote in his blog. "I am suspicious. Milk drinking is political. Drinking whole white milk has played a big role in racist and far-right thinking. In America, drinking whole milk has for years been a part of alt-right, white nationalist messaging in tweets, memes, and videos."

Per Google's AI digest, he finds RFKJr.'s and MAHA's preference for whole milk, with mlkfats included, is actually a Nazi Plot.

Bioethicist Arthur Caplan has argued that the recent, high-profile promotion of whole milk by certain political figures is linked to white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and eugenicist ideologies
.
Key details regarding this argument include:

The Argument: Caplan suggests that the push for whole milk in schools is not just about nutrition, but acts as a "dog whistle" for far-right, white nationalist, and fascist groups.
Historical Context: Caplan notes that the Nazi regime was, in fact, "enamored" with whole milk as part of their ideology.
Modern Political Context: Caplan has connected this rhetoric to the promotion of whole milk by figures in the Trump administration and others, arguing that the effort is tainted by racism.
Reception: Critics have labeled this argument as "woke nonsense," arguing that the efforts are solely intended to improve health, not to promote bigotry.

In a February 2026 post, Caplan specifically referred to milk as a "symbol of neo-Nazi hate" and a "long standing obsession of fascists".

Remember about eight years ago 4chan was doing pranks where they claimed various outrageous things were "Nazi code" to get the media (and the very smart professors) to repeat these made-up lies? Well, one of those hoaxes was the claim that White Supremacists drink white milk to signal their allegiance to each other.

And now? A "bioethicist" claims it's really real, man.

The so-called "godfather of evidence-based medicine" is asked why he signed a statement calling genital mutilation for children "medically necessary" despite a complete lack of evidence. First he denies he signed such a statement, then concedes he signed it, because he hadn't bothered to read it first.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:20 PM | Comments (277) | Trackbacks (Suck)