Jury Duty 5-14-24

I lived in my previous house in another town for 16 years. During that time I was summoned for jury duty at least 4 times. Two of those times I called the courthouse telephone number the night before and heard a recorded message stating my presence in the court was not needed, and that my obligation had been fulfilled. But twice I actually had to appear in court and go through the screening process. Both times I was rejected for reasons that were quite amusing. One was a civil case where a guy was suing everyone under the sun because he was injured at work. When they asked me my opinion about punitive damages I brought up the idiot woman that held a scalding hot cup of coffee between her legs while she drove away from the McDonald's drive-thru and was burned, receiving millions in punitive damages. I asked if the injured party had his medical bills taken care of which the attorneys assured me they were. The guy cut his face but you could not even tell because he was not disfigured in the least. He fell and hit his head on the garage door window which broke and cut his face, so they were suing the company (Jiffy Lube), the corporate and company management, the builder of the building, the architect, the manufacturer of the door, the manufacturer of the window, etc. STUPID! I got bounced for more than just my statements though, since I was friends with the manager of that Jiffy Lube, brought my company van in there regularly, and the plaintiff's law firm was a customer of my company. The other one was a criminal case of assault of one inmate against another in the state prison system. The defendant sat 25 feet away in front of me looking right at me. The attorneys asked if I could be fair and impartial. I told them absolutely not, because he was a convicted criminal and incarcerated, and therefore a liar because everyone in prison is innocent. Plus I was pretty sure they had him on video six ways from Sunday beating the crap out of his fellow inmate. I was thanked for my honesty and sent on my way.

This was the second time in 19 years in my present residence that I have been called. The first time was like previous times, where I called the courthouse and told I would not have to appear. This notice for jury duty arrived in late March, and in Kommiecticut it is now in the form of an actual court summons. Once upon a time, certain potential jurors were automatically excused right off the bat like cops, firemen, EMT's, doctors, lawyers, etc. No more. Only legislators and officers of the court are automatically exempted (how convenient they have exempted themselves from this burden) and anyone 75 or older can choose to be exempt. You can reschedule your date for any reason, but eventually you will have to appear. I filled out the online juror questionnaire promptly and waited for the notice to come in the mail of how to proceed. The notice with the phone number to call the night before came in the mail about a week before I was scheduled to appear.

Now, I don't really give a shit about doing my civic duty in a *GUN FREE DEATH ZONE like a courthouse that is staffed and guarded by unarmed Judicial Marshall's, with one exception... to engage in Jury Nullification. If I am ever called for a case involving non-criminal self defense and the use of deadly force, I will do everything possible to serve on that jury and cause a hung jury and mistrial. No one that uses deadly force to protect their loved ones or their castle should ever even be charged. But this is Kommiecticut and they will try to prosecute you to the fullest if they think they can build a case. And I don't care how they try to make jury service sound like it is such a glorious thing to do. It is a burden to your life, family, and employer, and it's even worse if you end up sequestered.

On Monday evening the 13th I called the courthouse number... and groaned. The recording said to report to the courthouse Tuesday morning and get checked in by 08:30, and also recommended packing a lunch. Lucky for me it was a scheduled day off so I didn't have to deal with my employer. I packed a lunch like I usually do for work anyway and grabbed a breakfast sandwich at the local convenience store for the road. The courthouse is just over 20 minutes away and I got there early not knowing what the parking situation was. It turns out it is a large open lot right across the street from the courthouse with free parking. I stayed in my truck until I saw a Marshall unlock and open the front door. I left my cooler with lunch in my truck figuring that is where I would eat it at lunch time, and also unloaded and secured my firearm so I could easily enter the *GFDZ which uses airport style security measures. I got in and headed up to the 3rd floor Jury Assembly Room. I carried a book, my summons, a banana, and a bottle of water. You are allowed to have your cell phone so I also had that to read my blogs and be on Twitter. But they warn against posting ANYTHING about the case on social media.

I sat in the room for about 40 minutes as other jurors continued to check in. There were a total of 40-50 people and a mixed cross-section of age, sex, and ethnicity. After everyone was checked in and attendance was verified, the Judge came in to address us for about 10 minutes. I could not believe how young he was... maybe 40? After he left we had to watch a pair of videos. A brief one about jury service, and how honored we should be that we were chosen, which to me was nothing but YAY RAH RAH pro jury propaganda. The other one was about bias, and how everyone has them, but need to suppress them concentrating only on the evidence presented. They beat the phrase "Awareness is Fairness" into the viewer with every person in the video repeating the phrase over and over. Another long period of waiting in the assembly room and then we were herded down stairs to the 2nd floor to the courtroom. They held us in the hall for 10 minutes and then we were lead into the courtroom.

We were seated in the gallery for a few minutes and then told to stand and raise our right hand to be sworn in. We were seated again and introduced to the prosecutors, the defendant, and the defense attorney. We were given the simple facts of the case; the defendant's significant other had a restraining order against him, which he proceeded to violate six times over the span of a week by "contacting" her, whatever that meant. There was never any violence, only "contact." He plead "Not Guilty" and desired a trial.

Now I have an opinion about those useless pieces of paper called restraining orders. They are mostly gotten by women against abusive men. So ladies, if you're gonna get one, back it up like this. When he comes to pay you a visit, you be ready to ventilate with extreme malice. Otherwise it is fucking worthless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, back to my story. The prosecutors then read a list of names of attorneys, witnesses, researchers, investigators, etc. anyone that may be associated with the case. If you knew any of those people you were to raise your hand to let them know, get questioned, and possibly be excused. Two people raised their hand, and the defense attorney stated there was one more person that did not speak up but should have. The attorneys were then called up to the bench to confer with the judge. The two that raised their hands as well as three other people's names were called and ordered to stay in the courtroom, while the rest of us went back up to the Jury Assembly Room to wait.I don't know whom the third individual was and don't care.

Lunch was supposed to be at 1 PM and I was getting hungry. At 1:10 the clerk and a Marshall came in and she read off several names, but not mine. They were told they could leave for lunch and be back by 2:10 PM. Now my being hungry was turning into becoming "Hangry" as I figured I was going to be called back downstairs at some point and my belly would be growling loudly while answering questions. Nope! As soon as those people left, the clerk said, "If I did not call your name, your jury service is over and you may leave for the day. "WOO HOO! I AM OUTTA HERE!!" I left the building and took off in my truck to eat my lunch under a shady tree in the state park I would pass on the way home... which is exactly what I did. Because I actually appeared in court in person, I am exempt from jury duty for the next three years and will be receiving a certificate of proof in case I get called in error.

I got home, changed my clothes, and headed out on "The Beast" for some much needed wind therapy. I ended up at my baby brother's house some 30 miles away whom I haven't seen in a while. My sister-in-law was there too since she works from home. We had a nice visit for a couple of hours before I filled my gas tank and headed home.

*GFDZ = Gun Free Death Zone

A Full Day At My Sportsman's Club

Initial Fishing Outing

Yesterday morning the 15th I got up at 04:30 to go fishing at the club pond. It's about 3 acres in size and has a stream feeding it and an outlet to maintain water levels. It is stocked with trout, but there are plenty of bass, yellow perch, and large bluegills in there, and that's what I fish for. All my tackle has crimped barbs on the hook because I do catch and release. I grabbed a quick shower, got dressed, and went outside to get the chickens out for the day and the coop cleaned. I made a commuter mug of coffee, grabbed my gear, and headed out to the club.

I got there around six, and had a line in the water by 06:15 while it was still kind of dark. Being that this was my first outing of the year, I spent some time the night before making sure everything was ready to go. The line on my reel was changed late in the season last year so it was still good. I use Sufix 832 Advanced Superline. Its a fine braided line and I get the dark green that disappears in the water. 20lb test for the size of 6lb monofilament.

I have the remains of a 600yd spool I bought a few years ago and not knowing what was left I bought another 300yd spool at Cabela's a couple of weeks ago. I have more than enough now. I also have a line winder device so it places line on my reels in the proper orientation so it pays out smoothly. The line on both of my reels gets replaced when it starts to look faded or become worn. While at Cabela's I purchased a replacement floating bass plug for the one that I lost late last year. 

Fishing at that pond in the morning seems to have a small window of activity, at least in my experience. In the dark before dawn.... nothing. After dawn and until the sun comes over the horizon and starts hitting the area is when I have my best success. I was fishing from the rocks and was casting left and right parallel to the shore. I tried a couple of different lure setups and nothing. I began using my new floating plug lure smeared with minnow attractant, and felt what I thought was a clump of weeds I snagged. I reeled it in expecting to have to clear my lure and instead found a large and healthy smallmouth bass. It had swallowed my lure and had the rear treble hook stuck a few inches down it's gullet. Luckily I had my long arm hook remover in my pocket, and holding the fish securely, reached in and down and easily backed the hook out of it's flesh. I took a good look at it and sent it on its way. It swam away in a flash obviously no worse for the wear. I smeared on some fresh attractant and started casting along the shore again, This time I got a big hit retrieving my lure from the left and boy was it fighting hard. It was pulling my line and turning the spool in the wrong direction so I tightened the drag a bit while I continued cranking. About 8 feet from shore and BLOOP! it was off the hook and gone. Oh well, that's just the way things go with crimped barbs. I went back to casting. About 10 minutes later, I got another solid hit from the left and started reeling it in. This time I landed a largemouth bass around 11 inches long. It was hooked solidly in the lip and easy to remove by hand. I took a good look at it and then sent it on its way. Back to casting left and right along the shore. WHAM! from the left side again, another large fish putting up a good fight. It broke water about 12 feet out but I could not tell what it was. Just like before, about 8 feet out and it got away. I wondered if maybe it was the same fish. I continued casting for another 15 minutes or so, but the sun was several degrees over the horizon and it was getting really bright. At about 07:20 I called it quits and went home for breakfast. I was happy to have what I deemed a successful morning of fishing in such a short time.

As the weather warms a bit, I will be heading out in my kayak, and if I can get someone else to go with me we'll get out in my motorized canoe. Life jackets are required to be worn here until June 1st, so on my last shopping trip to Cabela's I purchased a lightweight auto-inflating life jacket that will be easier to wear than the one I currently have. This will be especially necessary on cool mornings while wearing an extra layer for warmth.

An Afternoon At The Range

A month or so ago, I stopped by the salon my wife goes to in order to solicit a donation for the sportsman's club upcoming kid's fishing event. The woman that owns it is also a friend of my wife and I and was more than happy to donate to the event. While we were chatting for a while the subject of firearms came up when she asked about the club facilities. It turns out, she has had her Kommiecticut pistol permit for years, and hasn't done any shooting since she got it. Thankfully she doesn't carry a firearm because that would not be a good situation. I offered her an outing at the range and some one-on-one instruction. She told me she is usually available on Mondays and Fridays, so I told her I'd get in touch when it warmed up a bit and I had a Monday or Friday off. The weather forecast for yesterday was sunny with temps in the 70's and I had a scheduled day off, so I texted her Saturday afternoon to invite her to the range. I could read the excitement in her replies. Initially she was not going to bring any of her own firearms she would just use mine. We agreed to meet at the clubhouse at 13:30 so she could fill out the guest waiver which is good for the rest of the calendar year.

I spent the morning after breakfast getting everything together. I thoughtfully picked out a variety of firearms and associated ammo, targets, and miscellaneous equipment. My range bag had most of what I needed, but I also packed my range tote box with my toolbox/cleaning supplies, spotting scope, tripod, and a can of white spray paint. I hate the idea of having to shut down shooting a particular firearm or an entire range day for the want of simple tools or a cleaning rod, so I usually bring the tote, but sometimes just leave it in the truck. I brought seven handguns and three rifles in appropriate carrying cases. I bring ammo in this Bass Pro Shops marine dry box pictured below. It comes with three smaller matching ammo can style containers that go inside, but I use those for other items. The dual latch box holds my reload trays and commercial boxed ammo fine.

Good sized at: 18-3/8" x 12-1/8" x 8-1/4"

I met her right on time in the clubhouse parking lot. After she filled out the form, I handed her the one page list of club range rules to look over while I went inside to file her waiver. When I came out we quickly went over and discussed the rules which are pretty simple. We also discussed The Four Rules of Gun Safety. She followed me down the road to the range in her vehicle. It took a good half hour to unload my truck and get things set up the way I like them. Our handguns stayed in the cases, but the rifles went on the rifle rack with chamber flags at the rear of the range enclosure. Shooting benches were used to hold the handguns, range bags, ammo, and target supplies. We set up two target stands at defensive range of 7 yards with two targets on each stand. When instructing new shooters, it is important that they put rounds on targets. Once they get some confidence you can start moving targets back farther and farther.

I let her choose what to shoot first, and she wisely agreed on my 1935 vintage S&W K-22 Outdoorsman in .22LR. She brought her boyfriends semi-auto S&W 22A-1 and a new box of Winchester .22 ammo but wanted to start with my six shooter. I demonstrated how to open the cylinder, load it, unload it, and fire it on single or double action. I explained how I zero my guns and drew a diagram of what a proper sight picture should look like. She put a couple of cylinders through and was on paper, but high and to the right. I explained that meant she was anticipating recoil and pulling the gun to the right when she pulled the trigger. Once she settled down she was hitting in the black close to center. She then began shooting double action and did quite well. It is a statistical fact that overall, women are better marksman than men. What impressed me was her technique shooting double action. Most people creep the trigger back and try to hold on target waiting for the hammer to drop. She did the proper single motion pull of the trigger. We went down range and I stood in front of her target to show that all of her shots would have counted as center mass hits. We then moved on to her boyfriend's S&W semi-auto. I showed her how to load the magazine and put the gun in battery ready for shooting. I fired it first to see how he had the sights set and so she could see how it functioned. The sights were set for a zero hold. She then fired several mags at the second target on her backboard. She did as well with the semi-auto as she did with my revolver. We replaced her targets and wrote what gun was used on which target so she could show her boyfriend. Time to go a little bigger.

We looked at all the handguns I brought and I explained what each one was. We decided she would start with my 5-shot stainless Rossi M-88 in .38 Special. It is basically an exact copy of a S&W J-Frame Model 60 because when it was made, Rossi and S&W shared the same parent company and shared designs. The gun is only rated for standard .38 Special, not +P which is how I load my home brew .38 SPL ammo. I fired a cylinder full first, a couple of rounds on single action and the rest on double against one of my two targets at 7 yards. She then took the gun, loaded it up and let loose. She said it was pretty powerful, kinda scared her a little, but she REALLY LIKED IT and fired a couple more cylinders doing pretty well. After that was my Ruger GP-161 in .357 Magnum with a 6 inch full lug barrel. I showed her how to open the cylinder, which uses a push button instead of a slide latch. Because the gun shoots .38 SPL and .357 Magnum, she stopped me and asked about the numbers used for the different calibers and what they meant. After a brief explanation, I loaded it up with .38 SPL and fired a cylinder, half on single and half on double at the 25 yard steel plates to demonstrate. She took it and loaded it up and fired it a couple of times. I then loaded it with my .357 Magnum target loads to demonstrate, smacking the plates at 25 yards with every shot and with authority. She was amazed at the flames out the side and I reminded her that was why I explained where NOT to put your fingers when firing a revolver. She declined to fire any magnums and I told her that was her choice, no pressure to do anything she was uncomfortable with.

We then moved to shooting the S&W Governor, which shoots .45 ACP with moon clips, .45 Long Colt, and .410 shotgun shells. She quickly caught on to using my Moon Clip Tool to load a full moon clip, and my L-Cut 1/2" copper plumbing nipple to unload empties. She fired a couple of clips right on target in double action with no problem. I then loaded 3 Federal 000 Buck .410 shotgun shells for demonstration. Each one of those shells contains (4) .30 caliber round balls that group nicely from the Governor at 7 yards. She went and loaded a full cylinder of them and lit them all off in double action punching a lot of holes in her target. We were then going to shoot my SR9c in 9mm. I demonstrated loading a mag with my Uplula loader, and fired all 10 rounds at the 25 yards plates again. When it came time for her to load up, she said she was done, and that those shotgun shells kinda did her in making her arm sore. With that, we were done and packed everything back up. We stopped at the clubhouse on the way out to socialize with a few members that were there and to enjoy a cold brew. Man, that ice cold PBR tasted SOOOOO good. Hopefully the next time we get together, it will be a foursome including my wife and her boyfriend.

2024 Eclipse

"Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia, to see the total eclipse of the sun."

from "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon

 

The original studio version. Love that album cover photo. I always thought she was pretty hot.

 

 

 

I'm not Carly's mystery man and I don't have a Learjet, but my wife and I will be heading for St. Albans, Vermont on Monday to experience totality for ourselves. A little over 4 hours one way, but it will be a fun road trip and we'll be taking our 3 dogs with us. It will be interesting to see how they react.

 

Here is an excellent live version from aboard the QE2 in 2018. Still lookin' and soundin' good IMHO. The lead guitarist absolutely nails the guitar solo on that black & white Stratocaster.

 

Kommiecticut Primary Day

I just got back to the firehouse after going to the polls. I know it's a done deal, but I just wanted to make damn sure I got my vote cast for "Orange Man Bad"

Fuck the Never-Trumpers and the TDS sufferers.

He Is Risen!

Jesus’ Resurrection

Matthew 28: 1 - 10

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. ² Suddenly, there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and going to the tomb, he rolled away the stone and was sitting on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so terrified of him that they shook and became like dead men. ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here. He has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead! And look, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him.’ See, I have told you!”

⁸ They hurried away from the tomb, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly^[a] Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!”

They approached, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go, tell my brothers that they should go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

REJOICE!!

 

 

 

 

 

In a parallel to today's propaganda machine telling us to believe them spinning the gubmint talking points and not our lyin' eyes, Matthew describes the devious plot to keep The Resurrection hidden.

The Guards’ Report

^{Matthew 28: 11 - 15}

¹¹ As they were on their way, there were some members of the guard who went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹² After the chief priests had assembled with the elders and had reached a decision, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole him away while we were sleeping.’ ¹⁴ If the governor hears about it, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ After the soldiers took the money, they did as they were instructed. And this story has been repeated among the Jews until this day.

 

Now, I am admittedly not a good church goin' Christian. But I do pray regularly and believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I attend a nice church a couple of times a year and am friends with The Pastor. He's actually a biker bro and a reader of my blog. Make no mistake though, I am surely a sinner in need of The Lord's love, guidance, and forgiveness on a regular basis.

So a Blessed Easter to all, whether a believer or not.