On the Passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Well, as if 2020 wasn't interesting enough, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died from pancreatic cancer yesterday, only 45 days before what is likely to be a hotly contested presidential election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement last night that whomever President Trump nominates to replace Ginsburg will get a confirmation vote on the Senate floor.

This is good, and I hope it happens before the election.

Unlike Obama when he nominated Merrick Garland for SCOTUS, Trump is not a lame duck president working with a Senate controlled by the opposing party. The Republicans were given control over both the presidency and the Senate by the people because the people preferred their vision. They should do their jobs to the best of their ability. That includes filling vacancies on the Federal bench, all the way up to the Supreme Court.

As for not politicizing her replacement, consider a few things:

RBG could easily have stepped down while Obama was president and allowed him to pick her successor. However, she was so confident that Hillary Clinton would win in 2016 that she stayed on the bench in the hopes that her seat would be filled by an HRC appointment. And in the wake of Trump's victory in 2016, RBG held on as long as she could in the hope that he would lose reelection, and a Democrat president would fill the seat. By her actions, RBG politicized her seat and the replacement process.

It's being reported that her last dying wish was that her replacement would not take place until after a new president is "installed." First off, "installing" leaders is some real banana republic shit right there. We elect leaders in this country. Second, what if Trump wins reelection? Do we wait another four years? That's ridiculous.

Let's not forget the Democrats' appalling conduct since Trump became the Republican nominee in 2016. A four year long tantrum of one faked, debunked scandal after another, all in an effort to stymie the peaceful transition of power that is a hallmark of American government.

Let's also not forget the Democrats' unforgivable conduct during Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, when they brought forth a slew of witnesses with no credibility to smear Trump's nominee as a rapist. This was merely the latest of a line of Democrat smear jobs against Republican Supreme Court nominees, e.g., Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Finally, even before RBG's death, Democrats were already signalling that they do not intend to accept the results of the election if Biden loses, and are already assembling an army of lawyers to challenge a Trump victory in the courts. This, after a summer of civil unrest that was and continues to be enabled by Democratic politicians in several cities. We'll need a fully staffed Supreme Court if this comes to pass.

It would be insane for Trump to not nominate a replacement for RBG and for the Senate to confirm that person.

Loaded Some More Black Powder 12 Gauge Ammo

Last weekend I primed 25 Magtech brass 12 gauge shotgun shells and on my lunch break today I finished loading them. The details:

• Magtech 2.5" all brass hull
• CCI Large Pistol Primer
• 80 grains of 2Fg Goex black powder
• 11 gauge nitro card (over powder card)
• 11 gauge fiber cushion wad
• Lubricated felt wad
• 1 1/8 oz. of mixed No.7.5 shot
• 10 gauge overshot card
• Sealed with Duco cement

Magtech hulls require the use of oversized components because the case walls are thinner than 12 gauge plastic or paper hulls.

The felt wads were punched out of 1/8" thick wool felt with a .75" punch, then soaked in a mixture of 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow. This is to help keep powder fouling soft.

The shot is a mix of plated that I bought from Rotometals, along with some unplated shot scavenged from miscellaneous promo loads. No. 7.5 shot is primarily for clay busting but it will work on doves, as well. Otherwise I'd load No. 5s for small game hunting.

I'll let the Duco cement cure overnight before boxing them up.

These will be good for informal clay target shooting. They shoot well in my Russian-made Baikal MP-310 over/under. Cleanup in a chrome-lined smoothbore isn't bad.

Keeping my Nissan Xterra on the Road

 Last Saturday when I got up to our campsite in Tioga County my two friends who I met onsite smelled antifreeze from my 2007 Nissan Xterra after I pulled into camp. My sense of smell sucks, to put it mildly, and I didn't smell anything. We popped the hood and after the engine cooled down, checked the antifreeze level. Sure enough it was low. One of my friends had a gallon of premix so we topped it off. (Given the age of the vehicle I should have been carrying some.)

We also noticed that a hose going from air cleaner to the engine was cracked. I'm now carrying some Rescue Tape (self-fusing silicone tape) in my truck toolkit in case any other hoses crack.

The joys of owning an older vehicle. 😐

Yesterday, I brought the truck to a local mechanic who confirmed that it has a leak, so I had him replace the radiator. It must have been a very small leak since the truck didn't overheat either way on the trip (about 240 miles each way).

I've actually been thinking of getting this done to prevent the Xterra Strawberry Milkshake of Death from happening, anyway. The Xterras were designed with an automatic transmission fluid cooler integrated with the radiator. Unfortunately, sometimes there's a failure which allow cross-contamination between antifreeze and ATF fluid, causing the SMOD, which kills the transmission. It's both a clever and dumb design.

Although my truck is 13 years old it only has 110,000 miles on it, so I'd like to keep it for several more years, therefore replacing the radiator is worth it to me.