calcotron

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The smoker will be lit

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Indeed, I have 3 racks (2 back and 1 spare) and will throw some chicken on too. Might grill some burgers for kids. I snagged a nice chopping block piece yesterday from ice storm debris, I will stop splitting my wood on rocks for a while.

Is that like their version of 'Merica?

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I have a primary arms 1x prism. I really REALLY dislike the chevron reticle for some reason. Everything else about it is good. Super crisp illumination, eye relief is fine, built quality and mounting options are good, and so on.

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I love the chevron reticle on my 3x prism. It may not make sense, but I shoot better with it than a normal one, at least 100 and in.

It'll never work in the field, it'll trip the breaker every time.

How much should I take from the pew science ratings? Been shopping for the 5.56, and they are all rated crappy in that caliber so it's tough. Otter Creek Labs Polonium (and K, not sure the difference) popped up as back in stock, but are rated like crap for noise reduction. But I also read great reviews on those. Online research can take you in circles.

Some nice pretty snow this afternoon, nice change from freezing rain Sunday. Weather apps forecasts contribute to suck.

3.5 this morning, a bit more wind than Wednesday but not bad. Ran past a bunch of deer in a yard, their eyes glowing back at me from my headlight, but I was within 12 feet of them and they just don't care. Where was this during hunting season?

Time to smoke some chicken in the snow!

My 2 weather forecast sources disagree wildly on Saturday here. 23/13 with a 17% chance of snow vs. 17/6 with a 55% chance. And Sunday night 20 and 6% vs. 17 and 79% chance. Silly.

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TN's state budget would more than double if they had to pay for every county service that is no longer funded by property taxes. You realize that, right?


It would take an approximately 23% sales tax rate for LA to take in the same amount as it takes in for income + parish level property taxes.

But that would certainly NOT be enough, as millions of La residents would be HEAVILY incentivized to shop in TX, AR and MS.

Oh and now virtually all governmental power and decision making in the state of Louisiana is ceded to Baton Rouge.


The people who want everything to be paid via sales taxes haven't spent even 10 minutes gameplanning it out

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Of course there is some minimum government funding budget, and it would have to come from somewhere, that's not the point. The point is that no government should be able to take some old retired couple's property that's been paid for for decades because they don't pay taxes on it. The founding fathers knew there needed to be options on tax sources to prevent completely avoiding them, but they also pushed most (basically all of it at first) taxing to the states. So there wasn't really a federal take on taxes at first, other than to let local reps handle local tax decisions.

We pay a shite ton more in sales tax than property taxes each year, rolling the $4500 we pay in property taxes into other services we get or things we buy/use throughout the year would not be that jarring. And, it might drive lots of people to consume differently, which isn't a bad thing (which would drive down tax intake which should cause local governing bodies to make better spending decisions, etc. - though I know logic usually does not rule that process, it should).

My preference is a much, much smaller government. I can certainly understand that someone who doesn't have that goal does not think the numbers will work, and in their version of what government is/does, it won't.

Nice 3.5 miles this morning at 15 degrees. Roads were mostly clear and safe in terms of ice but I had to finagle over and through some fallen tree mess in the cut through between neighborhoods. To me nothing is better than a freezing run when I manage to wear the right clothes and I'm not sweating or cold. Sometimes it's hard to get that right when wind is bad, but it was calm today.

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Property tax is the fairest tax.

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That's a pretty socialist world view. I own it, why do I have to pay you to keep it? Consumption taxes are absolutely the fairest taxes. Estate, income, and property taxes have no place in the U.S.