Ukraine…

Posted on by February 24, 2022

This one came over the transom from the mil-email chain.

Pretty good synopsis…

The Ukraine & Russia crisis In simple terms for those that have no idea what is going on.
-Ukraine used to be in an abusive relationship with Russia, feeding him, letting him use her car & giving him whatever he asked for until she built up the confidence to call it quits back in 1991
-Since then Ukraine has been working on herself, becoming a strong independent woman with help from friends like France, America, Poland etc. offering her support, loaning her money, & helping her find her way.
-Ukraine has been enjoying being single for 30 years & looking forward to continuing to grow & create new friendships.
-Now Russia being the toxic Ex that it is wants her back, and doesn’t want her meeting new people or creating any new relationships.
-A couple of weeks ago Russia started sitting in the front of Ukraine’s house & when her friends ask him what was he doing there, he said “Oh nothing, just getting a little bit of exercise in, that’s all.”
-After her friends told her that Russia was potentially getting ready to do something bad to her, he said “They’re lying, they just want you to be scared of me & that’s not what it is”
Plus Ukraine retained custody rights and has all the material possessions from the relationship (pipeline that goes through Ukraine) and now the ex (Russia) wants it back.
-Yesterday Russia broke into Ukraine’s house, beating her up & “taking advantage” of her while on Livestream & double dog daring any of her friends to do something about it & if they do want the smoke, Russia got that thang on him.
This was written by someone else. I can’t take credit, but agree that Putin did threaten tac nukes yesterday.
Hope this clears things up…
And one more point. Russia provides around 7% of our oil every month, about 18-20,000,000 barrels/mo. Xiden gave another word salad statement yesterday, basically saying it would take a month for the ‘new’ sanctions to take effect… By then it will be too late.

TBT…

Posted on by February 23, 2022

We do a symposium every year for the MPRA community, one in Jacksonville, FL for the east coast, and the west coast version at Whidbey Island, WA.

One of our WWII vets who attended told the story of having to go ‘somewhere’ in the south Pacific to pick up a new PBY to replace one that had been shot down for the Black Cats (VP-71) when they were flying out of Manus. It wasn’t until years later that he learned the location was the Ulithi Atoll.

If Admiral Chester Nimitz hadn’t spotted it on a map, Ulithi might have gone completely unnoticed by US forces as it island-hopped across the Pacific. Such an oversight would have cost the Americans the largest and best anchorage in the world and the perfect location for staging its final assault on the Japanese Empire.

Full article, HERE from the Vets Breakfast Club.

Here is a video of the anchorage taken from the air during the war.

The story he told was ‘interesting’ to put it mildly. This is my recollection of the way he told it-

The four men (2 pilots, he was an E-6 flight engineer, and an E-4 plane captain), were flown to Ulithi arriving late in the day. They found out it was an R&R site, and apparently had ‘less that $10’ between all of them. The next morning they were scheduled to fly out with the new airplane (PBY-5). But first they loaded 200 cases of beer aboard (he claimed he had ‘no idea’ where the beer came from, but the pilots were pissed they had to climb over the beer to get to the flight station). They took off, headed south for their base at Manus Island, and halfway across the Bismarck Sea they lost an engine. They chose not to dump the beer, did a water landing and got radio contact with a destroyer that came and towed them across the Bismarck Sea in the middle of the day, until a crash boat could come get them. He said they gave the destroyer crew a ‘few’ cases of beer for the tow. The crash boat towed them in and they were met by the CO, who was pissed they hadn’t continued on one engine… Until they started passing cases of beer out of the bird, and ‘all was forgiven’. He said that got them 24 hours off, then back on the flight schedule.

I do remember his wife fo 64 years was there and commented, “He still drinks too damned much beer.” Which cracked all of us up.

Posted in TBT

Book promo…

Posted on by February 21, 2022

First up is Alma TC Boykin with the twentieth in the Familiar series- Familiar Paths

As always, click on the cover for the Amazon link!

The blurb-

Arthur goes Hunting . . . and Kelly Boudreaux (and Stead) go on vacation.

Seven stories both Familiar and new. Arthur must deal with both family tension and the undead as Martha shelters the Lone Hunter from storms outside and in. Deborah learns more about her roots (and berries, and stems.) Kelly and Stead take a much needed break from chasing wild land firefighters while a coven sorts out the passing seasons. And a dead man’s legacy haunts Thomas Arthur Chan Lestrang.

Return to the world of Lelia Chan Lestrang and the Familiars, a world of adventure, humor, mystery, magic, and the occasional mundane mess.

 

Next is Peter Nealen with eighth book in his Maelstrom Rising series- Power Vacuum

The blurb-

The European Defense Council Has Fallen…

…But Peace Has Not Come to Europe

Will the Chaos Only Spread from Here?

The thunder run into Germany has left Matt’s team battered and borderline combat ineffective. The Triarii don’t have the reinforcements for them to stand down, however. Commitments in the US and the Western Pacific have stretched them thin.

And with Europe in chaos, there is no rest to be had.

Jihadis have struck repeatedly, sowing bloodshed and confusion where possible, and it appears the Turks are involved. The Russians are pushing in the east, and they may have operatives in the heart of Western Europe as well.

The European Defense Corps hasn’t stood down, either.

And a new NGO that’s arrived to help might be the most dangerous enemy of all…

You’ll love this military thriller because the action’s as brutal as the intrigue is thick!

 

And last but not least, John Van Stry’s first trad pub novel from Baen is up for preorder! Summer’s End

The blurb-

Sometimes a dark past can haunt you. Other times it just may be the only thing keeping you alive.

Fresh out of college with his Ship Engineer 3rd-Class certificate, Dave Walker’s only thought is to try to find a berth on a corporate ship plying the trade routes between the many habs, orbitals, and moons in the Solar System. The problem for Dave, however, isn’t his straight C average; it’s that his stepfather, a powerful Earth Senator he’s never met, now wants him dead. 

Forced to take the first berth he can find, Dave ends up on the Iowa Hill, an old tramp freighter running with a minimal crew and nearing the end of its useful life, plying the routes that the corporations ignore and visiting the kinds of places that the folks on Earth pretend don’t exist. 

Between the assassins, the criminals, and the pirates he needs to deal with, Dave is discovering that there are a lot of things out there that he still needs to learn. 

But there’s one hard lesson he learned long ago that he’s being forced to remember: how to be ruthless.

Hopefully this is the first of a series of novels in that world!

All of these are great novels to kick back and read in your leisure time! I know the authors too, and highly recommend all of their books!!!

And… Here they go…

Posted on by February 20, 2022

Sigh…

Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act was supposed to be temporary as well, but on Friday, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the Trudeau regime’s intention to make some of their new authoritarian powers permanent. This, my friend, is how democracies die.

Full article, HERE from PJ Media.
I’m really not sure how this would impact sites like GSG, since they are not Canadian and do not fall under Canada’s fiscal laws. But I have a feeling we are going to find out!
And this will not be for the better. This should give one pause, as they are going after ALL types of transactions. This is one of the downsides of ‘electronic’ $$$. Easy to track transactions, etc.
I remember when Spain converted from Pesetas to the Euro. If I remember correctly, something like $300,000,000 ‘extra’ Pesetas got turned in from the underground/black market economy, much of which the Spanish government tried to tax…
And here in the US, we have people buying silver and gold (and lead and brass, some assembly required), as a hedge against an electronic economy, which is what the left truly wants.
If they were to get that, they would have total control of not only the economy, but ALL of our financial assets and the ability to stop any payment, take any amount of taxes from your savings, 401K, or anything else in the bank.
There are countries that seem to be pushing toward that, like Australia and New Zealand, but I have no idea how effective or not, it has been. And China has been using ‘social currency’ to determine/impact Chinese citizen’s lives for what, three, four years now?

That’s going to end well…

Posted on by February 19, 2022

NOT!!!

Without warning, the Biden administration this month told Loudoun County officials that it plans to roll an influx of 16,000 Afghan refugees through a convention center as part of its settlement program.

Sheriff Michael Chapman said Thursday that officials from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service said that up to 1,000 at a time would be temporarily housed at the National Conference Center in the ritzy Lansdowne area east of Leesburg, Virginia.

Full article, HERE from the Washington Examiner h/t Stretch

Well, we ‘know’ they consider Loudoun Co a dem bastion, so why not? I wonder if they briefed Governor Youngkin on this, OR the mass through Dulles…

I wonder how many ‘walk aways’ they’re going to have? And how many of them have even had a cursory security check?

The mind boggles at the lack of common sense being exhibited by this administration. And I wonder who is going to have to clean the place after they trash it???

Sigh…

Posted on by February 18, 2022

Remember those ‘free’ WuFlu tests the government offered?

Well, I went online and ‘ordered’ the free ones. January 19th…

And they finally showed up today! Notice anything interesting about them?

Yep, made in CHINA! Moar $$$ for the ‘Big Guy’… sigh

I was chatting with a friend last night about it, and she wondered what one would find if you ‘cultured’ the box or the tests themselves…

Since I caught the Coof last month, I’ma throw these in the cabinet in case anybody else needs them, because I ‘may’ pop positive for up to 90 days.

 

 

 

Power is out

Posted on by February 17, 2022

No post for you folks, go read the folks on the side bar. Power supposed to be back on in 2 to 3 hours, but I’m going to bed because it’s cold.

A little clarity…

Posted on by February 16, 2022

In the Sandy Hook parents v. Remington…

Two different articles, two different approaches to the coverage…

Of note, this case never went to court, so effectively there was no actual case presented. It was simply settled for money and rights to release documentation for a company that no longer exists.

According to the Associated Press, the settlement agreement also allows the families to publicly release many of the documents their attorneys obtained during the discovery process, though its unclear whether the company or its insurers admitted any liability in the settlement.

The lawsuit filed against the gun maker claimed that Remington (which has since been sold to new owners) had negligently marketed its modern sporting rifles by “extolling the militaristic qualities of the rifle“, which they argued violated a Connecticut law regulating deceptive marketing practices.

Full article, HERE from Bearing Arms.

And more in depth with the NSSF release included.

The decision to settle in the Soto v. Bushmaster case was not made by a member of the firearms industry.  The settlement was reached between the plaintiffs and the various insurance carriers that held policies with Remington Outdoor Company (ROC), which effectively no longer exists. 

As part of bankruptcy court proceedings, the assets of ROC were sold at auction in September of 2020.  Remington Outdoor Company, which owned the Bushmaster brand, effectively ceased to exist as a going concern.   The lawsuit, however, continued against the estate of the Remington Outdoor Company, essentially ROC’s insurers and their insurance policies in effect at the time.

Full article, HERE at Bearing Arms.

 

#Honk!

Posted on by February 15, 2022

Welp, Trudeau pulled the gloves off…

OTTAWA, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday activated rarely used emergency powers in an effort to end protests that have shut some U.S. border crossings and paralyzed parts of the capital.

Full article, HERE from Reuters.

And another article, also from Reuters, HERE, on the Ottawa police chief’s resignation.

If I were a Canadian trucker, I’d get with my buddies, go home, and park the trucks. When the food isn’t getting delivered, or parts delivered to manufacturers, or anything moving in any quantities by trucks, THAT will make John and Jane Q. Public sit up and take notice.

And as far as I can tell, even with the ’emergency powers’ that Trudeau put into effect, there wouldn’t be a damned thing Trudeau could do about it!

YMMV, IANAL, etc…

Frankly, I cannot believe the stupidity. All that the administration up there had to do was negotiate in good faith with the truckers. What happened? Trudeau ran like a scared rabbit, then tried to manufacture hatred/violence against him/the .gov, neither of which is true. Then going after money from various organizations after they buffaloed GFM (which showed their true colors), and GiveSendGo taking up the fundraising and laughing at Trudeau (yay for them). Trudeau has backed himself and the .gov into a corner than I’m not sure they know how to get out of…

And in other countries, including the US, truckers are watching this and going, “Hmmm… might work here (insert country here). Especially with the US supposedly closing the southern border (or at least the legal crossings) 22 Feb to non-vaccinated truckers (not mentioning the multitude of illegals flooding across the border then getting sent all over the US).

I really don’t want to do interesting times again… sigh

Oops…

Posted on by February 14, 2022

Good Samaritans with guns counter the narrative…

Peaceful Valley, WA – The sheriff released more details about what led up to the shooting of two Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) deputies on Thursday and thanked the armed good Samaritans who came to the wounded heroes’ aid and kept them safe until backup arrived.

Full article, HERE.

And another…

A “good Samaritan” with a gun killed an active shooter who may have been gearing up for a deadly rampage at a Texas sports bar Wednesday night, police said.

<snip>

“I think it’s to be applauded,” he said. “Not everybody in the world ought to own a gun. Not everybody in the world ought to carry a gun. Not everyone in the world ought to engage an armed criminal where innocent people could be potentially injured.”

“But this good Samaritan obviously had the ability to do what he did,” Kapelsohn added. “Who knows how many people would be dead if he had not acted?”

Full article, HERE. From NBC Arlington, TX.

And another-

Several armed bystanders successfully stopped a shooting spree that left three dead, including the suspect, in a New Orleans suburb.

Full article, HERE from the Epoch Times.

Now the left/MSM will never admit that things like this happen… Their counter is that good guys with guns is a myth, propagated by the NRA and the ebil far right gun groups.

Their other counter is that we’re just out there looking for someone to shoot… Every time a state passes a law freeing citizens to carry, the cry is always, “There will be blood in the streets! It will be the old west! OMG, eleventy!!!” And that hasn’t happened in any case. What HAS happened is Crimes Against Persons (CAP) have in fact gone down in each of those states.

I’ve carried legally since 1986 in Florida, and thankfully have NEVER had to draw my weapon to defend myself or others, and I pray that I never do. But I will do what is necessary to protect myself or others if required.

YMMV…