Conversations…

Posted on by July 5, 2019

It is refreshing to have interesting conversations with varied groups of folks…

At LibertyCon, I got in one that started off with Chinese moves in the SCS, segued into Chinese population issues Han vs. non-Han, to their actions with the Yuan, to international monetary manipulations, to the border immigration CBP/ICE/HHS issues in probably the space of 30-45 minutes. And NONE of it was from sound bites! People actually KNEW what they were talking about, and the disagreements were voiced, acknowledged, and discussed again without raising voices. What I novel #$%%( concept!

And a few folks have wandered through the house this week, and there were even more in depth conversations. Swords, rapiers, court swords, their uses and the rationale for their sequential existence, from both the historical and practical perspectives. And oceanography (finally something I know something about, yay!), artillery through the ages, restaurants in Spain, Italian appetizers (hint- If it doesn’t specify FRIED calamari, you might have to fight the appetizers), cats vs. dogs (and their owners), children, travel, and research for books.

And food! Texas meatloaf, burgers, brats, and dogs for the 4th, brisket and pork loin last night, and a birthday for a 1 year old. And the muse ‘graced’ me with a few ideas… sigh

Book Promo…

Posted on by July 4, 2019

Michael Hooten’s second book in the Enlisted series, Till the Conflict is Over is out!

As always, click on the cover for the link.

The blurb-

Peter Wright not only survived the Battle of Juno, but managed to defeat the enemy as well. He’s hailed as a hero, and everyone wants to know his story and how he accomplished the impossible, but all he wants is to avoid everything that reminds him of that day. Instead he has to endure interviews, cotillions, and the social mores of living in outer space. And also anxiety attacks, suvivors’ groups, and funerals. Through it all, he wishes he could just be a normal sailor again.

Be careful what you wish for.

Michael does a great job of dealing with the survivor’s guilt in this story. Recommend you read the series in order.

Next up is Peter Nealan’s second book in the Maelstrom Rising series, Holding Action.

The blurb-

Buying Time With Blood

Matt Bowen and his team made it out of Slovakia by the skin of their teeth.

But the fight’s not over. And there’s no rest for the weary.

The European Defense Council, desperate to salvage their dream of a Europe reshaped in their image, threaten invasion of Poland.

The Triarii and what is left of American forces in Northern Europe stand by their Polish allies. But they’re outnumbered and outgunned.

And they might well be watching the wrong part of the border.

The brutal series about the next World War continues in a storm of fire and steel!

Peter does an excellent job of writing from the grunt’s perspective, and the level of detail and research he puts into the story is outstanding!

Happy Independence Day!!!

Posted on by July 3, 2019

Enjoy the day and the fireworks.

And an historic note on what happened to 56 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, HERE. They did NOT get off lightly…

Take time today to put aside petty jealousies and JUST ENJOY THE DAY!

Ahhh…

Posted on by July 1, 2019

Home again! Yay! Only broke ONE airplane yesterday… LOL

Hopefully regular blogging will resume tomorrow, but I want to say thanks to the LibertyCon staff and sponsors for an outstanding con! You done good!!!

And thank you to all those who came by, said hello, and/or bought my books. I do appreciate the comments, and I do listen to what you say!

From a friend- A summary of the promises made over the two nights of Dem debates

SUMMARY:

1) 100% free healthcare including liposuction, Viagra, and breast implants.*
2) College degrees will be issued without the requirement of attending college.
3) All existing debts will be cancelled; nobody owes anything to anybody.
4) Unemployment benefits will be permanent and twice the minimum wage.
5) All cars will get 100 miles per gallon and their exhaust will be pure oxygen with a “fresh pine” scent.
6) Everything served in a restaurant will always be on a 99¢ value menu.
7) Fitness guidelines will be revised so that every American meets the federal definition of “hot.”
8) 50 bonus points will be added to the IQ score of every minority American.
9) There will be no more taxes of any kind except on the Evil Rich.
10) Everyone will go to Heaven or the deity of your choice.

* includes all those in The Country illegally 

I’m sticking this here for the next round of democrat debates so we can have some fun. NOT doing the drinking version, we’d probably be drunk in the first 15 minutes.

I know a lot of folks will be heading out for the long weekend, so if you’re traveling, please travel safe and ENJOY the 4th, our Independence Day!!!

Gah…

Posted on by July 1, 2019

Not 21 anymore… Groan…

I didn’t used to mind the oh dark 30 get ups. But 0230 came WAY too early this morning. Why you may ask? Because I was stoopid…

Selected the WRONG flight out of CHA to go home, and didn’t realize it until yesterday afternoon (e.g. too late to change to a reasonable hour, so I drag my (un)happy ass out of bed to get to the airport for a 0530 flight.

And to add insult to injury, the *^&*( coffee shop in the airport isn’t open yet!!!

So I’ll leave you with this as I go in search of the elixir of life…

LibertyCon Day 2…

Posted on by June 30, 2019

We had a good day, lots of panels, caught up with more folks, and got to the Citywide Cafe for a quick dinner…

If you’re ever in Chattanooga and are hungry, it’s the place to go! Good food, reasonably priced, and a LOT of it. And the desserts…

These cakes are literally almost a foot high! So you either eat dinner, or have dessert, but not both (there isn’t enough room in the stomach)… Sigh…

Tomorrow is the last day of the con, and it’s probably a good thing… LOL At least us old folks can go back to getting to sleep at our normal time… 🙂

LibertyCon Day 1…

Posted on by June 28, 2019

Basically a catch up day with folks I haven’t seen since last year, plus a few I saw last week… LOL

250 different panels and activities, plenty of things to do/see/listen to. As per my usual luck, I needed to clone myself to go to all of the panels I WANTED to see… Sigh

The limit of 750 attendees makes this a more ‘compact’ con, for lack of a better word, and those that do attend are pretty serious. I overheard one conversation about first cons back in the 1970s, and comparing various cons over the years… I cannot imagine what they’ve seen in over 40 years of cons!

The ‘formal kickoff was at 1700 yesterday, and there are 150 professionals attending from a variety of fields, from science, to writing, to art, to costuming, and a few more I’m sure I missed. Plus around 100 volunteers (bless each and every one of them), that are the glue that makes everything work.

And I’m tired… Not enough sleep… Too many conversations, and too many folks I don’t see often enough

A win for the Navy!!!

Posted on by June 26, 2019

The Department of Justice will drop its appeal of a federal court decision awarding disability benefits to tens of thousands of veterans who claim exposure to cancer-
causing chemical defoliants while serving in the seas near Vietnam, handing advocates what appears to be a final legal victory. In a filing with the Supreme Court, Justice
Department officials said they will not argue for overturning the case which undid years of VA policy denying benefits to about 90,000 “blue water” Navy veterans.

Congressional Budget Office officials had estimated awarding the benefits to the blue water veterans could total about $1.1 billion over 10 years, but VA officials in the past have estimated the total could rise to more than $5.5 billion. Justice lawyers had twice asked for extensions to file an appeal, even as VA officials publicly said they believed the lower court decision should stand. Congressional leaders and outside advocates had also argued against an appeal.

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-CA and ranking member Phil Roe, R-TN said they were “encouraged by DOJ’s decision not to appeal and further delay benefits to our Blue Water Navy veterans.” At issue is a VA decision in the past to treat the sailors’ disability benefit claims differently from other troops who served in Vietnam.

Full article, HERE at Military.com

This has been a LONG time coming… 50 years basically… I remember the fight one of my shipmates went through. He was a brown water sailor in Swift Boats 1966-67, and had been exposed to Agent Orange. He fought for years to get care, and was denied time after time. Ken died in 2009, and two weeks later his wife got a letter from the VA FINALLY approving his Agent Orange claims and disability…

LibertyCon…

Posted on by June 24, 2019

Here we go again! The tribe is gathering, and the usual suspects/miscreants will be roaming Chattanooga, TN for the weekend!

The full schedule for LibertyCon is HERE.

Saturday’s schedule, if you’re attending and want to listen to me blathering…

10:00AM Indy Author Resources Panel

01:00PM World Building for Space Opera

03:00PM Indie Publishing – Latest Trends in Self-Publishing and the State of the Market

06:00PM Author’s / Artist’s Alley

10:00PM Writers Tell Sea Stories II

If nothing else, catch me any other times, and I’ll be happy to chat. Looking forward to seeing y’all as always.

Snerk…

Posted on by June 25, 2019

People DO vote with their dollars…

Once again, Chick-fil-A has been named America’s favorite restaurant based on customer satisfaction.

Full article, HERE.

So, contrary to what the left has tried with the boycotts, getting them kicked out of airports and off campuses, and they are only open six days a week, they STILL are on top of the list.

We jokingly call it ‘Hate Chicken’, as a tweak to the left, and eat there at least once a week. I remember when the left tried the ‘massive’ boycott a few years ago, I was in Virginia and we had a Chick-fil-A in the mall food court a block or so away. We decided to go there for lunch, figuring our support wouldn’t mean much, but what the hey…

We got there and stared down the escalator, looking at the HUGE line. It literally snaked around the entire food court!!! The line was full of military and contractors, and I think even some folks from the other food vendors in the food court. It took us almost an hour to get to the front of the line, and the little girl behind the counter was almost crying. We when asked what was wrong, she said something to the effect that she couldn’t believe the level of support from everyone, and she was afraid they were going to run out of food! They had already run out of salads, and at least one of the chicken entrees, and the manager was apparently giving her counts of what was left.

We got our chicken sandwiches and lost out on the fries, but we supported them. Apparently that was the busiest that location had ever been, since it’s first day in the mall.

They offer quality food, good service, and polite/upbeat workers. You don’t get much better than that in a fast food place. So go enjoy some ‘Hate Chicken’, and rhetorically poke the left in the eye while you do so! 🙂