Dad's Birthday!!

Today was Dad's Birthday.

I ended up calling him and talking to him for a long time about his trip to Virginia and his upcoming trip up here.

It was good to talk to him and he is still sick from his last trip but it doesn't sound too bad, and he sounds excited to come up and visit.

Drill Weekend 19-21

Crappy week.

I was sick on the Tuesday before drill - May 16th,

I did get my Continuing Education completed and got re-certified for both Network Plus and Security Plus though, so that worked out pretty well.

Drill sucked.  It was a MUTA 6 so all of Friday Saturday, and Sunday.

It was pretty cool that Division was up training with us so I got to see lots of old buddies like Noon, Garcia, Hubred, Danielzuk, Perrin, Marko, and Sergeant Major Bartkey.

Braaten got pinned his E-7 so that was pretty cool.   I am worried that it is going to just increase his problems with anxiety and leadership, but he does have a lot of support.  With any luck things will smooth out enough that he gets comfortable with it, and then I think he will do pretty well.   I do still hope he goes Warrant though.

I took the next Monday off, and used that time to collect paperwork and schedule my annulment hearing.  I got all my witnesses lined up and agreed to a date for them to all come up to St. Cloud.  I still don't know how I feel about this.   It really sucks to have to participate in, plan, and execute your own betrayal.

AWJ

Josh's wife tried to flame me yesterday.

It was on a video that was explaining that taxation is theft.

At first Kevin Reynolds countered her quite a bit.   Then I got involved.

Then Steve Browne and Josh Anderson started arguing with her.

The last I saw was Jum trying to say that theft and rape shouldn't ever be compared and Josh Anderson of course said that  - - well since they often both lead to death, it kind of makes sense.

At that point I had to take off because of cardio and then CL.

By the time I got home, she had deleted the entire thread.

I don't know if it kept going after I left or not.  

I feel really bad for her and how she humiliated herself like that.   She really should have known better, but I suppose sometimes pride gets the best of people.

The funny thing is that it was just two days before drill.   Now I have all weekend hanging out with Josh.

Probably going to be a little weird, but oh well.

Mother's Day 2017

Today was actually a pretty crappy day.  It is a Sunday and I have drill next weekend so I had a ton of things that I need to get done and I planned on getting them done this weekend.

Of course none of that happened.  I didn't even do cardio or go to the range.

Really being a lazy piece of crap this weekend.

I did get to confession on Saturday, and Mass today, and saw Dan there.  So not completely wasted.

What I did do is watch Shadowlands.   I have had that movie in the DVD drive of my laptop for months planning to watch it but I never did.

When I finally did watch it, it really sucked.   The C.S. Lewis character reminded me of myself in so many different ways, and even in his flawed, late in life, half assed, broken sort of way of trying to reach out and truly connect to someone else - it made me realize that I share so many of the characteristics with that character, and yet I probably couldn't even do what he did.  The relationship that he did have was to a dying woman after her terminal diagnosis and it was late in his life, when he was in his 50's or 60's.

It was pretty crappy.  He obviously had achieved more then I ever will in life (Oxford professor and famous author) and still it all ended like.......................

Basically without answer.  To love is to suffer, and that is better then to never really love at all.

Assault, Kidnapping, and Robbery

Two convicted of Felonies for bringing Cigs to MN



This story points out that MN taxes tobacco products at 95% of the value.

These two guys were bringing about $78,000 worth of smokes, and $74,000 of that was the taxes.

Any surprise there is going to be a black market???

And how does people selling cigarettes justify beating them up, kidnapping them and taking all of their money?

Confederate Monuments

I can't help but wonder..........is it out of a sense of guilt? Everyone knows that the democrats were the confederates and instead of owning up to it and truly taking responsibility for It, they just supported Jim Crow and the Klan for a hundred years and when that didn't work anymore they found it easier to buy votes with government largesse and pretend that some magical southern strategy changed all the chairs and then promptly claimed that they were the good guys all along. I think we all really know the truth about that, most especially them. It almost seems like their guilty consciences are forcing them to physically tear down evidence that reminds them of their past.

The Libertarian Hypocrite

Idea..................

One of the most common slings cast against libertarians and among themselves is the idea that they are a hypocrite if they participate  in civil society.

This is the tool by which their opponents and themselves ten to marginalize them out of the very spots where they could have some influence to change the leftward tide.

I need to write a book where I argue against that charge.   Where I point out that libertarians have the rightful place in society and that the leftists are the impostors.

I need to point out that as soon as libs buy into the hypocrisy charge, that it is a nonstop slope straight into irrelevancy.


Basic Outline -

Intro

History

Dilemma

Examples

Wrap-up

Alexander Defense

Made my first transfer with Alexander Defense today.

It was pretty cool.

The guy's name is James and he seems like a nice dude.

I felt like a bit of a dumbass though because I drove almost all of the way home before I realized that I had totally forgotten to pay him the transfer fee!!!

I drove back and gave the money to his daughter because she said he wasn't home, that he had gone to pick up pizza.

I did get a hold of him on facebook though to make sure that he knew I hadn't totally forgotten.

Mother Theresa

I heard a story that I want to write down so I remember.

I might not be getting this right, but the gist of the story is that Mother Theresa was walking with a reporter who was trying to interview her.

She saw a poor homeless man covered in disease and dying in the gutter.

She jumped down into the sewage filled gutter and started wiping the puss from his wounds and comforting him as he died.

The reporter was trying as hard as he could to not vomit and said "I wouldn't do that for a million dollars".

Without missing a beat, Mother Theresa said "Neither would I.  Neither would I."

UBA Logbook entry 234121

Continued the Against the Giants modules last night,

It had been months since we had played last so it took us a bit to get up to speed.

Chad had pulled a hilarious joke on me!!

He had listed the start time in the event plan as 5 PM, I ended up running late and getting there around 6:20 PM and was really worried that I was holding the game up.  But when I showed up, there was no one there and I couldn't figure it out.

Then Chad told me that he had told everyone else to be there by 7 PM and let me think that game started at 5 so that even though I would be late, we could all still start at the right time!!!

And you might think that this would end up being the one time that I would pull off being on time, or even early, but not so!!!!  True to form I was almost an hour and a half late!!

Hahahahahahaha!!!!  I am still laughing about that now!!!  Genius!!

Fun game!!!  I will post Chad's Dungeon Master Notes later!!

CHAD's RUGER!!! 23 APR 2017

Went shooting with Chad today.

It was his first time out with his brand new Ruger 9E.

He was so excited and had been looking forward to it for months.

I brought a pile of other guns, but Chad was having none of it.  He just wanted to spend quality time with his baby!!

I can't blame him there.

The day ended up being a mixed bag.

Chad had a lot of trouble with limp wristing, and kept on getting failure to feeds as a result.

He was super happy and had a great time though so I hope we end up making this into a regular thing.

Afterwards we went to Perkins and ate giant plates of breakfast food.

We talked about Sara, and our situations in life, and the future.

A good time altogether!!

EASTER!!!!

Easter was pretty good this year.

This was on Saturday, 15APR17.

I drove down to Rochester and the Jeep made it all the way down and back.

Mike and Kim were there, as well as the entire Devine clan.

We did some goofy games like tossing eggs and marshmallows and building a box to drop an egg off the deck.

Dawn talked about setting up occasions where Mike and I spend a day alone a piece with Jonah.

The Devines had a new puppy that was a boy named Gaelic to go with the puppy they got last year that was a girl named Ireland.

All in all a pretty good time!!!

Easter 2017 pics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zA5abtOMlI

Revolver Fun

I got a new kydex holster for my Ruger SP101 3 inch 357 mag.

It fits snug and has great retention.   I left the weapon in there for a few days so that it could subtly adjust to it's shape and now it fits great all the time.

I also got a new set of Pachymar grips.   It came with the Hogue grips on it and normally I absolutely LOVE hogue grips, but this particular set was the nylon ones and not the rubber ones.   So even though the grip was incredibly ergonomic, it was too slippery, and I wasn't comfortable carrying the gun.  

The new Pachymar grips are just about perfect.   They are shorter, so easier to conceal, wider so easier to get a full grip on them, and rubbery, so they have that texture and grippiness that I like so much and seems to help my shooting so much.  

I just installed the grips tonight, and I am so happy with the gun right now.  

I am seriously considering working it into my conceal carry rotation.  

I am also shopping online to get it a night sight.

Genres

Old West



Modern Day


Cyberpunk Future


Modern Day Supernatural


Star Trek Future


Firefly Future

Weapons Corner

Lately I have been looking at Smith and Wesson a lot more.  

I am turning into a bit of a Glock and S&W guy.  

I do have one Springfield Armory, and I have my eyes set on buying two more of them (the XD-S 9mm 4 inch barrel, and the XD Mod 2 9mm 5 inch barrel).

I also have one Ruger, and would like to start buying Americans and at least one SR-22.

I like Walther, and I definitely plan on getting one of their Creeds.

H&K's are nice, but they are just too expensive at this point to seriously consider them.

FN's are pretty much in the same boat, but I do occasionally see a good deal float by, and if I can, I will try to snatch a few up.  

Colts are practically nonexistent these days, and the only really new thing that they have come up with anytime lately is the Cobra.  I would like one of those, but they aren't hitting the market and it doesn't look like they are going to be around for long.  Even when they show up, they are way too expensive and sell out immediately.

I do still have a few Taurus's and one Kel Tec.  I am not quite sure what to do about those.  I keep on thinking that I should sell them so that I could use that money to buy a couple of really good weapons.  Then, the more I think about it, the more I kind of think that I should never sell and keep everything out of desire to love guns, sentimentalism for my original purchases,

I like CZ, and I would really like to someday get a CZ85 and possibly even a P-07.  They are pretty affordable, but just not quite high enough on my list yet.

SIG Sauer's are awesome, but the decocking lever on most of them don't work with left handers like me.  I do want to get one of the 320's though since I love the modular concept, and it was selected as the Army's new sidearm.

Speaking of which, the Beretta's are pretty interesting.  I do want to get an M9 since that was the pistol for the duration of my military career.  The Storm's are cool pistols with the rotating barrel and the pistol caliber carbines look like they would be perfect for home defense.

First Aid

I had my first aid class with Tara, Jenny, and Amy today.   It was pretty cool.   The instructor was hilarious and kept us all entertained and interested.  

We had lunch at the BBQ placed called Lillies that Sara used to love because it was right next to her work.   The class was at the St. Cloud Work Force Center.  

Jenny told me that when Michele was young she went to a Christian summer camp and was playing baseball, and a dude pushed her off the base, so she turned around and jacked him in the jaw, and knocked out one of his teeth!!!!

I am going to give her so much grief about this!!!  

Turkies and Cops

Yesterday I saw two things that kind of surprised me.

I saw three squad cars and an ambulance staging themselves to conduct and assault on one of my neighbors.  Not too surprising, but it is kind of unusual for my neighborhood to get this scrappy this soon after the snow melts.  It was just yesterday on 05APR17.  The snow only melted about two weeks ago.  Well, who knows.  The neighborhood is changing.  It seems like it is getting better with the fancy law firm moving in where the bowling alley used to be, and Microbiologics expanding and buying up half their block.  On the other hand, my new neighbors are loud, drunk, and loud, and we did have those problems with the sex slavery and the shooting last year, so I suppose it is still up in the air.

The other thing that I saw that really surprised me was a wild turkey!!!

I can't believe it!!!  I was out smoking on the deck and it was in my back yard.  As I tried to pull my phone out to get a picture, it ran across the street into Linda's yard and went behind her house.

Not sure what that turkey was doing right in the middle if a town with a population of almost 70,000 right now.   She must have been really really lost!!!!

20 Year Anniversary

Twenty years ago on 04APR1997.

Good old Meghan.

Weird that I remember these sorts of things.

First CL Facebook friend

Ben Murphy friended me last night.

Been about over a year now that I have been going to CL and finally friended one.

Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I suppose only time will tell.

First Ant in the house

Last night, 03apr17 i found the first ant in the house.

Seems like it shouldn't be for another few months.

Can't be a good sign.

AWM #1

Last Friday, 31MAR17, I posted a link to an event that Julie Borowski is having here in Minnesota.  

Mount Purgatory - Toni Aceto

Climbing "Mount Purgatory" during Lent
"By the time Dante exits the Inferno, he is shaken, not only with regard to the sins of others, but by the effects of sin on his own soul. With the fear of the Inferno in mind, he enters Purgatory.
It is here that he begins to encounter sinners who are on their way to heaven, and it is here that Dante cannot look away from his own sinfulness. An angel with a sword approaches Dante and marks his forehead with seven P’s (peccatum - sins) for each of the seven deadly sins - Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride. By acknowledging this in his poem, Dante is declaring that he is guilty of all seven types of sin. He isn’t just pointing the finger at others as one might suggest by reading the Inferno, he is pointing the finger directly at himself. He is telling the world of his own time and for the last 700 years, that he is guilty of all the same sins as those he witnessed in hell. It can be likened to standing up in an AA meeting and acknowledging your addiction. Upon this declaration, Dante must climb a shocking set of stairs that carry him through the experience of penance. The first step is gleaming white and reflective - this step has a mirror-like quality of reflecting one’s soul, not body. Dante sees everything he has ever done. He experiences true regret and remorse for the ways in which he has hurt others. This sorrowfulness is part of his ascent to the next step - it is a rough, crumbling, broken step which symbolizes the soul’s contrition. Dante feels the full force of his sorrow for his sins. On the third step, the blood-red step, Dante is reminded of Christ’s suffering for our salvation. Though Jesus died on the cross for our sins, it is our response to this redemptive suffering that turns our hearts to God and toward heaven. As Dante atones for each of his sins, the angel removes one of the P’s from his forehead. At the end of his penitential journey, Dante must pass through a wall of fire to be purged from the effects of sins; he then passes through the waters symbolizing the cleansing waters of Baptism so that he may enter Paradise on Easter morning - the day of the Resurrection. He is finally prepared to present himself before the Divine.
The Lenten season is much like Dante’s journey through Purgatory. If we enter into this penitential season with the goal of the resurrection in mind, we can follow in Dante’s carefully detailed footsteps. We know that our sins have wounded us or others. If we are honest with ourselves we can see our sinfulness in the shiny mirror that reflects our soul by taking a careful look at the areas where our behavior has caused us or others pain and suffering. In our deepest desire to make amends we scale the crumbling step of remorse and regret for our actions. In Dante’s case, he broke down and cried bitterly. And finally, on the last blood-red step we accept Christ’s passion and death as our final step to salvation. We follow Christ to the cross, we receive his absolution through the sacrament of Reconciliation, and we make a resolution to avoid these sins in the future. Earth, temptation, and life being what it is, this process is not necessarily a one-shot deal - we experience it time and again. That is the beauty of Lent and the wonderful opportunities the sacraments afford us each time we turn away from sin and turn toward God.
Dante’s journey through Purgatory is a mindful lesson in humility, virtue, and love. It’s not about fire and damnation - it’s about the grace that leads us to eternal life. Reading Dante’s Purgatorio during Lent can be an eye-opening experience. Dante’s tangible atonement for sins transcended our human experience. It went beyond abstinence and fasting for two of the forty days. The requirement of penitential Purgatorio is a powerful reminder of our journey toward heaven. On Earth, there is much to distract us from our heavenly goal, but in purgatory there are no distractions - the souls are completely focused on becoming saints. Dante’s Purgatorio is a profound lesson in saint-building. It is worth reading during Lent, but even moreso, it is worth the experience" : from "Catholic 365", link follows:

The Annunciation

Last week was the celebration of the Annunciation.  It kind of caught me by surprise.

I don't know much of anything about the liturgical calendar other than Christmas and vaguely where Easter is supposed to be.

The funny thing is that I had been having a premonition about it all the way on the lead up to it.

I kept on thinking about it, before I even knew that it was coming up.

I had never really thought about it before, and I am not sure where this thought entered my mind.   But I couldn't help myself.

The more I thought about it, the more I started to really understand the implications of the fact that Mary was fully human and completely within her will and agency to have said "No".

I had always taken it for granted that she said "Yes".  I know how the story goes, since before I can remember.  So much so that it normally just bores the heck out of me to even think about it.

But as I started thinking about it a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but focus on that so much.

All we really know is the story in the New Testament, so everything else that I was thinking about was just conjecture.

But I kept thinking about what that meant.  If she could say "No", then there was no absolute assurance that she would say "Yes".

So I imagined all the angels and saints in Heaven waiting with bated breath in eager anticipation for her answer.

And when she finally said "Behold, I am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to thy Word" I imagined all of Heaven exploding with jubilation!!!!!!!

The kind of joy and happiness that only the Creator of joy and happiness can host!!!

This thought hijacked my mind so much leading up to the Annunciation that I was daydreaming at work, and so full of joyful happiness that I was practically crying at my desk!!!

Hahahahahaha!!!!  I bet my coworkers thought I was a freak!!!

Wrap up 25MAR17

Last weekend was the Signal Symposium.  18-19MAR17

Pretty fun, and the have started up the North Star Chapter of the Signal Regiment Association.

I am thinking of getting a lifetime membership but it costs $225.  I should probably do it soon though because I think the price will only go up.

Kim is dating a guy named Kevin now, and I hope they do really well.

I met with Lisa and she is really pushing me towards the collar.

I read at CL and they really liked it and said that I would be the designated reader from now on.

Wuollet

Not quite sure what to think.

Wuollet posted something complaining about Trump saying the "Riots is Sweden" thing that the whole media made fun of him for even though there actually were riots going on.

Her dad pointed out how bad things are getting in Sweden and she still just wanted to complain about Trump.

I don't understand what people are thinking when they would rather complain or virtue signal over sticking up for what is right.

I especially can't believe it when it comes from someone who has first hand experience and knows how horrible things are over there.

It is weird how fading memories and the desire to please can make even stalwart people fold to social pressure.

Current Towns of the Month

As of today - 12MAR17 the Towns of the Month that I am most interested in are:


La Crosse, Wisconsin

and

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Honorable mention - - - - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Big Day at DEED!!!

Today we had a Cultural Awareness speaker at DEED.

A Somali guy named Haji who was one of the founders of United Cloud.

He gave a pretty boilerplate explanation of saying that Muslims are basically just like Polish immigrants, and that Islam is pretty much just Catholicism and that anyone who says differently is just racist or spreading hate and fear.

I was so tempted so many times to speak up but I never did.

It is so weird because I know I could have, and I have many times in the past.

And I know that part of my reason for not speaking up was just that I still want to keep my job, and if I had told the truth today, there is a good chance that I would no longer have a job.

But more than anything, I just had a really horrible sense of despair.   I looked around the room at all the women I work with, and I looked at their faces.

I know that there are a few women in that room who were smart enough to look into things and think for themselves, but the vast majority of them really just wanted to believe what they were being told.  Not even for being dumb either.  Plenty of them are quite smart and mentally agile, but just don't want to have to think for themselves.

I feel bad because they have the best option already on the table, and most of them have either neglected it or completely abandoned it by choice.

They are like empty vessels just waiting to get filled up, and since they have turned away from truth and love, they are inevitably being filled with hate.

And not only that, but they seem to be excited about it too!!

4-5 MAR 17

This was a good weekend.  Unseasonable warm.  It was in the 40's and even got up to the low 60's.

I spent Saturday going to the gun range and I met a new guy named Richard.  Looks to be in his 50's and is a tall gentleman who seems a little too cultured to be hanging out with the normal gun range crew.

On the other hand, he was a big fan of Smith and Wessons and had a S&W M&P 9 Shield as well as a S&W 642 stainless snub nosed revolver.  He had just bought the snub nose and was doing an admirable job of sighting it in.  Slow shooting, but scoring very good hits and doing it consistently.

I shot the Glock 34 and the Walther PPQ22.  I did better with the 22, but overall I think I am improving.  I certainly need more practice, but I am making strides and having a lot of fun while I do it.

Sunday I went to the late Mass at the Cathedral and since it was the first Sunday of Lent, the place was packed to the gills.

The jeep is still running but making a lot of weird noises and taking a lot to get up to speed.

I posted on Facebook about the Expanse and got a lot of strong recommendations for that TV show.  Lots of people strongly recommended the books as well.

I have continued running every day and am at 5.3 mph.  My lower back is hurting but so far not too bad.  I have been able to control it with stretching and ice packs and ibuprofen.

Unfortunately it looks like Colt is going under again.  There are stories floating around of them doing big lay offs.  They just came out with a cool new revolver, the Colt Cobra, two months ago, but it is not for sale anywhere.

So far Lent is going well.  Reading and praying on a regular basis.   I have been consistently attending CL and we even had that special Mass in the Cathedral two weeks ago.  Two of the gals at CL are pregnant and are having trouble with their pregnancies.

I am really excited to get down to the cities and go shooting with Chad and his new 9E.

Ash Wednesday

Las weekend was pretty fun.

I went to Mass and Confession on Saturday.  I tried to go shooting at Firing Line but they were about to close, and they were really busy.   The nice girl there offered that if I was willing to wait 20 minutes that they might be able to get me in for 30 minutes (if she stayed late) but I said thanks but no.

Then on Sunday I went out to eat with Josh, Krystle, and Kim.

It was fun but kind of sad to see them again.  So much as changed.

Afterwards Josh and I went to the Pine City Technical College Annual Gun Show.   I got a ton of pictures and the best deal I found was a 31 round 9mm magazine for Glocks for $20.  Also I found a book about the Holodomor for only $2.

The weather has been incredible.   The last two weeks in February 2017 have been around 30-40 during the day and around 20 degrees at night.

It has been so nice.  My electric bill has still been really high since I have been using the radiator a lot more, but it is a decent trade off.

Regrets - Milo

This has been a week of media bombshells.

The media tried to seriously pummel Trump for saying that there are problems in Sweden.  Tons of jokes (someone had trouble putting together their IKEA).  And then Muslims rioted and people found out about the 1400% increase in rape in Sweden.  By the end of it, anyone with an ounce of compassion had to see Trump as making sense, and the media and their leftists useful idiots as cold hearted  monsters.

A guy called PewDiePie (one of the biggest names on YouTube) had a hit piece from the Wall street journal.  The media tried to destroy him for making jokes about nazis.  Really backfired on them and the very abuse itself has consolidated most of the online community against the media.

The saddest situation though was attacks on Milo.

Media oppo researchers finally unloaded everything they had against him by dredging up all the bad sexual things from his past that they overlook and even praise in every other situation.

It does look like they will burn Milo although it is not clear at this time how much, but it looks pretty bad.

SuperBowl 2017

Atlanta Falcons versus the New England Patriots.


The Patriots were down by a huge margin and ended up coming back and winning the game.

Booo.

Boooo.

Patriots suck.   Oh well, gotta give them credit - they really are the Lords of the (Superbowl) Rings.

Con of the North = Great Weekend!!!!

This was a pretty fun weekend!!!

A long weekend  for presidents day.

Saturday 18FEB17 I went down to Plymouth for the Con of the North.  That morning, Kim had called me and she was hanging out with Josh and Krystle and it almost sounded like she wanted to come to the Con with me.   Now of course that never actually happened, but it was neat to imagine for awhile.
The Con itself was a lot of fun.   I hung out with Chad, Scot, Aaron, and Kelly.   We also spent a lot of time with Swenny there and he was making plans for Gen Con in August.

Today was a weird crazy 60 degree day in February (19FEB17) so I went to the gun range, and it was packed.

I ended up talking to that one old guy quite a bit and I found out his name is Tim.  He is the guy who shoots hand cannons (10mm's and .44 magnums) He constantly smokes cigars and works as a range safety during the summer.

Now I am watching videos about getting my FFL and taking classes with SDI to get a gunsmithing AA degree.

I have tomorrow off too, and then back to work.

Most Influential Firearms

Plastic Winchester 73 lever action

Smith and Wesson 686

Julious's bolt action 22lr

Molly, my Basic Training M16

Remington 870

PT92 and XD45

Gun Reviews (Lucky Gunner)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dhgS_trU0c


http://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/the-handgun-test/

Yankee Marshall

MOS 97B

Counterintelligence Agent

Counterintelligence Agent (97B)

Intelligence and Combat Support Army MOS Information

• Enlisted
• Active Duty
• Army Reserve

Having access to the correct information is absolutely necessary to plan for our national defense. Intelligence specialists, such as the Counterintelligence Agent, are integral to providing Army personnel with information about enemy forces and potential battle areas. Intelligence specialists use aerial photographs, electronic monitoring and human observation in order to gather and study information that's required to design defense plans and tactics.
The Counterintelligence Agent is primarily responsible for supervising and conducting counterintelligence surveys and investigations of individuals, organizations, installations and activities in order to detect, assess and counter threats to national security. Some of your duties as a Counterintelligence Agent may include:

• Studying aerial photographs of foreign ships, bases and missile sites
• Studying foreign troop movements and codes
• Operating sensitive radios to intercept foreign military communications
• Conducting security investigations
• Processing counterintelligence evidence
• Preparing and distributing counterintelligence reports of Force Protection information to all relevant parties
• Performing counterintelligence support to anti-terrorism operations
• Consolidating intelligence data
• Conducting liaison operations
• Maintaining counterintelligence files and databases

Training:
Job training for a Counterintelligence Agent consists of nine weeks of Basic Training, where you'll learn basic Soldiering skills, and nine to 24 weeks of Advanced Individual Training and on-the-job instruction, including practice in intelligence gathering. Part of this time is spent in the classroom and part in the field. Some of the skills you'll learn are:

• Planning aerial and satellite observations
• Preparing maps and charts
• Analyzing aerial photographs
• Preparing intelligence reports
• Using computer systems

Helpful Skills:
Helpful attributes include:

• An interest in reading maps and charts
• An interest in gathering information and studying its meaning
• An ability to organize information
• An ability to think and write clearly

Advanced Responsibilities:
As an advanced level Counterintelligence Agent, you may also be involved in:

• Conducting liaisons with foreign agencies
• Planning and conducting counterintelligence investigations
• Applying fundamentals of military and civil law
• Detecting, neutralizing and exploiting counterintelligence targets
• Conducting overt collection and non-technical operations and surveillance
• Conducting counterespionage investigations and operations 

Weekend update - WIND GAMES

Pretty good weekend.

This is the Superbowl weekend.  Atlanta Falcons versus the New England Patriots.

I was going to go down and watch it with Chad, but I decided to stay home since my jeep is still unreliable.

I did get the oil changed, the tire fixed and the remote entry fixed, so that is good.  Still haven't found the time or the money to get the Heater Core replaced and the brakes changes.

I did Saturday Mass and spoke with Father Tim.  I think Katie from work was singing in the choir.

Today I went shooting.

I shot 45acp's today including my Springfield XD and my Taurus 24/7 G2 Compact.

My marksmanship is just horrible!!!!

Last weekend with all the 9mm's I was hitting pretty bad and I had the targets out at the second layer of braces.

So this weekend I moved the target to the first - closest layer, and I was still hitting low and not having tight groups at all.

I did better with the Walther PPQ22, but it makes sense that practice and a closer target would yield better results.

I need to keep practicing as much as I can.

That is going to be hard though since next weekend is Drill and the weekend after is the Con of the North.

I might have to spring for some indoor range time.

My run is doing ok.  I have been doing longer slower runs, and I think I am making progress on getting used to long runs, and conditioning my body.  I need to make it a regular habit though to reap the best results.

I am totally off diet though, and my weight shows it.  I am fluctuating between 219-223 pounds.  Mot good.



Also - - - - I found this new thing called Wind Games.

This has captured my imagination and I have been thinking about it all weekend.  It is so cool, and the kind of thing that it almost seems like modern society takes for granted, but any other point of human history would have considered an expression of God!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O70OfBaxWwo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qlzQBryT9A

The Weird Disease of Leftism

One of the strangest things that I have noticed is how strongly the Left rejects the libertarian scale of government.

Let me explain.

Normally the Left is full of hate and casts themselves as the only decent, good people and the Right or any freedom loving people as the worst type of monsters.   Since they draw such huge (and largely imaginary) differences, they have to see anyone else as the "other".

They have to portray them as being as different as possible.

Now even as a kid I noticed that there were some layers of overlap.  Some are just tactical (in a democracy people often work together to get bills passed).

But some seemed to be items of genuine agreement.

When this happens, the Left always downplays it and pretends like it is one of the few times that monsters come close to behaving like humans.

But I couldn't help but notice that this seemed weird, and that the agreement indicated a point where they were both on the same political location.

It was never on something that there was only ONE option.  So if there were other options and these "two" sides agreed, then they are occupying the same place.

It seemed that there must be a different scale that took into consideration this location as well as the others that could potentially be believed.

It wasn't until I started reading about libertarianism that I started becoming familiar with a different scale.

This one was based on a percentage.

The percentage of private society that was controlled by the government.

The easiest way to imagine it is to see Communists at 100%.

Anarchists at 0%.

Nazis and Fascists at 60-80%

and Democrats and Republicans at 40-60%.

Once you look at this scale and understand what it means, then it becomes obvious that libertarians generally tend to be anywhere from about 10-15% all the way down to 0%.

Now once I found this and understood it, it was immediately intuitive, and I was really surprised that it isn't taught in schools.

This really was an easy way to conceptualize what the Founding Fathers were trying to do with the Constitution.

They knew that as Government's share of the pie grew larger, that tyranny and suffering were certain to follow.

Now the funny thing with that was - most Leftists instinctively ignore this percentage way of looking at it.  

It's not even like they deny it, they just change the subject, or start shouting insults.

The other - even MORE funny thing about it - is that when this comes up, this is the only time that they ever hold themselves close to "right-wing" people or Republicans.

Milo At Berkeley

Last night Milo's event at Berkeley ended in massive amounts of violence assaults and arson.  Milo had to be evacuated.

I ended up posting a ton of stuff online and getting in a long argument with Anthony Noon but it ended pretty well.

Yesterday I visited Lisa and went to CL.

I told Lisa about the big Turn Down with Kim last weekend and I think it really impressed Lisa quite a bit.

CL was pretty good and I talked about how the weirdest thing about overcoming sin was how anti-climatic it is.  How it feels like you are offered to go to a great party, but choose to stay at home doing homework instead.

I explained how even if you know that you are doing what is right, that it feels like you are missing out on something.

How it sucks, but you have to do it because you know it is right, and slowly and surely you get better at it.

Sort of like cardio.

Drill Phone Book

I need to go around and talk to every section and find out how many phones they need.

30JAN17 Roundup

Mondays suck.

But this one wasn't too bad.  It is over 32 degrees in January in Minnesota.

That is pretty nice.

Trump fired the acting Attorney General.  An Obama appointee who was refusing to do her job.  Of course leftist heads are popping.

I can't go on social media for more than a few minutes at a time without breaking into fits of laughter!!

Chad is really interested in his new toy and going around getting everything he needs for it.   I will probably try to go down next weekend to have fun.

I am interested in starting reloading.  Dan K on facebook and Kevin R both highly recommend Dillion presses.  I need to look into those to find out how much I need to save up.

Strange Saturday

It is not even noon yet, and the day has already taken some strange twists and turns.

I turned down a date with a girl today knowing full well that it will probably be the last opportunity I get.  It really is strange when you want something so much, but you know that it is the wrong choice.  It is hard to pull the trigger on that, and afterwards I am just faced with self doubt and sadness.

Oh well, the bumpy road of life.

And now, my brother actually asked me for book recommendations to learn about liberty.  This is AMAZING!!!

He has been a hardcore Leftist since before I even knew what any of that meant.

I ended up recommending Anatomy of the State since it is sort of my go-to.

Wow, if I would have had the opportunity to think about that beforehand, I think I would have agonized so much!!!

I think Anatomy of the State is going to be too much for him, and he will cast it aside and call me a bad person and double down on his groupthink, but who knows, I might be wrong and I can never give up trying.

Now off to the gun range, and then confession and Mass!!!

Lets see what else this day has in store!!

Important Considerations to keep in mind

http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2016/03/01/the-us-secret-service-training-guide-for-spotting-concealed-weapons/

Last weekend

On 21 JAN 17, I ended up going shooting with Karen P from work.

We went out to the local place that is owned by the guy that shot the terrorist a few months ago.

While we were there, I saw that they were starting to have GSSF (Glock Shooting Sports Foundation) competitions.

I really need to look into that.  I want to get into competition shooting.

We had a good day.

Burned through a bunch of 22lr rounds until my Walther PPQ22 started to have problems and then switched to several 9mm's.

We also shot her little Taurus Curve in 380 so that she could get familiar and comfortable with it.

After that we went to Shooters and ate a bunch of pizza and talked politics.

Good times.

New Guns

Shot Show just got done last week and there were a number of new guns available.

The main ones included:

The Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0

The CZ P-10C

The Beretta APX (kind of didn't really show up) - I think it was only for the Army Modular Handgun System competition, but then when the SIG 320 won the contract, Beretta trashed it.  We will see if it shows up on the market.  I hope so!!

The Hudson (weird gun with the recoil spring in front of the trigger guard - almost looked like a built in silencer but it wasn't.  Everything else was just a 1911 chambered in 9mm)

The Remington RP 9 (looks good and cheap but already some reviews saying it is having problems like the R51 had)

The Walther Creed - Awesome bargain deal

Lost "Friends"

2017 is all still so new!!!

It has only just begun and I have already lost a few "friends" as a result of Trump being elected.

Friends of note -

on 02JAN17 Jolly Blackburn unfriended me for pointing out that more kids die from shower accidents and stairwells then from gun deaths.

on 22JAN17 Ackley unfriended me because he was going off on an emotional tirade against Wanamaker and I pointed out that it didn't have anything to do with Wanamaker, that he was just upset, and Wanamaker happened to be the easiest target of opportunity.

Can't wait to see what else this year has in store!!!



* honorable mention - didn't have anything to do with me but on 06JAN17, Save or Die Podcast decided to close up shop.   It did end up getting immediately staffed by a new guy, and it seems like he is going to make a go of it with old guests from the past like Vince and Glenn, but the old crew Mike, Liz, and Jim are gone.

Eating the Seed Corn

I have been trying to find the best way to explain to people that leftist economics are destructive.

I know that I am fighting an uphill battle since so many people "just want to take a bit" and seem to honestly not understand  how that could hurt them in the long run.

The moral argument of pointing out that stealing is always wrong seems to fall flat because they just realize that they are being bad people, and feel like you are accusing them, and so they respond with anger.

But some of them do seem like there is a glimmer of intellectual curiosity remaining, and I feel like if I could explain it right, that I might be able to pull a few converts out of the whirlpool of hatred and envy.

The best one that I have come up with is the "eating the seed corn" analogy.

Most people don't and can't understand how ripping off insurance companies or "taxing the rich" ends up leaving them in poverty, but they can understand simple analogies.

This analogy works best in the most desperate cases.  I know people who have grave medical situations, and honestly believe that if it wasn't for Obamacare, that they would be dead.  They see any argument against Obamacare as a direct threat to their lives,   They insist that Obamacare is best for everyone, and refuse to believe that it could be bad (despite all the millions of people who have suffered from it already).

The analogy goes like this -

Say you have some farmers, and a few hungry families.  Now the families might be legitimately down on their luck and facing a serious shortage of food.  Now of course they are going to want some of the farmer's crops, but the farmers aren't going to want to give them any unless they can pay for it.  In fact the farmers might have already pledged their crops to be sold (locked in a price on any standard commodity market).

Now along comes "The Hero" - your friendly local politician.

This guy wants votes.  He knows he needs them to get power for himself.

He absolutely knows that he can count on the votes of the hungry families.  He also knows that he can "tax" (steal) a bit from the farmers and the commodities markets and still be able to get some votes from them.

But he is not sure if this is going to be enough votes.  He really wants power, and needs to find the most sure way to get it.

If he can isolate one group and take advantage of them, that limits his downside, and significantly drives up his likelihood of getting elected.

The hungry families don't have anything he can take, but they do have something that he can use - a sad and tragic situation.

The commodities market folks might be a target at a later time, but right now the politician doesn't see them as the low hanging fruit.

The low hanging fruit are clearly the farmers.

The politician knows that the farmers still have a bunch of corn that is not going to market.  Now the reality is that this corn is needed to plant a new crop the next year, but no one really knows that or understands that except the farmers.

So the politician runs on a platform of taking "just a little" of this seed corn and giving it to the hungry families.

He immediately ties up the Hungry Family constituency and they campaign for him far and wide telling sad stories, and tales of woe.   Now most of these are legitimate, and it is right to feel sorry for these people and try to find ways to help them, but most people don't connect that it is also bad to steal from the farmers.

The farmers try to explain that the seed corn is essential, and that their livelihood is based on it.  But no one really cares.  They look at the hungry families with their compelling stories of woe, and then at the (comparatively) rich farmers trying to justify keeping some of their wealth and they automatically feel like the farmers are just being scumbags.

Even the commodities market guys tell the farmers - "geeze can't you help those people out at all?"

So what ends up happening?

Clearly the politician gets elected.  He wins in a landslide.

But all is not ruin.  At least not yet.

The first few years, the politician takes some of the seed corn and gives it to the hungry families.   Everyone voted for the politician, and sees this as a great success.

The hungry families get some food, and they feel like they have achieved a moral victory despite the fact that they have really just loaned out their plight to a thief in exchange for a cut of the spoils.

But this goes on for a few years.  Everyone thinks that they have won except for the farmers who are now struggling to keep up production and losing a bit every year.

After a few years, the politician and the hungry families are so comfortable in their "victory" that they forget that there ever was any argument against what they are doing.

But reality starts creeping in.

The hungry families have done very little to improve their situation because they have found the fruits of "voting themselves into prosperity".

The commodity market guys believe that the whole situation is done and over with, and if anything the fact that the politician and the hungry families "won" convinces most of them that they were right all along.

But the farmers are having a hard time.  They are losing crop yields every year.  As they lose yields, their profits go down, and it becomes increasingly hard to keep their farms going.

On top of that, they are dealing with the frustration of publicly being cast as "wealthy villains" who were "justifiably stole from".

Slowly but surely, the consequences start to set in.  Some of the farms start going under.

No one cares about them, because now society just sees them as greedy rich targets for biannual electoral theft.

The remaining farms consolidate, and try to keep things going, but as overall crop yields go down, there is less and less for the voting public to steal.

This infuriates the hungry families.  They have come to see the seed corn as an "entitlement" that is owed to them.

Years of dehumanizing the farmers has made it possible for the hungry families to truly hate them and so they insist that the politician does something about this.

It should be pointed out that the politician absolutely LOVES this situation.

It gives him "The Hero" the opportunity to come in and save the day (ensuring more votes and a re-election).

The politician castigates the farmers as wealthy and stingy.  This appears to everyone to be the case, because even though the total amount of farms has gone down since so many have gone out of business, the ones that have remained have consolidated to try to save on costs, and now appear to be bigger then ever.

The politician points to the "big profits" that are being made at the commodities markets, and says "this is how the farmers are getting rich at our expense and not paying their fair share".

He insists on levying taxes against the commodities market.  Now by this time the commodity market guys have been on the politicians side for so long that they might be upset about this, but they are unlikely to hold it against the politician.  In fact the politician is probably convincing them that this is a necessary measure that needs to be taken against the farmers.

And as a good politician, he is going to grease all the wheels, and work with both the commodities guys and the remaining farmers to create regulations to prevent competition and give them stability in their respective fields.

But as more and more farms go out of business, these people end up joining the hungry families and this drives up desire for more seed corn.

The politician continues to play each side against the middle, and embraces every new emergency that comes along as a new opportunity to further turn people against one another.

In the end, you have a stratified society turned inwards in anger.  Divided, and near or even past the point of violence towards each other after long periods of resentment and legislative theft.

All of this is the result of turning to politicians to try to solve problems of production and commerce.

The RETURN

I am back.......................................................