I’ve been carrying my Sig P365-RS since my holster from We The People Holsters arrived. It is a very comfortable holster.

The model I purchased was the “Freedom” system. This consists of a form-fitted shell for your firearm and another for a magazine. These shells have many holes in them for mounting the belt loops. They claim over 2500 different ways to attach your shell to your body.

I’m to fat to do the appendix carry, but they have systems that work for that. They have tuck belt loops that clip over your belt and allow you to tuck your shirt between your firearm and your belt. It looks nice but is not how I do it.

My preferred method is inside the waistband (IWB) with the tuck style loops.

Strong hand at the 4 O’clock position or even the 5 o’clock.

For true concealed carry, I love it. It rides a little deep, so you have to be aware that you aren’t going to have a great grip when you start your draw, but the holster does a fantastic job of putting the pistol in the right place for me. When I have finished presenting, everything is just right.

The holster for the P365-XMacro arrived, and I configured it for OWB instead of IWB. The holster was still excellent, but I wasn’t totally satisfied with how the gun was presenting.

By the end of the first day of wearing it, I realized the hilt was tilted out about 40 degrees. It felt like it was flopping away out there.

With about 60 seconds with that powered screwdriver, I had reconfigured the holster. I moved the belt loops from the inside to the outside, then ran my belt through the loops and over the holster.

The holster now sits firm against my body. It is in the right place; it isn’t flopping around.

I just need to control myself so I don’t end up with a dozen holsters from them.

It is nice having a holster this comfortable.

I love how many different themes I can hear in this piece that I’ve heard many times before.

So this gets complicated.

Article I establishes the legislative branch, Congress. Congress controls the purse. They decide how money is to be spent and what tax rates should be.

Once Congress allocates money, it is the responsibility of the Article II executive to spend the money.

The Article III judiciary is there to make sure that what Article I and Article II branches are within the boundaries of the Constitution.

Congress decided that they were not allocating money for non-essential work for the 2025-2026 budget year, which started October 1st.

This means that only essential money can be spent.

SNAP is not considered an essential expenditure. And before you get upset about this, the military is something in the Constitution, and they are not considered essential.

This means that The Executive, The President, ordered the United States Department of Agriculture to stop SNAP payments.

SNAP benefits are administered at the state level. The state gets money from the federal government, skims a bit off the top, and then sends the money to those with EBT cards. Note, having an EBT card doesn’t mean you are on SNAP. EBT cards are bought and sold all the time. Yes, that’s illegal.

A group went to a district court in Massachusetts. Why? Because it is a progressive hell hole.

They claimed that it was illegal for the president to turn off the SNAP spigot. The judge agreed and issued a temporary order requiring the Article II Executive to take money from a pot of money that Congress had allocated for something else and send it to the SNAP program.

The Article II Executive appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that the Article III district court did not have the power or authority to order the Article II Executive to break the law and send money that Congress did not allocate to the SNAP program.

The First Circuit looked at the facts; the petitioner is the Trump administration, and they lose.

This ran out the clock. Even if a judicial order is illegal, you must follow it or face contempt charges.

The money was stolen from one program, sent to the USDA, which then sent it to the states. The states then sent it to the EBT cards.

The Article II Executive appealed the case to the Supreme Court on the emergency docket. KJB then issued an administrative stay. Yeah, even a broken clock is right once or twice a day.

The USDA then started the clawback process, demanding the money back.

The states said, “We don’t have it, we sent it out.”

The states should have clawed back all the unspent money on EBT cards.

Regardless, those states now owe the federal government all the money they spent.

The good news is that 8 Democrat Senators have voted for a CR through January.

I have a horrible habit of getting invested in something, learning the skill, then moving on to something else. A few years ago I decided to learn how to build a house.

The design was a 8×12 ft. hut with a loft. Instead of a peaked roof, it uses a sloped roof. The bottom floor has an 8 ft ceiling, and the loft is on 6 in joists with a 3 ft wall height (I think) on the low side and 4ft on the high side. It could be 4 and 5 but I didn’t measure today.

This was built on concrete blocks, so it is not a permanent structure. The loft doesn’t allow you to stand up right, so it isn’t a two story structure. Taxes are weird that way.

Because it was just a hut, I used 2×4 studs for the walls. The children got to pick the window sizes, a mistake on my part. After it was framed and the exterior cladding put on, we wrapped it. I used the rubber waterproofing where required. Then tarpaper for the roof. I built the door out of plywood and then put pine siding on. I think it is called shiplap.

The shiplap was resawn 2×6 because that was lower cost than buying the boards precut.

Then I ran out of money and time. To finish the exterior siding, I need to get the windows installed. I had intended to make the windows from scratch, but that never happened, and I was afraid of $500 window costs. So there the hut sat, used for storage and waiting for more attention.

When we had the new roof put on the house, I asked how much to put a roof on the hut. My roofers did the hut for no extra cost.

I decided to turn the hut into my woodworking shop for the winter. I moved the workbench to the hut, cleared out a bunch of garbage, measured the size of the front window, and got a quote.

The custom window is on its way. Once I have it installed, I’ll finish the siding on that wall. I’ve decided to put T1-11 on the two remaining walls and just cover up the two window openings. No big deal.

This leaves the problem that the hut will be damn cold in the winter. Temps around here often get down to below freezing. I want to be able to work out there.

Enter Rockwool insulation.

This stuff is pricier than old-fashioned pink, but man oh man, what a difference.

Instead of coming in a roll, it comes in 47″ batts. The batts that I purchased fit perfectly between studs on 16-in. centers. The thickness is almost exactly 3.5 inches, so it fits the voids between studs perfectly. For the voids that aren’t on 16″ centers, this stuff cuts easily with a standard knife.

I hate working with fiberglass insulation. I always end up with the itches and little fiberglass splinters. This stuff does create dust, but it is much less than fiberglass, and it doesn’t cause the same itching.

And it is R15; standard Owens Corning Pink is R11.

Just insulating the front wall has dropped road noise to almost nothing. What noise I do hear is coming from the window opening. That opening that is just house wrap now. I expect that to drop as well when we put the window in.

I’m going to be picking up another couple of batts of the stuff to finish out the first floor before doing the loft.

Oh, I have a military heater that I might use; if I don’t use that, it will be a small wood stove.

Rockwool does not burn or melt. Well, at less than around 2000°F. I’m going to put in a heat shield made of 20-gauge steel on 1 in. standoffs. That allows me to get my stove close to the wall. I don’t remember the distance, but 6 in. is what I expect it to be.

I’ll run single-wall flue up to the proper distance from the ceiling, put in an elbow, and then into double-wall flue. I’ll have a double-wall thimble through the wall into a T, then a double-wall flue up to the proper height.

The only issue is that double-wall flue is expensive.

I’ve talked about my Ceph cluster more than a bit. I’m sure you are bored with hearing about it.

Ceph uses two technologies to provide resilient storage. The first is by duplicating blocks, and the second is by Erasure coding.

In many modern systems, the hard drive controller allows for RAID configurations. The most commonly used RAID is RAID-0, or mirroring. Every block written is written to two different drives. If one drive fails, or if one sector fails, the data can be recovered from the other drive. This means that to store 1 GB of data, 2 GB of storage is required. In addition, the drives need to be matched in size.

Ceph wants at least 2 copies of each block. This means that to store 1 GB of data, 3 GB of storage is required.

Since duplicated data is not very efficient, different systems are used to provide the resilience required.

For RAID-5, a parity drive is added. When you have 3 or more drives, normally an odd number, one drive acts as a parity drive.

Parity is a simple method of determining if something was modified in a small data chunk. If you have a string of binary digits, 0xp110 1100 (a lowercase l in ASCII), the ‘p’ bit is the parity. We count the number of one bits in the byte and then set the p bit to make the count odd or even, depending on the agreement. If we say we are using odd parity, the value would be 0x1110 1100. There are 5 ones, which is odd.

If we were to receive 0x1111 1100, the parity would be even, telling us that what was transmitted is not what we received. A parity bit is described as single-bit detection, no correction.

Parity can get more complex, up to and including Hamming codes. A Hamming code uses multiple parity bits to create multi bit detection and one or more bit correction.

NASA uses, or used, Hamming codes for communications with distant probes. Because of limited memory on those probes, once data was transmitted, it wasn’t available to be retransmitted. NASA had to get the data right as it was received. By using Hamming codes, NASA was able to correct corrupted transmissions.

RAID-5 uses simple parity with knowledge of which device failed. Thus a RAID-5 device can handle a single drive failure.

So this interesting thing happened: the size of the drives got larger, and the size of the RAID devices got larger. The smart people claimed that with the number of drives in a RAID device, if a device failed, by the time the replacement device was in place, another drive would have failed.

They were wrong, but it is still a concern.

Ceph uses erasure coding the same way RAID uses parity drives, but erasure coding is more robust and resilient.

My Ceph cluster is set up with data pools that are simple replication pools (n=3) and erasure coded pools (k=2, m=2). Using the EC pools reduces the cost from 3x to 2x. I use EC pools for storing large amounts of data that does not change and which is not referenced often, such as tape backups.

The replication pools are used for things that are referenced frequently, where access times make a difference.

With the current system, I can handle losing a drive, a host, or a data closet without losing any data.

Which is good. I did lose a drive, I’ve been waiting to replace the dead drive until I had built out a new system. The new node was in the process of being built out when the old drive failed.

Unfortunately, I have another drive that is dying. Two dead drives is more than I want to have in the system. So I’ll be replacing the orginal dead drive today.

The other drive will get replaced next week.

Nov. 4/5:

Jarring Pelosi Comment to CNN Just Gave Every Crazy Person Out There Permission to Go After Trump
https://www.westernjournal.com/watch-jarring-pelosi-comment-cnn-just-gave-every-crazy-person-permission-go-trump/
“Because he’s the president of the United States, and he does not honor the Constitution of the United States. In fact, he has turned the Supreme Court into a rogue court. He has abolished the House of Representatives. He has chilled the press. He has chilled the press. He scared people who are in our country legally.”
vide0 – 00:00:25 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1985477782395125844

‘Major’ Halloween terror plot thwarted by FBI involved links to ISIS, ‘LGBTQ+ community’
https://www.theblaze.com/news/halloween-terror-plot-ferndale
The alleged plot was targeting innocents in the Ferndale suburb of Detroit. “Many of the clubs and bars in this area intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community,”

Deportations top 2 million under Trump — and most aren’t by force
https://www.theblaze.com/news/deportations-top-2-million-under-trump-and-most-aren-t-by-force
‘While ICE actions targeting criminal illegal aliens have captured most of the attention, the phenomenon of large-scale self-deportation is probably even more significant.’

Illinois mayor tells ICE to ‘get the hell’ out after ‘hostile’ mob menaces federal agents
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/11/03/illinois-mayor-tells-ice-to-get-the-hell-out-after-hostile-mob-menaces-federal-agents-1597305/

Trump Administration Uncovers 5,000 Dead SNAP Recipients, Removes 700,000 Amid Fraud Crackdown
https://istandforfreedom.com/trump-snap-recipients-fraud
We have found thousands and thousands of illegal use of the EBT card, we have been moving people off of SNAP, we’ve got about 700,000 people that we’ve moved off SNAP since the president took office, and we’ve arrested about 118 people. We found about 5,000 dead people who were still receiving benefits.

Woman goes viral after admitting to being on SNAP benefits for 3 decades
https://www.theblaze.com/news/woman-goes-viral-after-admitting-to-being-on-snap-benefits-for-3-decades
video – 00:00:47 – https://x.com/i/status/1985106337827631132
video – 00:01:43 – https://youtu.be/nB0160ISNa4

Trump admin agrees to partially fund food stamps as Democrat shutdown approaches record
https://www.theblaze.com/news/trump-admin-agrees-to-partially-fund-food-stamps-as-democrat-shutdown-approaches-record
“On my first day [at USDA,] we told every state to send us their SNAP data so we could make sure illegal immigrants aren’t getting benefits meant for American families,” Rollins said. “29 states stepped up. 21 blue states refused — and two SUED US FOR ASKING! And guess what? In just the states that cooperated, we’ve already uncovered massive fraud.”

Trump Throws Down Gauntlet in ’60 Minutes’ Interview, Says He Won’t End Shutdown Because He Was ‘Extorted by the Democrats’
https://www.westernjournal.com/trump-throws-gauntlet-60-minutes-interview-says-wont-end-shutdown-extorted-democrats/
If the Democrats are really concerned about health care and the American people, they can re-open their government then sit down at the table and fix a broken system like adults. Or, they can continue to be responsible for a month-long shutdown that’s paralyzed the federal government until they get something they almost certainly won’t. Trump threw down the gauntlet on Sunday: It’s their choice, but they have to choose and bear the responsibility for it

Dick Cheney, Vice President to George W. Bush, Dies at 84
https://www.westernjournal.com/breaking-dick-cheney-vice-president-george-w-bush-dies-84/
(and the NeoCons lose a hero, too bad, so sad, – – and moving right along to somethind important – jlr)

Ed Dept Strips Loan Forgiveness from Orgs Involved in Child Trans Grooming
https://www.westernjournal.com/ed-dept-strips-loan-forgiveness-orgs-involved-child-trans-grooming/

The British Government’s Reign of Political Terror
https://gellerreport.com/2025/11/the-british-governments-reign-of-political-terror.html/?lctg=92233992
Now, UK police are saying that people are not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds. But they will allow Muslims to pray while blasting the call to prayer all over the place…Islamic cleric in the UK: “Islam is not here to coexist. We were sent to dominate the world, to extinguish and wipe out every other religion. We are superior to everyone else. We shouldn’t be shy to say it. And if that requires fighting, so be it.”

Caught Red-Handed: NGO Registers and Instructs Illegals on How to Vote For Mamdani
https://gellerreport.com/2025/11/caught-red-handed-ngo-registers-and-instructs-illegals-on-how-to-vote-for-mamdani.html/?lctg=92233992
La Jornada Executive Director Pedro Rodriguez Tells Undercover OMG Journalist Posing as an Unregistered Migrant to “Vote for the Guy That Starts with ‘M’” – Despite 501(c)(3) Regulation Prohibiting Political Activity by Tax-Exempt Organizations. Rodriguez Acknowledges Knowing the Individual Is “Not Registered” Before Advising him How to Vote – a Potential Violation of Federal & State Election Laws.

And now I am confused.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/and-now-i-am-confused
So when Trump activated the National Guard to assist in crime-ridden cities, it is considered an overreach because the power to do so only lies with the governor of the state or at least that is what the Liberal pundits keep telling us. But then a governor actually activated the NG to do the assisting, he gets taken to court because the same Liberal punditry says he actually does not have the power to do so.

When you base your Military Tactics on WWII Movies.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/when-you-base-your-military-tactics
I just realized between NYC’s new Mayor and this “invasion” I do not have enough popcorn in the house.

The Perfect Storm.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/the-perfect-storm
New Yorkers (or at least the 21st century version of Tammany Hall) elect a mayor with the two most despotic philosophies: Muslim and Socialist.
My prediction (And I tend to be very bad at them) is that a form of Berlin Wall will soon be enacted by the new Mayor in complicity with the rest of the local pols. It won’t be a real wall topped with razor wire and presiding over a death strip of landmines and machine guns to keep New Yorkers from fleeing, but a legal one that will force business to stay within the city or face severe legal penalties including prison time so they can be properly squeezed to death to pay for the social programs Madani promised in his campaign.

Millions May Flee New York City If Socialist Zohran Mamdani Is Elected Mayor
https://americanjournaldaily.com/nyc-mamdani-socialist/

It makes absolute sense.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/it-makes-absolute-sense?

Florida ain’t California.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/florida-aint-california
It is hard to be a criminal. That goes triple if you are stupid and in Florida.

(Worth the time to read – jlr)
The Dead Zone Election
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/the-dead-zone-election
…why pizza has become so expensive, and it’s because the government hasn’t made housing affordable, which means that people have to spend a lot of money on rent, so they have less money for pizza, so demand plummets, so pizza restaurants have to make their profit from a smaller group of customers, so they raise prices. See, as demand falls, prices soar. Falling demand causes higher prices. The less consumers want something, the more it costs.
video – 00:0?:?? – https://www.tiktok.com/@wilsonforseattle/video/7503612266214919454?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

AOC Declares War on Schumer, Pelosi, Jeffries During Mamdani Victory Celebration, Promises to Leave Behind Dems Who Won’t Play Ball with New Socialists
https://www.westernjournal.com/aoc-declares-war-schumer-pelosi-jeffries-mamdani-victory-celebration-promises-leave-behind-dems-wont-play-ball-new-socialists/
video – 00:01:04 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1985916084046660021

The Democratic Party knows what it wants – And deserves to get it good and hard.
https://thelawdogfiles.substack.com/p/the-democratic-party-knows-what-it

Trump Defies Court Order, Withholds SNAP Funding Until Democrats End Shutdown
https://americanjournaldaily.com/judge-trump-ruling-order/
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the delay in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits — commonly referred to as food stamps — will continue for tens of millions of Americans until Senate Democrats reopen the government. “SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” the president posted to Truth Social.

Cutting EBT Is ‘Violence,’ Says Woman Who Blames Friend’s Death on Food Stamp Cuts
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2025/11/05/cutting-ebt-is-violence-says-woman-who-blames-friends-death-on-food-stamp-cuts-n2421310
Words are violence. Silence is violence. Cutting SNAP benefits is violence.
video – 00:01:44 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1985811711165645037

It’s Time To Get Out Of New York City
https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/it-is-time-to-get-out-of-new-york
It would be difficult for me to overstate the seriousness of the crisis that the Big Apple is now facing. A 34-year-old radical Islamic communist that wasn’t even a U.S. citizen a decade ago has now become the mayor of America’s largest city. The mainstream media is calling Zohran Mamdani a “democratic socialist”, but the truth is that he is very much a communist. He is making all sorts of very expensive promises, and in order to give his followers what they want he is going to have to take enormous amounts of money from others.
Michael Snyder is a professional doom and gloom sayer, who is also trying to sell you his apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books – I’m not saying he doesn’t provide good information, it’s just how he presents it -jlr)

Just When You Thought It Wasn’t Possible To Hate The Media More…
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/just-when-you-thought-it-wasnt-possible-hate-media-more
The Trump administration has banned the media from an area of the White House they previously had access to after some reporters were discovered surreptitiously capturing video of sensitive information. Officials revealed that reporters have also been found ‘spying’ on private, closed-door meetings in the White House and wandering into already restricted areas near the Oval Office, in order to “ambush” Cabinet officials after private meetings. Ironically, the restrictions being put in place are a rollback to Clinton era White House rules.

Nigerian President Responds To Trump’s Call For Military Action Against Christian Persecution
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nigerian-president-responds-trumps-call-military-action-against-christian-persecution
“We welcome U.S. assistance as long as it recognizes our territorial integrity,”
(translation = Send us guns and $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$ only ($100 bills, shrink wrapped on pallets, no strings attached please – jlr)

Left-wing press begins all-out attack on Trump’s ballroom donors
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/11/04/left-wing-press-begins-all-out-attack-on-trumps-ballroom-donors-1597637/

President Trump Intervenes to Secure Cancer Treatment for Dilbert Creator Scott Adams
https://americanjournaldaily.com/scott-adams-donald-trump/
Kaiser Permanente—a healthcare giant managing billions—somehow couldn’t handle basic scheduling. Yet within hours of presidential intervention, Adams had his appointment locked for the next day. Funny how that works. Trump’s intervention revealed an uncomfortable truth about American healthcare. When someone with authority cuts through nonsense, overnight miracles happen. Adams went from indefinite waiting while “declining fast” to treatment within 24 hours.

Democrats Are About to Experience the Pain of the Filibuster
https://redstate.com/streiff/2025/11/04/democrats-are-about-to-experience-the-pain-of-the-filibuster-n2195851
We’re now 34 days and change into the government shutdown brought on by Democrat intransigence. Rather than accept a clean continuing resolution that would fund the government until a new spending bill was passed, the Democrats have elected to use government employee salaries, SNAP beneficiaries, and victims of Obamacare as pawns to wring concessions for higher spending from the Republican majority.

Leaving Wall Street for Y’all Street – Big Finance Is Moving to Texas
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/11/04/leaving-wall-street-for-yall-street-big-finance-is-moving-to-texas-n2195849

Ted Cruz Gets His Wish: Rep. Brandon Gill Serves Articles of Impeachment Against Judge Boasberg
https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2025/11/04/ted-cruz-gets-his-wish-rep-brandon-gill-serves-articles-of-impeachment-on-judge-boasberg-n2195844

Michelle Obama Will Never Stop Complaining! – The country’s most ungrateful woman (originally printed April 30, 2025)
https://susandaniels.substack.com/p/michelle-obama-will-never-stop-complaining
On October 31, 2025 Michelle Obama complained about her time in the White House: “We didn’t get the grace that I think some other (first) families have gotten.” That comment, after I laughed out loud, inspired me to write about the Ebony Princess. However, I discovered there wasn’t much I had not said previously in “Will Michelle Obama Ever Stop Complaining?” Nope. Here is what I observed seven months ago…..

The Long Road of Gun Control Wasn’t an Accident
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2025/11/05/the-long-road-of-gun-control-wasnt-an-accident-n1230506
Why are anti-gun politicians so determined to create a national gun registry and expand red flag laws? It’s not about safety. It’s about control. There is a plan, and it’s been unfolding for nearly a century.

Surprise, Surprise: Dems Now Making New Move About Shutdown, While Jeffries’ Spin Gets Crushed on Live TV
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/11/05/democrats-and-their-shutdown-n2195890
It’s beginning to look like the prediction Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made about the Democrats and the shutdown is right. He predicted that after the elections, we would get some movement from the Democrats to end the shutdown, because the shutdown was about juicing their base, trying to whip them up to get out to the polls. Once the elections were over, they would then try to find an off-ramp to end the shutdown and claim a victory. Surprise, surprise. Now we’re hearing that Democrats are engaging with Republicans on reopening the government, according to Punchbowl.

Two Now Charged With Plotting Mass-Shooting in LGBT Bars, and Guess What- – – -They’re Muslim
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/11/05/two-now-charged-with-plotting-mass-shooting-in-lgbt-bars-and-guess-what-n2195893
Someone point this out to the “Queers for Palestine” crowd: In Dearborn, Michigan, two 20-year-old men are under arrest for allegedly plotting a mass-shooting attack on LGBTQ+ bars in the area; they had obtained weapons, practiced with those weapons, and scouted targets. It’s a matter of luck and sharp police work that they were caught before committing an atrocity.

At Least in One Place, Sanity Prevails on Election Night – (clap-clap-clap-clap)Deep in the Heart of Texas
https://redstate.com/beckynoble/2025/11/05/at-least-in-one-place-sanity-prevails-on-election-night-deep-in-the-heart-of-texas-n2195882

Charlie Kirk’s Warning About Zohran Mamdani Goes Viral in the Wake of His Win
https://www.westernjournal.com/charlie-kirks-warning-zohran-mamdani-goes-viral-wake-win/

Toilet bowl wars: The next frontier in the attack on privacy – Who knew Number 2 would be number 1 in monitoring your health?
https://www.collapselife.com/p/toilet-bowl-wars-the-next-frontier
First, they came for your sleep, then your heart rate, then your step counts, and ovulation, oxygen levels, and blood sugar. It was only a matter of time before they targeted the most personal of all details: the contents deposited in your porcelain throne.
(apparently medical “Big Brother” is starting to watch EVERYTHING, for your own good – jlr)

Inside the DSA’s Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party.
https://www.thefp.com/p/inside-the-dsas-hostile-takeover-cd4
DSA = Democratic Socialists of America

( This long, but it is worth the time to read in its entirety – jlr)
Why Radical Islam votes left – and why the left votes Radical Islam
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/why-radical-islam-votes-left
if “Queers for Palestine” held a march in Gaza, they would quite literally be murdered.

Jenn Mack Raphoon Signs Texas First Pledge for Governor
https://texianpartisan.com/news/tnm-news/jenn-mack-raphoon-signs-texas-first-pledge-for-governor/
… joining the growing movement of candidates dedicated to Texas sovereignty.

Rachel Hogue Signs Texas First Pledge for State Board of Education
https://texianpartisan.com/news/tnm-news/rachel-hogue-signs-texas-first-pledge-for-state-board-of-education/

TEXAS VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY PASS BALLOT MEASURE BARRING NON-CITIZEN VOTING
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/texas-voters-overwhelmingly-pass-ballot-measure-barring-non-citizen
The Associated Press projected the proposition to pass, with 74.9% of voters backing the plan and 25.1% opposing it.

Leftovers…Leftover Halloween jokes… What, you thought you’d get candy???
https://oldnfo.substack.com/p/leftovers

So there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world today. I can’t fix most of it. I can’t even make a dent. I can’t repair what Dems have done, or Mamdani in NYC or any of it. It’s beyond my small grasp. That’s true of every single one of us. As a single human being, there really isn’t much we can do.

Except that there really is. The edict to help others is not just Christian, but runs through most faiths in the world. That desperation to help someone runs deep in the human psyche, to the point where some of us feel horrible if we can’t help others. There are limits, of course. But the fundamental idea of helping someone find food, shelter, a job, a working vehicle, or a quiet night without a screaming infant… these are within our grasp.

@obsessedwmc #itstime it’s time!!! throughout the years #mariahcarey #christmas ♬ original sound – queen mariah

So at this time of year, just as Mariah Carey comes out of her icy slumber, I make the same offer. If you need help, please let me know. I don’t have tons of cash, and I don’t have a big house anymore to stash people in. But if you are hurting bad enough, I have a couch. I have food. I will make sure you don’t starve. If you are feeling down, page me or call me. I will talk to you. I will listen. And for all that’s holy… please know, I would rather spend hours listening to you cry about your life, than thirty minutes at your funeral, so if you are feeling suicidal or dangerously depressed, please please please reach out.

I’m an interfaith minister, among the other zillion things I do. I’m not a psychologist or a shrink, but I know how to listen. I can give advice, if asked, but I usually just listen.

I don’t ask for anything in return. If you find yourself in a place, sometime in the future, where you have the ability to give back… Well, you pay it forward. Go help the next person who needs it. M’kay? I don’t have much… but I have enough. My fridge is full, and so is my freezer (so full that we’re not buying meat for a while because I desperately need space in there in case we get a deer this year). My pantry is bursting with canned goods, which aren’t our favorite, but which will see us through if we can’t afford fresh. I have everything I need to bake bread and treats for the holidays and the holy days. In all that, I’m rich.

Let’s Try Socialism!

In a city of 7 million people, only 1 million people showed up to vote. They decided an openly socialist was the right choice for them.

Some are planning to leave. Others are rushing to the city to take part in the “free” stuff. Businesses are looking at horrible tax rates.

The mayor elect has already turned on the “rich”.

You can vote yourself in, you need to shoot yourself out. I hope they learn.

Steel Challenge

I have a new goal, to put 18 rounds in a ten-inch round at 60 ft. This is the size of the small targets for Steal Challenge Shooting.

Either I’ve lost much of my skill or it is just getting use to a new firearm. I will get better.

We The People Holsters

The holster system I purchased doesn’t come with a backer pad. It is still incredibly comfortable. I’ve not figured out my magazine holster yet. It either feels much to wide or it sits to low. I’ll work it out.

I’ve ordered my second for the Sig P365-XMacro. I expect to be using this as my primary firearm for Steel Challenge.

If you are looking, give them a try.

Trauma Kit

One of the questions on the SOP for the range is “Where are the trauma kits located?” The answer is just inside the clubhouse, inside the rimfire covered firing line and maybe one other place. I don’t recall.

I told the gentleman running the test, “There is no place to list: Back of driver’s seat of truck, right side of range back, and ankle.”

Well, I picked up an ankle kit. It is elementary, TQ, Combat Bandage and two pairs of gloves. My only issue is that there is no place for z-fold gauze. I’m working with that issue.

First Aid Training

I’m looking into getting formal first aid training for the family. It turns out that the local hospitals and a few other place offer low cost to free first aid training.

We’ll do something at the start of the new year. I want to practice applying a TQ, applying a combat bandage, and packing wounds. Those three things should cover most major bleeding issues. Above that, I would like to learn how to apply a chest seal properly.

I’ve started to watch some more serious trauma response instructional videos. There is a reason that chest seals come in pairs, you have to seal the exit hole as well as the entry hole.

SCOTUS

More cases in the Second Amendment space are being conferenced at the Supreme Court. Here’s hoping they take up at least one more good Second Amendment case this term.

Reloading

I had slowed down my reloading when I had reached some of my goals. It is time to go into higher production. 3.67Kg is about 1000 deprimed 9mm cases. I need to be reloading around 1000 per month to keep up with my range schedule.

It takes only a few moments to send 51 rounds down range with my Sig as compared to my 1911s.

Luckily primers are in stock and coming down in price. I have a few pounds of powder. I’m going to need more bullets.

The nice thing is that getting brass to reload is much easier now. 10 minutes of picking gathered nearly 500 9mm cases, some 10mm, one .40 S&W, one 5.56, 2 .22LR, and 10 .45ACP. And this was with a focus on 9mm. Oh, 1 .38 special.

Question of the Week

How close do you keep your trauma kit? Do you carry one on your person or is it in your bag, or vehicle/house?

I have just started with constantly on my person. Each of my LBV has a trauma or trauma plus IFAK, Each of my carry bags has an IFAK, that would be briefcase, break down rifle case, range bag, and GOODE bag.

“Democrats care more about illegal aliens than Americans!” is a proven fact!

Is it?

This is part of having an open mind. And Lord, is it difficult.

I believe this to be true. The left has demonstrated this over and over again.

Unfortunately, it is not as simple to prove to them.

Let’s look at an example: A soldier is in combat; he has a choice. He can kill 9 enemy combatants, and in the process he will also kill a civilian noncombatant. If he does nothing, he will be killed.

For me, the answer is simple: the life of one American is worth more than all enemy combatants, and collateral damage happens. I want the soldier to pull the trigger. It is the right thing to do.

For many, this is not a simple answer. They value the lives of those enemy combatants as humans first and enemies second. To kill even one person that is not a confirmed enemy is abhorrent. It is better that 100 enemy combatants roam freely than one innocent be killed.

We can see this with the noise being made regarding the targeting and elimination of drug trafficking vessels. I don’t need to know who is on the boat when it is destroyed. It doesn’t matter to me if they were forced to be there, if they are getting paid to be there, or if they just wanted to do it. They are moving poison into my country, which will destroy or kill my countrymen.

Stop them.

The left looks at those boats and makes a true statement: “Those boats might be doing something innocent.”

I believe that Harry describes it thusly:

Does this mean that they care more about the scum running drugs into our country? No, it means they are terrified of making a mistake and will bend over backwards to make sure that those people have every opportunity to suggest they are innocent.

A discussion I had a few years ago with leftist Ally was about immigrants. I bluntly said I didn’t want immigrants from third-world shitholes. I prefer educated people from first-world countries, or maybe some from second-world countries. She argued that those ignorant farmers from third-world countries would be bringing needed skills to this country.

I’m sorry, there are only so many farmers that cannot maintain their infrastructure that my country can absorb. And we’ve taken as many as we should.

But the leftist was looking for good in the policy. I was looking at a hundred head of horses. She was telling me there might be a zebra in that herd that we should save.

When you see a hoofprint of a horse, don’t go looking for zebras. It is much more likely to be a horse.

The leftist always seems to be looking for the zebra. They always seem to be looking to give bad ideas one more chance, because this time they will do it right.

There are very few people that are actually evil. Fewer still who believe themselves to be evil.

How do we know that they care more for illegal aliens than Americans? Well, they choose them over us every time.

This is only partially true.

For many on the left, there are no illegal aliens. They are just people. They are just migrants. They are just workers.

This is why we hear about “Masked men kidnapped a local worker.” They are just a worker. Those were just masked men. They could have been evildoers. We don’t know that they are federal agents.

And if they say they are, they could be lying. We need badge numbers, faces, names, and home addresses to vet them.

Those on the left don’t see these people as any different from you and me. In many cases, they see the people they know as being better than you and me. Since these people are no different from them, then anything that happens to those “workers” could happen to them.

This is not to say there aren’t leaders manipulating the sheep. They are out there. They communicate, and they plan. The message goes out via all the different signals and the NPCs all turn as one, newly programmed with the newest phrase.

Bibliography

• Elizabeth Elkind, Democrats Prioritizing Illegal Immigrants Over Citizens ‘Mind-Boggling,’ White House Says, Fox News (Apr. 15, 2025), https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-prioritizing-illegal-immigrants-over-citizens-mind-boggling-white-house-says.
• David Leonhardt, Where Democrats and Voters Differ on Immigration, N.Y. Times (Jan. 17, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/briefing/immigration-policy-democrats.html.
• Priscilla Alvarez, Top Democrat Expresses Confidence in US Intel on Boat Strikes, but Says Briefings Need Improvement, CNN (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/05/politics/boat-strikes-democrats-briefing-trump-admin.
• Dareh Gregorian, Senators Criticize Trump Administration After Democrats Were Left Out of Drug Boat Strike Briefing, NBC News (Oct. 30, 2025), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senators-criticize-trump-administration-democrats-left-drug-boat-strik-rcna240943.
• Brad Lander, The Nightmare I Saw at Manhattan’s ICE Detention Facility, MSNBC (Nov. 3, 2025), https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-ice-manhattan-26-federal-plaza-brad-lander-rcna241144.