The featured image is of one of my very first sandcastings. It came out better than expected given my level of experience. My later castings were much better.

I used Petrabond for this casting, which gives fine details. The item in the front is a Duplo block, and the part in the back is from a wooden bowl with a handle.

Sand Castings

A sand casting starts with a pattern. The pattern needs to create a void in the sand, which will be filled with molten metal. To allow the sand to hold its shape, fine sand is mixed with a binder and a liquid. When the binder and liquid are in the proper ratios and thoroughly mixed, when compacted, the sand will hold its shape after the pattern is removed.

This means that you must be able to remove the pattern from the sand without damaging the void. Any sand that crumbles from the sides will cause an imperfection in the surface of the casting. Or worse, it can cause a void inside the casting.

Because we need to be able to remove the pattern safely, The pattern is created with “draft” or taper. With proper draft, as soon as the pattern releases, it is no longer in contact with the sand at all. If the pattern is undercut, meaning the sand covers the pattern, there is no way to remove the pattern from the sand without disturbing the sand.

For the parts shown, there is only one piece of the pattern. For a pattern that does not have a flat side, we use two patterns that fit together to form a whole, called a split pattern.

The Flask

The flask is a two piece box that is open on the top and bottom. The bottom piece is called the drag because you drag it across the molding board. The top is called the cope.

You start by placing the drag upside down on the molding board. Then you position the pattern inside the drag with the taper pointing up. The molding sand is then added to the flask until the pattern is covered.

The sand is then “rammed” up. This means compacting the sand by ramming it again and again with the end of a stick. This will force the sand to bind together and bind to the edges of the drag. More sand is added and the next layer is rammed up. This is repeated until the drag is overfull of sand.

Once the drag is full, a stick is used to scrape off the excess sand, called striking off. This leaves a flat sand surface.

A second molding board is placed on top of the drag and then the sandwich of the bottom molding board, drag, and upper molding board is flipped over. This leaves the pattern exposed on top side, sitting in a cavity in the sand. The sand is extremely firm if rammed correctly.

Now the cope is put over the drag to complete the flask.

Ramming Up the Cope

With the cope in place, we can put the other half of our split pattern in place. More parting powder is dusted over the pattern and top of the drag. Think of parting powder as non-stick spray for sand casting.

Once the pattern is in place, we can then ram up the cope the same way we rammed up the drag.

When we finish striking off the cope, we cut a sprue for pouring molten metal into the mold.

The cope can now be lifted straight up, and with a little luck, the top pattern will come away in the cope and the bottom pattern will stay in the drag.

To make sure everything goes back together, the cope has alignment pins, and the drag has alignment holes.

Pattern Extraction

This is the most frustrating part of the process for me. The two halves of the split pattern are firmly held in their sand voids. We need to get them out. The surface of the pattern that is facing us is normally very flat.

If you have made the pattern correctly, there should be threaded holes to insert screws into. Once these screws are in place, you tap and rattle them to cause the pattern to shift slightly in its void. If done correctly, this makes a very thin space between the pattern and the sand.

When you think you have done this enough, you carefully lift the pattern straight up. If you don’t, you can destroy some of the void in the sand.

This is why making patterns is such a high skill level job. The pattern must have enough draft, or it won’t release. The surface needs to be very smooth to reduce the friction between the pattern and the sand. There can be no undercuts. And the pattern must be sturdy enough to withstand being rammed up, over and over again.

Once the patterns are drawn out of the sand, gentle air from a squeeze bulb or from a low pressure air hose is used to remove all the stray sand. Sharp lips of the pattern might be gently touched with a soft brush to remove any sand that might separate from the walls when the casting is poured.

Cutting Runners and Gates

Tools are now used to remove sand from the drag to make channels, called runners, from the sprue hole around the different patterns in the drag. Smaller channels are then cut from the runners to the void/patterns. These are called gates.

Cutting runners and gates is a science unto itself. They have to be large enough for the molten metal to reach all the gates before it starts to freeze. It can’t be so large that you waste metal that is needed for the casting. The metal needs to be a laminar flow; turbulence can cause erosion of the sand of the walls of the runners and gates.

In addition, you want a place for sand carried in from the pour to go and settle out without the loose sand entering the casting.

Closing the Flask

Once all the work is completed on the mold, it is time to prepare the mold for the pour.

The mold needs to be transported to the foundry floor. For large castings, the mold is created right there on the foundry floor. I’ve watched videos of them molding and casting drive wheels for steam locomotives, wheels 5 feet or more in diameter.

The process is the same, except the flask is huge and is rammed up on the floor. Overhead cranes or other types of cranes are used to lift and flip the flask. It is remarkable to watch.

If the mold is small, then the cope is put on the drag, the alignment pins bringing the two parts in to perfect alignment with each other. It is important to note that it is not relevant that the cope and drag be in perfect alignment, just that they align repeatably. That is to say, when the alignment is correct, the voids in the two halves of the flask will be perfectly aligned.

Once closed, the mold is transported to the foundry floor for the pour.

Occasionally the mold is too heavy to be closed and moved. In this situation, the drag is first moved to the foundry floor, then the cope is moved and put into place.

If the mold is truly too heavy to move, even in halves, then the mold will be rammed up on the foundry floor. Cranes will lift the cope off and put it back when required.

Pouring

When the mold(s) are in place, ready for the pour, the furnace is started. The metal is brought up to temperature. Additives will be added to create the correct type of iron or steel or aluminum.

When the metal is up to temperature, the crucible will be lifted out of the furnace and transferred into a pouring gizmo; the word escapes me. For large pours, the furnace has a pour spout at the base; the furnace is opened, metal runs out and is caught in a crucible or ladle.

Regardless of the method of getting the molten metal into the pouring crucible or ladle, the metal is carefully carried to the molds and then poured into the feed sprue.

The metal has to be poured at a constant speed into exactly the correct spot on the mold. If the pour is too slow, the metal will freeze, and you will not get a good pour. If you pour too fast, you risk overrunning the sprue, which will get metal to run out over your flask, which can be very dangerous.

You want to continue pouring until you see metal start to come up the risers. If you don’t see this happen, then you have a short pour, meaning that the casting might not be complete because it didn’t get enough metal to completely fill it.

The pour has to be continuous as well. You can’t stop and start. To do so would be to cause chill spots and potential freezing.

The Wait

After pouring, you need to wait for the metal to completely freeze. To cool enough that it can be handled.

Different metals have different wait times, affected by the mass of the castings.

I was able to observe a bronze bust being poured. I asked when they would break open the mold. They laughed at me because it would soak in the mold for at least 24 hours.

Certain metals perform much better if they are allowed to cool slowly.

Luckily for me, the wait time for aluminum castings is about an hour.

Even after 2 or 3 hours, the castings I make are warm or hot to the touch.

Rough Finishing the Casting

Once the casting is cool enough to work with, the casting is cleaned. The means to remove all the sand that is still attached after breaking the casting out of the mold. If there was a core print, the casting might be soaked in water to help remove the core.

After all the sand has been removed, the casting is cut free from the gates and risers.

The flashing is also removed. The flashing is where metal leaks between the two halves of the mold. You can see the parting line in most objects that are cast or molded.

In some foundries, the casting is then processed to clean up any remaining excess metal.

For some metals, the casting needs to be heat-treated before it can be machined. This consists of putting the casting in a heat treat oven and bringing the metal up to temp. Then the casting is held at that temp for a known amount of time. Finally, it is allowed to cool according to the heat treat instructions.

Most metals have internal stress. I’ve watched a piece of 1/8″ steel curve like a banana when I cut it longways due to the internal stress being removed.

Part 2 tomorrow, about lost sand.

There is a good reason for using internal combustion engines instead of steam engines in our modern world. IC engines are very portable and very fuel efficient. A gasoline engine is about 20-30% efficient, while a steam engine of the type I’m working with will get between 8 and 15%.

In other words, an IC is about twice as efficient as a steam engine.

Having said that, most of the power you use comes from steam. Instead of using a reciprocating engine, we use turbines in the modern era. We still boil water and use the pressure from the steam to get radial motion, which is converted into power. You get that power in the form of electricity.

When you hear about coal power plants, or nuclear power plants, the difference between them is the fuel used to heat the water, not the electrical generators.

The advantage of steam, for me, is that I can use almost any fuel to generate the steam.

Fuel For Steam

Depending on the design of your boiler, it can use wood, coal, propane, natural gas, gasoline (bad), kerosene, diesel, or a host of other fuels. The only requirement is that the firebox be able to handle the fuel and the temperature generated by that fuel.

Coal was often used for locomotives. It produces more BTUs per pound than does wood. It burns hotter and typically longer than wood. Plus, it will keep for a fairly long period of time. The downside of using coal is that it emits sulfur dioxide (SO_2) which will eat at almost anything it touches. It is a primary source for “acid rain”.

This means that burning coal is hard on your firebox, fire tubes, and smoke box/stack. It is why many restored locomotives use wood instead of coal to fire the engines.

I want to be able to use coal or wood but have a burner that can be put into the firebox as needed that will burn liquid fuels. I have an axe, I have trees and fallen branches, I can make steam.

I will buy coal in fifty pound bags and that will provide steam for hours and hours.

Types of Boilers

There are two primary types of boilers and one “toy” boiler. We’ll start with that toy.

With a toy boiler, you have a tube filled with water; you heat the tube up, it creates steam, you tap the steam off the top of the tube.

The boiler I used for my first live steam test was a pressure cooker. I attached a hose to the rocker port and then the other end to the steam engine, a simple double-acting wobbler.

Skip about halfway to see it actually running.

A boiler of this type wastes much of the heat that is put into the system. It can make high pressure steam but at a fairly low rate.

The next type of boiler is a firetube boiler.

A firetube boiler captures more of the heat put into the system by routing the fire through a series of tubes surrounded by water. The goal is to extract as much heat from the fire and gases as possible and still have a good fire.

Water completely covers the firebox. The hot gases then pass up into the first set of fire tubes, which brings the hot gases through the water back to the left side of the image. The hot gases are then mixed back together and pass forward through the third stage before being exhausted to the outside air.

The design criteria include the size of the fire tubes, the length of the tubes, and the surface area of the tubes.

A small diameter tube has more surface area per given length of tube because we are measuring the ID of the tube. For small tubing, the wall thickness adds a larger percentage to the OD than for larger IDs. But as the cross-section of the tube goes down, the velocity through the tube goes up. A smaller pipe requires a faster flow to move the same amount of gas.

As the diameter grows, the required size of the walls of the pipe also goes up. This creates a balancing act. You also need some way to create draft as the fire is starting.

The pressure is working to crush the tubing; this is the right direction for the strongest vessel with the thinnest walls.

This is the standard for boilers from 200 years ago through today. As long as you have enough water in the boiler it will be a very safe boiler.

Water Tube Boiler

This type of boiler runs water through the tubes inside the firebox. It is a faster method of getting to steam pressure but has some downsides.

Water enters at the top left at room temperature or lower. It is pushed through some lazy coils within the firebox to warm it up but not to create steam. It is then added to the very hot, near boiling water in the separating drum. From there it is pulled down and pushed back into the firebox at the bottom.

As the water moves through the coils, it absorbs more and more heat until it wants to boil but can’t because it is held under pressure. When it finally reaches the steam separating drum, again, the steam is free to escape; it boils.

That hot steam is still carrying too much water; it is considered saturated. As it is tapped off the top of the separating drum, it travels back through the firebox for a third time; this time it is being pushed by pressure, not pumps.

During this third trip through the boiler, it is “super heated” which is to say, it becomes so hot and the pressure so high that it is no longer considered saturated.

In other words, it is “dry” steam.

This type of boiler requires two pumps, one that can inject water against high pressure. The other is actually running at “normal” pressures. While the contents of the pipes is at a higher pressure, the inlet pressure and the outlet pressure only differ by a small amount, as compared with the feed pump, which is working against 150 psi or more.

The Ofeldt Boiler

My Ofeldt was attempting to design a better still, for making alcohol; he designed this instead:

In this design there are no circulating pumps. The water is injected into the central drum, where it mixes with the hot, nearly boiling water.

“Cold” water flows to the bottom where it enters the coils. The coils are in the hot gases of the combustion chamber. As the heat transfers to the water, the water starts to rise. As the water absorbs more and more heat, it starts to change phases. As it enters the gas phase it collects at the top of the central drum. From there, a pipe will lead down the side to a pancake coil at the bottom, closest to the burner. This is the superheating stage.

From there, the superheated steam is sent to the engine.

This is a very compact design that works well for small spaces. The firebox can burn any fuel with the correct grating and burners.

This is the boiler or steam generator I plan to make.

Design

I am not a good welder. I will need to be better to make this boiler.

The central tank will be schedule 80 black pipe, as large as I can afford. It will have pairs of threadolets added for each coil, top and bottom.

To the threadolets will be 1/4 NPT, which will connect to an adaptor from 1/4 NPT to double ferrule compression fittings. This means that I will be able to weld the threadolets on with full 360 access to the root. Giving me a higher possibility of success.

After each thradolet or set of threadolets is welded in place, I’ll add the adaptor and then a capped plug. This allows me to do a hydrostatic test of the boiler chamber one weld at a time. And when I start adding the coils, one coil at a time.

I’m hoping for 4, 6 or 8 sets of coils. I think I can do this.

As they say, a grinder and paint makes me the welder I aint.

According to my research, the boiler I’m describing should produce more than enough steam at a high enough pressure to drive the steam engines I’m designing.

If it works, I’ll look into having a real boilermaker make them for me. And be shocked at the price.

P.S.

I read your feedback on this blog. One of the things I realized is that I often write articles that allow me to set down my thoughts and ideas logically. I’m putting my reasoning into words to break cycles of indecision.

Yesterday’s article about cycles is more like how my mind runs normally. I’ll be thinking about something which circles back to the original thought, which will take me in a different direction for another rabbit hole which then cycles back to the same driving force. Frequently without ever reaching a conclusion.

For those that know me in person, it doesn’t look like this from the outside. It just looks like a nearly instantaneous leap to a correct or at least an excellent starting point.

I have an obsession with knowing how to do things. I need to know how things work. And occasionally I get lost in reality.

Years ago, I was working for Cray Research, Inc. We worried about cycles and memory access times. The unit time of accessing memory was a cycle and was 80 ns. I.e., freaking fast.

I became interested in photography. My mentor was already doing some spectacular photography, but I believe I’ve become better than him.

One of the ways I became better was in the concepts of studio lighting. I purchased and was using studio flash, getting good results.

The issue? How the heck did we sync the strobe with the camera? The camera fires, and the flash goes off. There is a propagation delay before the signal reaches the primary light and it fires. There is more delay while the light travels to the next light; there is still more delay before that light can fire. How can this work?

The answer was simple: the real world isn’t the digital world. The lens would be open for 16.6 us. This is 16,600 ms, or 16,600,000 ns. The only requirement was that the flash go off a some point while the lens was fully open. The camera wouldn’t initiate the flash until the lens was fully open, so it was never an issue.

I didn’t wrap my head around reality; I was working in my model of reality. I was wrong.

The Circle

I want to make something. What I would like to make is a steam engine.

To make a steam engine, I need a machine shop. I’ve purchased that. I also need to learn how to use all the machines in my shop. I’ve made a good start at that.

I also require castings for the steam engine. To get castings, I need to purchase or make them. To make a casting, I need to first make a pattern. Once I have made a pattern, I need to “ram” it up, and then cast it.

To make a pattern, I have to design the pattern and then construct it. To construct patterns, I require good woodworking skills and good wood for pattern making. Pine and most common hardwoods are not going to cut it. I’m working on getting those skills.

The pattern design is also a skill; I understand it, but I’m not good at it. CAD can make it easier.

Once I have the design, I need to construct it. This is pattern making, and I don’t have the woodworking skills to do it. But I can CNC or 3D print my patterns.

To get better at woodworking, I have to practice. To practice, I need space. The space has to be heated. I can handle working during the summer; I can no longer handle working in subfreezing weather.

The workshop will be in the first floor of “the hut”. The hut needs to be finished, insulated, and powered. This is a good time to learn about off-grid power systems, like solar. The solar system won’t be enough for this area, so what if I can add supplemental power from a genset? I don’t like the sound of internal combustion engines, but a steam engine? That sounds good to me.

So I want to make a steam engine.

Since I’ve created a cyclic tree, maybe I can break it with something? How about learning to make 3D printed patterns? I’m still doing all the design work, but now I can have a machine turn it into a physical item.

I liked my toy 3D printer, but it was a kit that wasn’t good, and it was never accurate enough. I was never able to build pieces that could fit together. It was retired. But new 3D printers are plug and play, which is what I want. I would rather not build them and tweak them physically; I want to use them to create physical objects.

And look at this, there is a set of modular 3D prints that can be linked together to create a pattern for a flask. The thing that holds the sand that patterns are rammed into. This means I can actually have sturdy flasks that won’t burn.

But all of this requires some skill in CAD. I have years of experience doing 3D solid modeling. What I don’t have is experience in creating the blueprints for translating these models into reality. But a CNC mill would be helpful for some of that. And I have a mini-mill that I got from my father. I can convert that to a CNC machine for certain operations.

And with the ability to make standard flasks of standard sizes, I can then make molding plates for those flasks to simplify casting certain items.

I can use a 3D printer to make runners, gates, spouts, and risers to make it easy to make castings.

The cool thing is that I can make a 3D printed pattern with proper shrink rates, then cast that pattern in aluminum. The aluminum then becomes the working pattern, so we have to allow twice the shrink so the working pattern can then be used to create our final castings.

If I’m going to be making my own patterns, I will need to make core boxes. Cylinders for steam engines are complex; they have ports cast into them as well as steam passages. Which means I will need to machine or print core boxes.

But there is a minimum size that cores can be. You don’t make 1/8 in cores 2.5 inches long. What is the right size steam passage?

Well, the steam passage should be able to transfer the swept volume without ever having a velocity above 6000 ft/minute. Where did they get 6000 ft/minute? Don’t worry, they used it in the age of steam, and it was empirically tested.

What does it mean though? Well, we know the volume in in³/s. If we divide that by 6000*12 in/60s, we will know the cross-sectional area required.

The area required is equal to pi*r^2, where r is the radius of the steam passage. We can use this same area when designing the ports for the valve and cylinder.

But I’d really like to know if this value was any good. Well, the “easy” method is to run a CFD analysis of the steam flow in the engine.

This would seem to be easy, since the workflow is to build a mesh of the domain for the CFD analysis, then set the initial conditions and let someone else’s code do the work.

What the heck is a CFD “domain”? Well, that’s the part that isn’t modeled. Which means I need to make an inverse model of the steam engine parts that are important for a CFD analysis.

But that requires new skills in my CAD program.

And all of this must be done because I want to be able to build steam engines that are fractional HP in size, but big enough to do the work required.

What would it be like if I had a steam engine that was driving a hydraulic pump for a wood splitter? Would that be cool? Motors for hydraulic pumps are built around HP requirements, but steam engines produce excellent torque at low RPMs. Do we really need a 5 HP engine to drive a wood splitter?

Now, If I get a 3D printer, I can use it to print Gridfinity and multiboard systems to organize my reloading room. My reloading room is full. I can’t get to the press, and I need to get there because I require more 9 mm ammo. And I want to reload a few hundred 30-06 and 7.62×51 rounds with something for taking deer.

So having a printer is a good idea. And I know where it will go. All I need to do is throw away the three junk paper printers that are stacked there, and I’ll be good to go.

Are we having fun yet?

Jan 12, 13:

They will win because we let them, not because they are good or right.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/they-will-win-because-we-let-them
These people have absolutely zero connection with the realities of a fight. Bleeding is something that occurs to women (Biological Females in their parlance) every 28 days or so. Pain is hearing Trump in their TikTok accounts and actions have no permanent consequences. And then shit happens and reality strikes…beware: They will not learn the lesson. In fact, they will behave even more irrationally thinking that death and permanent injury is something that : 1) Cops and Feds will not do again because unicorn reasons and 2) That will never happen to them because they are righteous/pretty/woke/have septum ring/some other BS…And now there are those on their side who are actually demanding their side to start a shooting war. I don’t know how this will go because you are not talking about a bunch that is properly armed and even less trained, but then again you just need a couple of idjits with guns to down a Fed or two and the response will be a return of very accurate fire, the very possibility of “protesters” rushing towards the Feds shooting and the obligatory downing of idiots These is the same state where several morons rushed against Kyle Rittenhouse, so yes, I believe that may happen. And then we will have another “Kodak Moment” to be exploited by the Left.
If we let them run with it, we lost and we are next.
(Liberals do not learn from past experience or history.  They MUST, individually, FA to FO for themselves – jlr)

Notice Anything Regarding All These Angry, Miserable White Liberal Women?
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2026/01/13/notice-anything-regarding-all-these-angry-miserable-white-liberal-women-n2669375
With all the whining, ranting, and calls for violence, have you noticed one common theme regarding all the videos they post on social media? They’re all alone. It’s befitting because normal people don’t want to be around this hot mess. One comedian had it right—they’re alone in these videos because none of them have friends.
vide0 – 00:02:58 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010078196893663705
video – 00:00:13 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010880379427668090 (full on belly laughing ROFLOL – jlr)
video – 00:00:45 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010817216543903998 She says more women were there and they’re all training to kill MAGA
and several more short videos

‘We need to kill these people’: Left-wing TikTok user calls for violence against ICE agents
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/01/13/we-need-to-kill-these-people-left-wing-tiktok-user-calls-for-violence-against-ice-agents-1615609/
WATCH – video – 00:03:47 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010840677849124931

Mamdani Balls Up His Little Commie Fist and Rages After New York City Council Employee Detained by ICE
https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2026/01/13/mamdani-balls-up-his-little-commie-fist-and-rages-after-new-york-city-council-employee-detained-by-ice-n2198070
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials defended the arrest, stating that the employee is in the United States illegally after entering on a B2 tourist visa in 2017, which required him to depart that same year. He was reportedly not granted the legal right to remain or work in this country. Worse, DHS has stated the employee has a criminal history that includes an arrest for assault
V
Outraged Mamdani calls for immediate release of city staffer detained by ICE
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/01/13/outraged-mamdani-calls-for-immediate-release-of-city-staffer-detained-by-ice-1615694/
New York officials turned to performative “outrage” while skirting facts about a city employee detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a “routine” appointment.

3 shadow radicals in Mamdani’s inner circle: Plotting to seize property, abolish police, and blame capitalists for ‘terror’
https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-liz-wheeler-show/3-shadow-radicals-in-mamdani-s-inner-circle-plotting-to-seize-property-abolish-police-and-blame-capitalists-for-terror
“[Mamdani] has saturated New York City with DSA members — DSA members who want to orient themselves towards insurrection, who want to overthrow the empire, who believe that you’re not just pushing socialism, you are tearing down a nation built on capitalism,”
video 00:17:07 – https://youtu.be/jnj65i5ssqM

Watch: Anti-ICE Agitator Allegedly Throws Water Bottle at Agents, Finds Out It Was a Seriously Bad Choice
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2026/01/12/watch-anti-ice-activist-allegedly-throws-water-bottle-at-agents-find-out-that-was-a-bad-choice-n2198058
video – 00:02:06 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010814415608668656

Portland Illegal the PPB Chief Wept Over Repeatedly Rammed Border Patrol Vehicle
https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2026/01/12/portland-illegal-who-the-ppb-chief-cried-over-violently-rammed-ice-vehicles-repeatedly-yelled-expletives-n2198040
An unsealed affidavit and criminal complaint concerning Luis Nino-Moncada, the Portland illegal alien who was shot on Thursday after ramming into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle, further destroys the fake news and Oregon elected officials’ narrative of neighbors being targeted and a “married couple” wounded by “ICE” violence.

THIS IS WHO THEY RIOT FOR: Democrats Violently Protest and Attack ICE to Defend These Criminal Illegal Child Rapists, Murderers
https://gellerreport.com/2026/01/this-is-who-they-riot-for.html/
This is who well-paid Democrat mobs are violently defending—while they riot across American cities, attack ICE agents, and ram law enforcement. They are not standing for “compassion.” They are waging street-level enforcement for a political ideology that shields rapists and killers from deportation. This is not protest. This is organized lawlessness—using violence to protect the worst criminals in the country and daring anyone to stop them.

Minnesota Prays for a Judge to Jump in, Takes Trump Admin to Court Over ICE Actions
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/01/12/minnesota-begs-for-a-judge-to-jump-in-takes-trump-admin-to-court-over-ice-actions-n2198066
Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Trump administration Monday, seeking to block a massive federal immigration enforcement surge they say has flooded the Twin Cities with armed agents, sparked fear and unrest, and interfered with state and local authorities, according to court filings.

Renee Good’s Partner Could Be Prosecuted for Domestic Terrorism: Fox News Legal Analyst
https://www.westernjournal.com/gregg-jarrett-flags-potential-crime-renee-goods-wife-minnesota-ice-incident/
video – 00:01:10 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010751209272164585

Thousands of Somalis Forced to Leave the US as Trump Admin Ends Temporary Protected Status
https://www.westernjournal.com/breaking-thousands-somalis-forced-leave-us-trump-admin-ends-temporary-protected-status/
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status.”

Positive Inflation Report Delivers Economic Win for Trump
https://www.westernjournal.com/breaking-positive-inflation-report-delivers-economic-win-trump/
The data showed that prices excluding food and energy rose just 0.2 percent in December and 2.6 percent over the past year.

Republican House Oversight Committee to Hold Bill Clinton in Contempt
https://www.westernjournal.com/breaking-republican-house-oversight-committee-hold-bill-clinton-contempt
“No one’s accusing Bill Clinton of any wrongdoing. We just have questions. And that’s why the Democrats voted along with Republicans to subpoena Bill Clinton,”

Europe Should Be Begging Trump to Buy Greenland
https://amac.us/newsline/politics/europe-should-be-begging-trump-to-buy-greenland/
The question of Greenland goes to the heart of how the free world will defend itself in the 21st century, who will bear the cost, and who will shape the Arctic’s future.

Ah, the state of American education. – A complete, total, and utter failed state.
https://thelawdogfiles.substack.com/p/ah-the-state-of-american-education
I’m going to be as gentle as I can here: We can’t get Feds in front of a court for suspicious shoots? What makes you think this one is special? Other than it’s a lot more justified than shooting an unarmed woman holding a baby in the face.

Data Is In: Homes Becoming More Affordable as Trump Admin Removes Illegal Aliens
https://www.westernjournal.com/data-homes-becoming-affordable-trump-admin-removes-illegal-aliens/

Jackson, Mississippi’s Only Synagogue Set Ablaze On Shabbat
https://gellerreport.com/2026/01/jackson-mississippi-only-synagogue-set-ablaze-on-shabbat.html/
Once again, history is repeating itself. The names and slogans have changed—from white hoods to “activists,” from the Klan to Hamas supporters—but the target has not. Synagogues are burning. And the silence from those who claim to oppose “hate” is deafening. It’s the same house of worship that was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967. Yes: We have a problem with resurgent anti-Semitism and leaders who seed it and flirt with it.
V
Suspect in Mississippi arson says he targeted synagogue because it’s tied to Judaism
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/01/13/suspect-in-mississippi-arson-says-he-targeted-synagogue-because-its-tied-to-judaism-1615628/
…the man charged with torching the synagogue admitted he targeted the building because of its “Jewish ties,”

Iran will reportedly hang a 26-year-old man captured at anti-regime protests
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/01/13/iran-will-reportedly-hang-a-26-year-old-man-captured-at-anti-regime-protests-1615699/

IRAN’S REVOLUTION IS AGAINST ISLAM
https://gellerreport.com/2026/01/why-mosques-burn-irans-revolution-is-against-islam.html/
“Iran has never been a Muslim country. They forced this ideology on people with guns and force for centuries. You are witnessing the end of Islam in Iran now. Persians are burning mosques. Never call a Persian Muslim, that would be an insult, This is Persian renaissance.”

IRAN’S TWO-HEADED VIPER: As the Regime Crumbles, MEK Circles to Hijack the Revolution
https://gellerreport.com/2026/01/irans-two-headed-viper-as-the-regime-crumbles-mek-circles-to-hijack-the-revolution.html/
…Islamic Republic’s house of cards teeters on the edge of a terminal collapse, a second, equally parasitic threat is circling the carcass: the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK)… a cult-like mercenary outfit that has spent decades buying the souls of Western politicians to bypass its own bloody history. To save Iran, both must be purged.

Unbelievable: Nora O’Donnell Suggests That Reza Pahlavi Is Responsible for Iranians Dying in Protests
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/01/13/unbelievable-nora-odonnell-suggests-that-reza-pahlavi-is-responsible-for-iranians-dying-in-protests-n3810757
CBS’s Norah O’Donnell asks Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is he bears responsibility for getting Iranian civilians murdered by the Islamic regime of Iran with his calls to protest:”And as you are urging people to protest and go to the streets, the death toll is rising in Iran. This violent crackdown continues just as it has in past attempted revolutions. I mean, is it responsible to be sending citizens in Iran to their deaths? Do you bear some responsibility?”
vide0 – 00:01:40 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010800943453884438

Ohio Worker Finds Guns in Strange Place
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2026/01/12/ohio-worker-finds-guns-in-strange-place-n1231180
A maintenance worker investigating a water leak discovered three handguns and nearly 60 strips of prescription medication hidden above the ceiling of a Boardman business Thursday morning.

150,000 NFA Applications Filed On Day 1 After $0 Tax Stamp Becomes Official
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/150-000-nfa-applications-filed-on-day-1-after-0-tax-stamp-becomes-official/

Hidden Cam Reveals Secret Service Breach: JD Vance Detail Compromised
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/01/13/hidden-cam-reveals-secret-service-breach-jd-vance-detail-compromised-n2198102
video – 00:13:58 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2011154810641203660
V
BREAKING: U.S. Secret Service Agent Assigned to VP JD Vance Leaks Sensitive Security Information to Undercover Reporter.
https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2011154810641203660

“The Globalist Deep State Is In Panic Mode” After Trump’s Cash Cut-Off
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/globalist-deep-state-panic-mode-after-trumps-cash-cut

Jasmine Crockett Has Vulgar Response to SCOTUS After She Lost District in Texas
https://www.westernjournal.com/jasmine-crockett-vulgar-response-scotus-lost-district-texas/
In a profanity-laced YouTube video, Crockett aimed an expletive directly at the nation’s highest court after it temporarily upheld a Texas redistricting map that moved her out of her district, a profanity-laced YouTube video, Crockett aimed an expletive directly at the nation’s highest court after it temporarily upheld a Texas redistricting map that moved her out of her district,
video – 00:50:38 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBI_dklQoWs

Clintons Refuse To Testify About Jeffrey Epstein; Comer To Begin Contempt Proceedings
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/clintons-refuse-testify-about-jeffrey-epstein-contempt-threat-looms
(The Clintons have nothing but contempt for Congress – jlr)

Mamdani Declares War On Civil Discourse
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2026/01/09/mamdani_declares_war_on_civil_discourse_153688.html
He declared that those who are “fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty,” implying that his administration won’t tolerate public debate about his agenda.

‘What a clown’: Amid claims that state trooper hit anti-ICE protester with cruiser in middle of road, cops bring the receipts
https://www.theblaze.com/news/what-a-clown-amid-claims-that-state-trooper-hit-anti-ice-protester-with-cruiser-in-middle-of-road-cops-bring-the-receipts
“Have a look for yourself,” the agency said amid its release of a dashcam video of the incident.
video – 00:00:21 – https://www.facebook.com/reel/1317920153432983

Another fake martyr: ICE agents drag woman agitator out of car after she refuses to move
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/01/14/another-fake-martyr-ice-agents-drag-woman-agitator-out-of-car-after-she-refuses-to-move-1615917/
video – 00:02:42 – https://youtu.be/nkc7T0hyRu0

Minneapolis ICE protesters are BEGGING for civil war — and we need to take them seriously
https://www.theblaze.com/shows/sara-gonzales-unfiltered/minneapolis-ice-protesters-are-begging-for-civil-war
As demonstrators threaten armed resistance and obstruct ICE agents, it appears the left is openly advocating for civil war.
video – 00:48:06 – https://youtu.be/WPS4WkXk5uM

How to Protest Safely
https://vineofliberty.com/2026/01/14/how-to-protest-safely/
While protesting, in and of itself, is not protected by our Constitution, American do consider it to be a right. As with all things, though, there is a right and a wrong way to go about it. We’ve all seen plenty of the “bad” way of doing it on social media of late. So let me share with you the same information I shared with my children when they wanted to join a protest at school…
If all of the above is not being taught to you by the people organizing your protests, then they are not safe people. Stop, walk away.
They may only be ignorant, which is dangerous…or they could be using you as cannon fodder, which is even more dangerous, for you.

KBJ Comes Up With a New Word in SCOTUS Trans Athletes Case That Has Everyone in Stitches
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2026/01/13/kbjs-incredible-new-word-in-trans-athletes-case-that-has-everyone-in-stitches-n2198097
What the heck is “cisginger”? I thought perhaps I misheard it and listened to it a few times to make sure. But it wasn’t slurred; it was quite clear. Does that mean a redheaded kid who still identifies as a redheaded kid? Um, that’s called reality. But it’s an example of how people toss around invented terms like “cisgender,” and, in this case, don’t even know what they are saying.
It instantly made me think of South Park and how they mocked the subject, jokingly referring to “transginger.”
V
Plaintiff’s Attorney Tops KBJ’s Bizarre Word Salads in SCOTUS Trans Athletes Case
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/01/13/plaintiffs-attorney-tops-kbjs-bizarre-word-salads-on-first-day-of-trans-athletes-case-n2198090
video – 00:01:50 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2011120038493716699
video – 00:02:11 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2011097982154780797
V
Here we go again…
https://oldnfo.substack.com/p/here-we-go-again-fd6
Little vs. Hecox oral arguments were heard yesterday by SCOTUS.,,on Tuesday about the definitions of a woman and girl…once again there is a refusal to actually ‘state’ what the definition of a male or female is…
V
Alito presses trans female athlete’s lawyer on definition of woman during SCOTUS hearing
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/alito-presses-trans-female-athletes-lawyer-definition-woman-during-scotus-hearing
Little v. Hecox was on the docket for the Supreme Court
V
Ketanji Brown-Jackson Humiliates Herself Again – Frustrated Attorney Forced to Teach Her About Simple Legal Term in Front of Entire Court
https://www.westernjournal.com/ketanji-brown-jackson-humiliates-frustrated-attorney-forced-teach-simple-legal-term-front-entire-court/
…Jackson began by posing this question to Mooppan: “I guess I’m still struggling to understand why the state would have to have perfectly tailored laws…“Tailoring,” in constitutional law, is effectively making the law broad or narrow depending on the level of scrutiny a law is subject to under judicial review. A law subject to the “strict scrutiny” standard, which involves a fundamental constitutional right, might have a greater need to be perfectly tailored than a law that does not fall under the purview of a bedrock constitutional right.
(NEVER forget KJB is a BIDEN DEI appointee. Biden appointed for her sex and race alone, not her judicial qualifications – jlr)

Net Migration to the US Hits Milestone Number Not Seen in Over 50 Years
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/01/13/net-migration-to-the-us-hits-milestone-number-not-seen-in-over-50-years-n2198112
Immigrants (legal ones) are good for the country, and have always been good for the country — when they assimilate. However, unless the process is orderly, rational, and fair, it does not work in our favor.

Anti-ICE Types Enjoy Their Alternate Reality Heroics Until They’re Not MORE, CBS EDIT BUSTED
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/01/13/anti-ice-types-enjoy-their-alternate-reality-heroics-until-theyre-not-n3810783
One of the most befuddling and truly irritating things about all the theatrics surrounding the ICE enforcement brouhaha has been the levels of self-delusion that the Left is willing to indulge in in order to perpetuate the hysteria…An incident can happen, and be filmed without any alteration, then shown right in front of them, and they will immediately devise a different scenario than the one on screen out of whole cloth, as if it were some avant-garde ad-lib theater exercise…Take, for instance, this episode (below) I watched just a second ago.
video – 00:00:09 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010500025294417981
video – 00:02:18 – https://youtu.be/7v0COyGhXWc
video – 00:00:36 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2003284926125547598

More Gruesome Anti-ICE Karen Psychoanalysis
https://armageddonprose.substack.com/p/more-gruesome-anti-ice-karen-psychoanalysis
Consider this the addendum to Dystopian Science Fiction vs. the Anti-ICE Karens.
There’s a psychological element that no one in respectable society wants to talk about, which is that victimization and oppression is a source of sexual titillation for huge swathes of the female population — which is not my opinion, but, as we’ll see, empirical fact.

Wild paranoia on ‘The View’ as Joy Behar claims Trump could declare martial law and cancel the midterms
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/01/14/wild-paranoia-on-the-view-as-joy-behar-claims-trump-could-declare-martial-law-and-cancel-the-midterms-1615920/
video – 00:00:32 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2011130726452715658
(TDS on the View on parade, so, nothing new there – jlr)

The Quest for Peak Stupid
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/01/the_quest_for_peakstupid.html
The overlooked value of social media is how it provides people with a global platform for broadcasting rank stupidity.
This week’s first contestant in the race to the bottom is Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, who plowed new ground by comparing events in Minnesota to those in — wait for it — Iran. That’s right; thousands of Iranians being slaughtered because they want to be free of the mullahs is exactly like one American being killed for trying to run down an ICE agent.

I Joined ICE Watch
https://www.thefp.com/p/i-joined-ice-watch
For the past 72 hours, I’ve been getting to the bottom of that as a member of their secret world…Everyday citizens are tasked with 5 a.m. patrol shifts, license plate–tracking, and rapid response teams…Ordinary citizens in Minneapolis have created a vast digital network for tracking and warning against immigration enforcement activity.
(The Free Press isn’t – one must subscribe for $10/mo or $100/ye to read the misnamed FREE press articles – jlr)

Testing a Cultural Theory with Little Pieces of Flying Metal
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/testing-a-cultural-theory-with-little
(there are embedded vidio links in this , some of whoich are comedy GOLD – jlr)

Leftist Woman Tries Doxxing ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good, Instead Doxes Herself Creating Nightmare Scenario
https://www.westernjournal.com/leftist-woman-tries-doxxing-ice-agent-shot-renee-good-instead-doxes-creating-nightmare-scenario/
We now know who he is because of the gravity of the case and, thanks to an insufferable internet Karen who doxed him, where he lives. Only this time, it backfired. Now, she’s the one out of a job, she’s the one facing the consequences of doxing, and she’s the one who’s deleting her content.
video – 00:01:42 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2010814798393487799

City Agency Promotes ‘Art of Civil Disobedience’ Class Hosted by Socialists, Anti-Trump Activists
https://amac.us/newsline/politics/city-agency-promotes-art-of-civil-disobedience-class-hosted-by-socialists-anti-trump-activists/
The city’s Commission on Human Relations reposted a joint announcement on Saturday advertising the event by the Pittsburgh chapters of Democratic Socialists of America and the 50501 Movement on Instagram and X. The three-hour Tuesday evening talk will feature an unnamed “practitioner and trainer with extensive experience” and civil rights lawyer Mike Healey, according to the posts.

I had to butt in.
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/i-had-to-butt-in
A friend of mine posted this meme in Facebook:…He got this reply from a friend of his:…My friend has apparently known this person for decades and stood his ground while being polite. I joined the conversation:…All your questions answered? Feel free to request any further expansion of my points.
I am done being polite. It is getting us killed.
V
President Trump Strikes Exact Right Tone, Reveals What He Would Say to Renee Nicole Good’s Father
https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/01/13/president-trump-reveals-what-he-would-say-to-renee-nicole-goods-father-n2198108

New Iranian Rulers Must Embrace Their Pre-Islamic Past
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/01/new_iranian_rulers_must_embrace_their_pre_islamic_past.html

rcd via e-mail
The ICE uproar is a conspiracy calculated to fool Americans
https://nypost.com/2026/01/14/opinion/the-ice-uproar-is-a-conspiracy-calculated-to-fool-americans/
The chaos erupting in Minneapolis isn’t an organic protest movement, and it certainly isn’t spontaneous. It’s coordinated. It’s calculated. And it’s deadly. Ordinary Americans are being played — manipulated into dangerous confrontations by politicians and rabble-rousing activists.

Anti-ICE Florida Woman ‘Finds Out’ After Alleged Assault on Trooper, Ron DeSantis Has Perfect Response
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/01/15/anti-ice-florida-woman-finds-out-after-allegedly-assaulting-trooper-ron-desantis-has-perfect-response-n2198182
…Cruz faces “multiple charges, according to jail records, including resisting an officer with violence, battery on law enforcement, driving with a suspended driver’s license, and more.”

Alarming Video: Furious Somali Men Pour out of ‘Daycare’ and Accost Journalist Investigating Where $2.25 Million in Grant Money Went
https://www.westernjournal.com/alarming-video-furious-somali-men-pour-daycare-accost-journalist-investigating-2-25-million-grant-money-went/
video – 00:02:10 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2011588066084078041
I Exposed Minnesotas Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal
video – 00:51:18 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2a3aTfA9w&t=2189s

Supreme Court Rules 7-2 That Candidates Can Challenge Mail-In Ballot Counting Laws
https://istandforfreedom.com/supremecourt-candidates-ballot/

‘We’re hot on their trail’: Trump zeros in on leakers after IT contractor allegedly spills Venezuela secrets to reporter
https://www.theblaze.com/news/we-re-hot-on-their-trail-trump-zeros-in-on-leakers-after-it-contractor-allegedly-spills-venezuela-secrets-to-reporter
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the FBI searched the home of one of its reporters, claiming the raid was part of an investigation into Aurelio Perez-Lugones. Perez-Lugones is a Maryland resident who was working as a systems engineer and information technology specialist for a government contracting company when federal authorities arrested him. He has maintained Top Secret security clearance since at least 2000, according to a January 9 affidavit. Federal prosecutors accused Perez-Lugones of printing screenshots of a Top Secret report, as well as writing classified information on a notepad and taking the sheets of paper home. When authorities searched his home last week, they allegedly found multiple documents that were marked as Secret, including a document found in his lunch box.

The Hypocrisy of American Feminism
https://patriotpost.us/articles/124259
As Iranian women bravely fight for their rights, risking everything in the face of oppression, American feminists are caught up in identity politics.

Handcuffed Florida female grabs gun hidden in her pants, opens fire in moving sheriff’s cruiser, newly released video shows
https://www.theblaze.com/news/handcuffed-florida-female-grabs-gun-hidden-in-her-pants-opens-fire-in-moving-sheriffs-cruiser-newly-released-video-shows?
video – 00:02:15 – https://youtu.be/rssf6uWEh14

Stunning Footage: Minneapolis Rioters Break Into Federal Agent’s Vehicle, Steal Weapon and Ammunition
https://www.westernjournal.com/stunning-footage-minneapolis-rioters-break-federal-agents-vehicle-steal-weapon-ammunition/
video – 00:02:51 – https://twitter.com/i/status/2011693543379652619

rcd via e-mail
Trump’s Art of the Deal Was Always The Art of War
https://newsletter.amuseonx.com/p/trumps-art-of-the-deal-was-always
Why Trump’s Second Term Reads Like Sun Tzu in Action. Trump’s second term is not chaotic. It is adversarial. It is strategic. Confusion is cultivated because confusion fractures coalitions. Uncertainty is maintained because predictability benefits opponents. Pressure is applied with exits because domination without destruction is the goal. Sun Tzu is not a prophet of brutality. He is a theorist of economy, discipline, and foresight. Trump’s second-term statecraft aligns with that tradition. He governs as if politics is war by other means, and as if war should be won before it is fought.

PDW’s You Can Bring to Church: Top Discreet Carry PDWs for 2026
https://www.christianwarriortraining.com/p/pdws-you-can-bring-to-church-top

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1212647433578012

video – 00:01:51 – https://substack.com/@oldreddragon/note/c-199153233

Chris and I have talked a bit about the possibility of Civil War. I’m not sure it will happen, mostly because I believe the vast majority of millennials are just too damn lazy to rise up, but also because I trust in Pres. Trump to keep things under control.

However…

I believe Tim Walz and others like him are actively attempting to start a Civil War. I don’t mean that figuratively. I don’t mean it as a metaphor. I believe he actually wants to whip up his constituents to a froth and send them out as cannon fodder against ICE, DHS, and other authorities.

Walz posted this on X on January 7th, after the Good shooting. A number of conservative friends said it was just Walz posturing, flapping his arms and making noise to stay relevant. I don’t think so. His words were exceptionally clear: “To Donald Trump and Kirsti Noem: You’ve done enough. We have soldiers in training, and prepared to be deployed, if necessary.”

If he had ordered the National Guard to stand against ICE and/or DHS (and thank the gods he did not), he would have started a Civil War. Or tried to. He would have asked Minnesota NG to face off against a Federal authority, present and following the President’s lawful orders. Ordering local authorities to stand against Federal authorities is, essentially, the definition of Civil War.

I have no idea if Walz is intelligent enough to have figured out that what he’d said was almost but not quite a declaration of war against his own country’s government. Someone in his office must have, because after that tweet, he changed his tune and was overly clear about the NG being deployed ONLY to do traffic and local law enforcement.

I hope to hell that Trump or one of his advisors called up Walz’s office and had a little chat, explaining how bad that would be for everyone and for our country. I hope that Walz and his cronies got the message. I doubt they did, though. They knocked it down one notch, so they wouldn’t get impeached or arrested, but they’re continuing their ridiculous defense of rapists and murderers.

I don’t know how to deal with the people on the Left who are making noises like ICE is horrible. I have had a handful of people I’ve known long enough to consider them “not liars” even if I think they’re uneducated and not thinking right, who are telling tales about ICE. The stories go that ICE is picking up American citizens who have their papers on them, throwing them into dark, dank, moist detention centers with no toilets, no water, no food, and no access to lawyers or telephones. They’re kept there for hours upon hours (most of the stories talk about 8 to 16 hours, but less than 24, and they’re very specific about it being less than a day), have to beg passers by to let them out to pee, and are denied health care for injuries caused by ICE. They give names of ICE agents. They detail how they were sorted into “citizens and non-citizens” early on in the process, so ICE knew they were Americans. The stories go on and on.

When I go to research it, I can’t find any of the information. The names come back empty. There’s no other people making the claims, even though in the stories there are many people being detained. It’s relatively obvious to me that they’re JUST stories, and have no basis in the truth. But of course I can’t ask for proof, because that’s a hanging offense. Even when I say, hey I’d like to get the word out but you know I only pass on things I can verify (a longstanding moral on my part, I *will not* pass along stuff without bone fides included, and have not for many, many years)… crickets.

It’s exhausting. I’m mentally wrecked most of the time now. The left gets more and more frothy, and impossible to talk to or get information out of. They don’t seem to understand the basic “boy who cried wolf” issue that’s going on. Right now, I just assume anything from the left is wrong, either a lie, an exaggeration, or whatever. I have to, because I just don’t have time to investigate *everything* that’s thrown at me. I have a job, I run a household, I have relationships to tend to and children to watch after. So if something truly bad actually happens, I’m just going to ignore it, and assume it’s the same bullshit rhetoric they’ve thrown around every other time.

And just briefly before signing off, a few words on Iran.

In the 1979 timeframe (give or take a couple of years… I was just a kid who didn’t know shit about politics at the time and I’m going on memory here), I had a friend whose family was moving to Tehran. They had planned it for quite a while. And then the regime change happened, and suddenly their entire world fell apart. They didn’t go to Tehran, and I’m glad, because I firmly believe they’d be dead. I would have been 7 or 8 when it happened. The only reason I remember that, from my very privileged place in society, was because it interfered with a friend’s travel plans.

Iran went from being a fairly modern country to being a third world shit hole in very short order. Women were not allowed to work, first, and they had to cover their hair. Then they weren’t allowed to drive. Then they couldn’t be on public transit or out and about without an adult male family member. Then they had to keep their entire bodies covered with voluminous robes. Then the full burka, covering everything but the eyes. A few years ago the Iranian government decided eyes could be too alluring, and had blackout panels put into place in the burkas, so that you couldn’t even see a woman’s eyes. In 2021 or 2022, they decreed a woman shouldn’t speak in public.

Last night, I watched a live video feed out of Tehran, of women dancing in public, wearing nothing but miniskirts and white tee shirts that said “Fuck Khomeini” on the front in large, English letters. No shoes, no head coverings, no long arms, no tights or stockings. Bare skin, hair, eyes, and minds exposed to the evening air for the first time in almost 50 years. I saw a photograph of an Iranian woman lighting a cigarette from a burning Khomeini flag. I listened to hundreds of thousands of Iranians chanting “Iran! Iran! Iran!” I am witnessing history.

This is people from ALL walks of life, which is why it’s not slowing down despite Khomeini’s attempts to murder every protester. Cutting off the internet didn’t silence them. There are young people there, risking their lives to demand freedom from oppression, REAL oppression. They risk being shot, because the authorities there are using live ammunition to “put down” the protesters. Many are being arrested, and they’re starting to shoot and hang them. They’re going to their deaths with their hands held up in signs of victory, afraid but incredibly brave. There are youngsters who were born after Khomeini took over, and who’ve never known a day of freedom, never seen a free Iran. There are middle aged people who had their childhoods viciously and violently ripped away from them. There are old people, who remember the freedom of pre Khomeini Iran, when the Shah was trying to bring the country out of the dark ages and into the light. Those old people have whispered the stories to their children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren so that they didn’t die.

When Karen from Minnesota says she is oppressed because she can’t have an abortion or because we’re enforcing our immigration laws, I point her at the women of Iran. THAT is what oppression is, and THAT is how it’s fought. With dancing. With singing. With praise. With joy. Not with temper tantrums and lies.

I’ve been having a difficult time being motivated to write. I made a promise to myself to post at least once a day when I started writing for Miggy, and I’ve kept that schedule ever since.

The number of readers seems to have dropped to a very few core readers and my guess is that I just don’t write the things people want to read.

At the same time, when I hear about something interesting, it is normally because somebody else has already chimed in.

So the question of the week:

What do you get out of this blog? What is it that gets you to click back to see what is new?

Thank you

Well said. I felt the need to share it. Well worth watching in its entirety.

I know the term “weaponized incompetence” and have used it to describe actions of others before. But when I did, it was for stuff like the kids “not knowing” how to clean a bathroom or do the dishes, or a friend’s husband who would scream at her because he “didn’t know how to make dinner for himself” and therefore she couldn’t ever be out at dinner time.

I’ve talked about the exhaustion of dealing with Leftists… I know YOU all know that, and are likely a lot more exhausted than I am. I hadn’t realized that it was yet another iteration of weaponized incompetence, though. And that knowledge gives me ideas on how to change my interactions.

“But why…” Well Karen, do you think it’s okay for a kiddie diddler to be hanging around the playground at your kid’s school? If you say yes, then you need to be put on a 72 hour hold because you are not well. If you say no, then that’s the answer to “but why?”

But I don’t believe I’ll even bother with that much. “Are you telling me that you cannot understand why ICE is in our city, when there are thousands of social media reports on it every day? Are you really that uneducated?”

We have all had the unfortunate issue of having to deal with ignorant and incompetent people. For most of us, this is frustrating.

One of my personal weaknesses is the more I respect someone, the harder it is for me to accept incompetence or ignorance from them.

But what is “ignorance”?

Ignorance is not dumb. It is not stupid. Ignorance is not knowing.

Ally is a cookbook author. She is about to publish her third cookbook. We couldn’t be more proud of her and her accomplishments.

Over the Christmas holidays, she decided to try baking, something she isn’t good at yet.

She pulled out one of our older cookbooks, from the early 1950s, and followed the recipe, or she thought she did. The recipe called for 3 cups of flour, sifted.

Being good at English, she read that to mean, “Measure out three cups of flour, then sift it.” What it actually meant was, “Sift a few cups of flour, then measure out 3 cups of that sifted flour.”

The reason is density. Just like we measure gunpowders by weight, we should measure flour by weight. The density of the powders or flour can change; the mass does not. 1950s cookbooks created flour with a known density by sifting it.

Ally didn’t know this; she was ignorant of this. She is not stupid; she just did not know.

Ignorance is correctable; you can learn what you are ignorant about or decide it is beyond you. Even if it is beyond you, you will know that it is beyond you.

There are many things I’m ignorant about. I’m told I’m unusual because I don’t stay ignorant about subjects that are even remotely interesting to me. And according to some, I quickly become competent in areas that I was ignorant about just a short time ago.

This makes it difficult for me to claim ignorance about subjects. I consider myself ignorant about processing animal hides. Yet I know more about it than most people. I’ve yet to succeed at tanning a hide, but I know I don’t know. I know it is not beyond me; I know that I can become educated in the subject and become reasonably competent in the subject.

Recently it was pointed out to me, in this blog, that I was ignorant in reading or understanding technical drawings. I have no formal training and I need to do more. I’m doing my best without doing a deep dive.

Weaponized Ignorance

This is when a person is willfully ignorant. It takes an effort to be willfully ignorant, but for some, it is easier than actually thinking about what they are doing or saying.

When a person is willfully ignorant, refuses to learn, yet continues to opine on matters in which they are ignorant, then they have weaponized their ignorance.

The left is calling for laws and regulations to force “bad” law enforcement officers to not wear masks and to have their identification prominently displayed.

According to them, if they aren’t doing anything wrong, then there is no reason to be masked.

They are willfully ignorant of what happens when an agent is unmasked. They are doxed, and then bad things do happen to some of them.

The wife and I are watching a BritBox show called Blue Lights which takes place in Dublin, Ireland. Our introduction to one of the lead characters is when she is checking her car for bombs. As far as I know, this is true. They know that they will be targeted if the “bad guys” learn where they live and who they are.

These ignorant malcontents know what will happen if our officers are unmasked: they will be attacked. If not physically, then socially.

The left calls detentions and arrests by ICE and other federal law enforcement “Kidnappings”. They know that these are not kidnappings. Or they are willfully ignorant.

They scream about “due process” without ever realizing that these criminals have been given due process. Ten minutes of research would enable them to learn that there are immigration courts that do nothing but oversee migration cases. These courts can, and do, issue final removal orders and warrants.

They are screaming at ICE officers that they aren’t real cops and don’t have arrest powers. Of course they have arrest powers. Do even a bit of research, and you will find that most federal agencies have some sort of internal police force with arrest powers.

And being ignorant allows them to scream “Why!?” like a two-year-old toddler being put down for a nap. They would know why if they bothered to learn about the subject they are opining on.

Listen to Ketanji Brown Jackson asking questions from the Supreme Court bench, “I don’t understand.” “Explain it to me.” And most famously:

• Blackburn: Can you provide a definition for the word “woman”?
• Jackson: Can I provide a definition?
• Blackburn; Mhmm, yeah.
• Jacson: No, I can’t. Not in this context. I’m not a biologist.

Willfully ignorant.

Weaponized Incompetence

This is a step further than willful ignorance. This is when a person refuses to learn something so they don’t have to do it.

The husband who refuses to learn how to cook anything, forcing his wife to cook every meal or to eat out. My dad didn’t know how to cook; from the time Mom died until he was in care, he ate very poorly, mostly hotdogs. This was his choice.

This is the person who tosses the colored in with the whites, leading to the whites not being white anymore. Who is going to ask that person to do the laundry, knowing that their incompetence could destroy entire loads of clothing?

In the same way, what husband or boyfriend doesn’t panic when he sees his wife with a hammer and saw?

Hey, we were all ignorant and incompetent once. I have a picture of my brother and me cutting a piece of wood with saws. I’m using Grandpa’s panel saw, not a bad choice. My brother is using a hacksaw with 24 or more teeth per inch. Today I know that my brother would have been lucky to get a 1/4 inch into a piece of hardwood with that saw.

Now hold me to the same standard. I had a 16 tpi blade on my horizontal bandsaw. It would cut anything, but slow? Oh my goodness. I was using it because the rules say to have at least 2 teeth engaged in the cut at all times, and I was using it to cut 1/8-inch stock. I’ve upgraded to an 8 tpi blade. I can’t cut 1/8-inch stock the narrow way, but I can lay it down, and it cuts just as fast, if not faster. And I can actually cut larger stock at 3 or 4 times the speed of that other blade.

A leftist can’t safely handle a gun. Because they are incompetent, you and I have to store our firearms where they are useless to us but a child can’t access them.

The intentional ignorance and incompetence is draining. It hurts to watch them. It hurts to listen to them. They are so ignorant that they don’t know what they don’t know, but they are damn sure they are right and I am wrong.

        

While protesting, in and of itself, is not protected by our Constitution, American do consider it to be a right. As with all things, though, there is a right and a wrong way to go about it. We’ve all seen plenty of the “bad” way of doing it on social media of late. So let me share with you the same information I shared with my children when they wanted to join a protest at school.

• First and foremost, do you care about the subject of the protest enough to put your life on the line? If the answer to that is no, then don’t go. It ends right there. While it may not be likely that you’ll be killed at a protest, it is never off the table, and you have to think of that very issue first, every single time.
• Can you clearly explain what the protest is about, what it is actually protesting, what relief you’d like to see as an outcome to the protest?  If not, educate yourself before you go back and ask that very first question again.
• Do you understand that, at a protest, you may be arrested? Being detained and/or arrested may involve bodily harm to you, and you MUST be willing to be arrested and/or detained, knowingly, before attending.
• Are you aware that you may be “group thinked” into performing actions that you didn’t intend? Any protest can easily and quickly turn into a mob, and a mob is an animal that doesn’t have single parts. It’s one big entity, and you can and likely will get sucked up into it. In order to avoid being part of a mob while being at a protest, you must always be aware of your surroundings and you must never devolve into letting someone else think for you.
• You must know that you may be ordered to stand down, detained and/or arrested, hit with non-lethal rounds (rubber bullets, beanbags, etc), sprayed with pepper spray or other chemicals, knocked down and hurt and injured, hit with icy cold water from water canons, spit on, screamed at, and dozens of other non-lethal things.
• There is always, ALWAYS the chance that someone will do something truly stupid, push the authorities too far, and someone gets shot. That someone could be you, EVEN if you are not part of the truly stupid person’s stuff. Bullets move in a path, and authorities who are rushed can and will shoot downrange. They’ll attempt not to get innocent people hurt, but it can happen. There is no protest, ever, that doesn’t include this possibility.

I support the right to protest. I support the right to publicly air grievances. I support free speech. But none of those block traffic, emergency vehicles, LEOs, or authorities. The moment you take your protest to a roadway or block non-participating people, you are breaking the law and you not only may be arrested, you SHOULD be arrested. The only time you should be on a roadway is if it has been lawfully blocked off by authorities to allow you a space to protest in (and this does happen, and it’s fine).

Do not block or impede people who are not involved in your protests. It can become violent, which is never good. More importantly, though, it makes those people angry with your protest. Protesting is supposed to be about bringing notice to an issue that needs changing, and if all your protests are doing is ricocheting around your own echo chamber, and pissing off the people who live in the vicinity, then you’ve lost. People in the area should look fondly upon you as the folks who came, made a loud noise and brought attention to something, then left the streets cleaner than they were when they arrived. THAT is the kind of protest that people pay full and positive attention to.

If all of the above is not being taught to you by the people organizing your protests, then they are not safe people. Stop, walk away. They may only be ignorant, which is dangerous… or they could be using you as cannon fodder, which is even more dangerous, for you.