History

In April of 2025, Wolford et al. petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.

This followed the Ninth Circuit’s decision that a vampire law was constitutional. A vampire law is one in which you are not allowed to bring your firearm onto private property without express consent from the owner or the owner’s agent.

The good news is that the Second Circuit Court, in a rare moment of integrity to the Constitution, found the same law in New York State to be unconstitutional.

This created a circuit split. That plus this being a new attack vector on the people’s right to keep and bear arms made it an interesting case.

It was not as interesting, in my opinion, as the sensitive places and other cases pending before the court that were denied cert.

Cert Is Granted

On October 3rd, just days before the start of the new term, the Supreme Court of the United States took a Second Amendment case.

My mind is blown. I wasn’t even looking for anything in this case.

Pam Bondi’s DOJ had filed an amicus brief in favor of The People back in May.

Conclusion

We will have a briefing schedule shortly. Once that is available, I’ll do a deep dive into this case. This case has the makings of another Bruen.

While the question isn’t that big, the dicta surrounding the finding is likely to be a slap in the face to the inferior courts.

This will be one of the first cases the Supreme Court hears after the absolutely vicious statements given by the justices regarding the behavior of the inferior court’s attacks on the Trump administration.

This is mostly meant as a visual tour of what I did at the fort last weekend. 😉 Enjoy!

Please note, this is a VERY pic heavy post, which is why images are behind the “more” line.

Read More

This isn’t a prepping post, per se. I’m off schedule due to life being busy. I’ll try and get back on track in a week or two. Be aware that most articles through the month of November will be “canned” (ie written long in advance, probably this month) because it is National Novel Writing Month and I need to sit down and write a whole-ass book (this year it’s my 18th century cookbook) in 30 days. 50,000+ words in 30 days is not easy, and I don’t do a lot of other writing, though I may pop in to say hi. We’ll see.

So last weekend, I was up at the Fort. It was the big “Out of Time” timeline event, meaning they invited people from other eras than the Fort’s (which is 1740s through 1760s, roughly) to come and set up outside the palisade and present information on their part of history. We had someone from 13th century, quite a bit from WWI and WWII, and of course my 15th century group, The Brotherhood of the Arrow and Sword. With all my favorite reenactors there (only the Vikings were missing, as they had an event elsewhere), I asked for and received permission to plan a grand meal for everyone.

As you can see from the image to the left, it was quite the feast. I had three “removes” (we would call them courses, today). We ended up actually putting all the food onto a big table and letting people get stuff buffet style, which I totally lost control of. I really got descended upon by locusts, and that was not what I had intended. Next year will be better, with the “removes” going out on the table for people to get food from. Also, those with food allergies needed to go up first, and that didn’t happen. I learn new stuff every time I do this. 🙂

The preparations for this meal started on Friday evening. The salt cod had to go in to soak, as the water needed to be changed several times before it was put in with the turnip to cook. I think I changed the water five times? Regardless, the cod was not at all salty by the time it hit the table, and actually was quite good all mashed up with the turnip. The “pumpion soup” (squash soup) was incredibly tasty and easy, and I will be doing it again. The salad was “just” salad, but looked at tasted quite good.

Yes, I cooked a turkey over a fire. This was my first time roasting a WHOLE turkey, as in the past I’ve always disjointed it and cooked it in pieces. I wanted to put the entire turkey out, though, and so I roasted it in my largest cast iron pot. I started it breast up, flipped it after 1.5 hours, then flipped it again after 1.5 hours. It spent its last hour in the beehive bake oven, crisping up its skin to a lovely brown shade. The turkey literally fell apart, was juicy and tender, and basically disappeared within a few minutes of being put out. The ham was “braised,” which means I seared all the sides first, and then boiled it. Or rather, it simmered most of the day. The result was delicious, and it was reduced to a single meatless bone and a piece of gristle before the end of the dinner. I was so pleased that everyone liked the food!

I think I served about 40 or so people. We ate in the Great Hall, which is also where I did most of the cooking. I baked bread in the outdoor beehive oven (four loaves) and did the rest of the cooking over coals in the two fireplaces at either end of the Hall. It was nice to have all that space for cooking! Of the side dishes I made, the clear favorite was the Roots a la Creme, which are basically root veggies in a cream sauce. I have to admit, they were very delicious, and I ate the leftovers (what few there were) the next day.

The star of the show, though, was definitely the Rich Cake, from Martha Washington. I have never made a cake like this before, which is dense and full of extremely alcoholic fruit. It was moist, solid, flavorful, sweet, and indeed very rich. I will absolutely be making it again, though perhaps with a few minor adjustments. I can see what that thing could be set on a shelf and left for a month, though. There’s so much alcohol and sugar in it, nothing will touch it! LOL! Think of it as an edible Christmas cake, the kind we usually use as door stoppers.

Ratafia biscuits were the other new-to-me dessert that I attempted. They did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but they were not a clear fail, either. They were very edible, with a lovely almond undertone to them. They didn’t “loft up” as much as I’d hoped, though. I think I folded in the almond flour too roughly, perhaps. I will say, I’m never making the ratafia biscuits again without modern conveniences. Whipping the egg whites until stiff BY HAND was quite the adventure, and my arm still hurts. Totally worth it, just to prove I could do it, though. It might not have been so difficult if I hadn’t started out by creaming the butter for the Rich Cake first, then creaming the sugar into the butter for that same cake, all before moving on to whipping egg whites by hand for 25 minutes. Yes, I’m nuts. But you know what? I know I can do it, now.

Here’s the thing. A lot of people there thought I was crazy for putting this dinner on. Cooking for that many mouths, spending an entire day in prepping, cooking, plating, and all the rest. I did have help, though, with two very good friends who took the time to show me the ropes (they’re both retirees from restaurant business, and know how to do proper mise en place). Everyone loved the meal, but yes, many of them thought I was insane for not putting at least some of this stuff into the very modern oven to bake. I was determined to do this “the 18th century way” though, because I know that if I can do it that way, then doing it with modern conveniences is easy.

This is also research. The cookbook I’m about to write next month will feature all of the recipes I used in this supper, along with many others that I’ve tried in the past two years. While I tailor my recipes to be cooked in a modern kitchen, the instructions suit those who want to do it the 18th century way, as well. I have to know how it works, so that I can explain it to others. Having the opportunity to work the kitchen for a big meal that way gave me a ton of insights into how an 18th century kitchen would have run. It makes my explanations better, when I’m talking to visitors at the Fort or to the encampment of my 18th century reenactors group.

Above everything, this is prepping (see how I masterfully brought it back to prepping? Go me!). I now know without a doubt that I can cook for a large group with nothing more than my two hands and fire. Nothing can stop me now! Oh, and everyone is looking forward to next year!

October 1, 2025:

With the quantity of the funny, unbelievable, or won’t make the MSM because it doesn’t fit their template, I’m back to daily missives

I believe we are in an irreversible free fall – by Miguel Gonzalez, 30Sep2025
https://miguelgg.substack.com/p/i-believe-we-are-in-an-irreversible
One segment of the population has gone from wishing you gone to actually saying “Why not?” and have decided to do what feels good to them which is to do harm to those they do not like and that is bad on itself, but that is not the worst.

Trump Admin Set to Inflict ‘Maximum Pain’ on Democrats if Shutdown Goes Forward: ‘They Will Pay a Huge Price’ – By Jack Davis, 25Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/trump-admin-set-inflict-maximum-pain-democrats-shutdown-goes-forward-will-pay-huge-price/
The White House is gearing up for major layoffs if the government shuts down, using the funding gap to cut federal jobs. A memo directs agencies to fire employees from unfunded programs misaligned with Trump’s priorities, per WaPo. Even if funding resumes, only essential staff will stay.

Over 100,000 Federal Workers Are Set To Formally Resign Tomorrow – By Pamela Geller, 29Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/09/massive-over-100000-federal-workers-are-set-to-formally-resign-tomorrow.html/?lctg=92233992
Schumer and the Democrats for attempting to force a government shutdown by demanding $1.5 TRILLION for trans surgeries and illegals’ healthcare…“Giving taxpayer money to illegal aliens for healthcare—that’s a crazy idea. Funding transgender surgeries in Peru—that’s a crazy idea.”…More than 100,000 U.S. federal civilian employees will formally resign on September 30, 2025, through the Deferred Resignation Program launched by the Trump administration in January 2025. The program provides paid administrative leave with full benefits until that date in exchange for voluntary departures aimed at reducing bureaucracy, potentially totaling 275,000 exits including retirements and firings.

Governor for Hire – by Tierney’s Real News, 29Sep2025
https://tierneyrealnewsnetwork.substack.com/p/governor-for-hire
I believe the swamp wants to run TWO Governors against each other for President that they BOTH control. That way, no matter WHO wins, they STILL control the White House.

The FAFO Consequences of Trump Derangement Syndrome: Lawfare, Cancel Culture, and Murder – by Scott Pinsker, 25Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/scott-pinsker/2025/09/25/the-fafo-consequences-of-trump-derangement-syndrome-lawfare-cancel-culture-and-murder-n4944106

Sheriff gave dire public warning after being forced to release ‘very dangerous’ inmate. Turns out his warning was warranted. –
by Dave Urbanski, 27Sep2025
https://www.theblaze.com/news/sheriff-gave-dire-public-warning-after-being-forced-to-release-very-dangerous-inmate-turns-out-his-warning-was-warranted
‘Someone is going to get hurt, and someone is gonna get hurt bad.’

Your ‘Right to Feel Safe’ Doesn’t Trump My Rights, Including Feeling Safe – By Tom Knighton, 26sep2025
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2025/09/26/your-right-to-feel-safe-doesnt-trump-my-rights-including-feeling-safe-n1230047
The idea of concealed and open carry being scary for a lot of people is that the very idea that someone might have a gun is terrifying. I’d like to say I get it, but I really don’t. I can’t understand being so scared of a man-made object, any object, that its mere proximity to it strikes you with fear. People are scared of their proximity, and now with Florida getting open carry, whether the legislature likes it or not, some are…expressing their pathetic, fear-based concerns, such as this college student. (Guns DON”T kill people. People kill people. With bare hands, rocks, hammers, knives, cars, and all kinds of objects. – jlr)(“My anxiety goes through the roof when I walk on FIUs open campuses. It’s no wonder my fear is spiking, given the potential hiding spaces and easy accessibility onto campus grounds.” Tjhis student needs to immediately drop all her classes, withdraw from college and as fast as possible move to a safer state, like NJ or Mass. for her mental health – jlr)

Good morning, Blue Chekists! – What are we offended by this week? – by Ian, 27Sep2025
https://thelawdogfiles.substack.com/p/good-morning-blue-chekists
Well let’s take a look at what’s making everyone take to their fainting couches this week.

good for geese, good for ganders – breaking the frame of “why are they doing this to me?” – by el gato malo, 26Sep2025
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/good-for-geese-good-for-ganders
let’s take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Tylenol’s concerns about possible autism risk date back more than a decade, documents reportedly show – by Joseph MacKinnon, 27Sep2025
https://www.theblaze.com/news/tylenols-concerns-about-possible-autism-risk-date-back-more-than-a-decade-documents-reportedly-show

A-List Nepo Baby Demands Global Mask Mandates at UN – by Benjamin Bartee, 28sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/benbartee/2025/09/28/watch-a-list-nepo-baby-demands-global-mask-mandates-at-un-n4944211
Violet Affleck, currently attending Yale University as children of the cultural elite tend to do, appeared for some reason at the United Nations last week to offer her deeply informed opinion that we, as a global community, ought to be enforcing mask mandates in 2025 on account of something called “human rights.”
video – 00:02:18 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1970850665590350274

Video Captured Bloody Attack on Pro-Lifer, Yet Alvin Bragg Let Attacker Go Free Anyway – Imagine if the Roles Were Reversed –
By Joe Saunders, 27Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/video-captured-bloody-attack-pro-lifer-yet-alvin-bragg-let-attacker-go-free-anyway-imagine-roles-reversed/
video – 00:08:13 – https://youtu.be/UwrVECzW-KA

let them eat cake moments – immigration as the hill the globalist left will expire upon – by el gato malo, 27Sep2025
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/let-them-eat-cake-moments
the dems in the US have become so desperate and so out of touch that they are having one “let them eat cake” moment after another…imagine threatening to shut down the government unless the american people fund free healthcare, housing, and food for illegals. imagine thinking the public was with you on what’s probably damn near an 80/20 issue. what kind of rabid weasels would need to be running around in your head to not only think this was a good idea but to think you could sell it to the American people as the economy falters for most outside of the upper classes?

Liberals More Likely to Cut Ties with Friends and Family Over Politics – by W. J. Lee, 29Sep2025
https://amac.us/newsline/politics/poll-liberals-more-likely-to-cut-ties-with-friends-and-family-over-politics/
(However, since Sept 10th, I don’t think so. I think conservatives are now fed up with, and no longer wish to put up with, the whining, the crying, the feeling-driven rather than fact-based political lectures, the political diatribes and rants, the sulking, the hurt feelings, and the generally divisive drama from their leftist relatives, especially at holiday family gatherings. So they just won’t invite them this year, or maybe ever again, depending on how divisive and abusive they have been to the family – jlr)

Des Moines: Leftists Protest ICE Arrest of Gun-Toting Illegal “School Superintendent” With Fake Degree and Criminal Record –
By Pamela Geller29Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/09/protest-illegal-armed-superintendent.html/?lctg=92233992

Illegal Alien Arrested by ICE After Targeting DHS Chopper Pilot with Laser Pointer in Portland – By Johnathan Jones, 29Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/illegal-alien-arrested-ice-targeting-dhs-chopper-pilot-laser-pointer-portland/

Pelosi uncorks profanity drenched tirade as ‘Schumer shutdown’ looms – by Sierra Marlee, 30Sep2025
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/09/30/pelosi-uncorks-profanity-drenched-tirade-as-schumer-shutdown-looms-1588950/
video – 00:02:33 – https://youtu.be/Yv79tyrv_qk

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addresses senior military officials

video – 00:47:57 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdiVem1chrE

Full speech: Trump tells military leaders in Quantico ‘We will be a fighting and winning machine’

video – 01:11:24 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv0jx4hiLF0

Hegseth Tells Generals and Admirals: ‘If the Words I’m Speaking Today Are Making Your Heart Sink … Resign’
https://www.westernjournal.com/hegseth-tells-generals-admirals-words-speaking-today-making-heart-sink-resign/

Secretary Hegseth Summons Global Military Leaders to End Woke Policies and Restore Combat Standards
https://istandforfreedom.com/hegseth-military-leaders-message
The message wasn’t just about rebranding—though the symbolic shift from “Department of Defense” to “Department of War” carries serious weight. Hegseth systematically dismantled years of politically correct military policies, announcing that combat standards would return to the “highest male standard only.” No more lowered requirements. No more diversity quotas compromising readiness.“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” Hegseth declared bluntly. “We are done with that shit.” The assembled generals and admirals sat in silence as their new marching orders became unmistakably clear: embrace the warrior ethos or find the door

‘Target Practice USA’: Disgusting Charlie Kirk Assassination Sign Posted at ASU – By Katie Jerkovich , 29Sep2025
https://redstate.com/katie-jerkovich/2025/09/29/target-practice-usa-charlie-kirk-assassination-sign-posted-at-asu-n2194550

Government Headed for Shutdown as Democrats Refuse to Negotiate – by AMAC Newsline, 30Sep2025

https://amac.us/newsline/politics/government-headed-for-shutdown-as-democrats-refuse-to-negotiate/

No, Dems, *We* Don’t Need to Tone Things Down – by Matt Vespa, 29Sep2025

https://townhall.com/columnists/mattvespa/2025/09/30/no-dems-we-dont-need-to-tone-things-down-n2664176

Federal Judge Declares Trump Admin’s Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Protesters Unconstitutional
https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2025/09/30/new-federal-judge-declares-trump-admins-deportation-of-pro-palestinian-protesors-unconstitutional-n2194572

Massachusetts District Court Judge William G. Young has concluded that the administration’s actions are/were unconstitutional. In doing so, Young makes no secret of his animus toward President Trump (and, by extension, his administration)

rcd via e-mail

Oklahoma Governor Announces 130 Illegal Alien Truck Drivers Arrested in Sting, One CDL Read “No Name Given

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/oklahoma-governor-announces-130-illegal-alien-truck-drivers/
Check the license out. In the state of New York, the name on license is ‘No name given

Hakeem Jeffries Freaks Out Over Meme Video Posted by Trump: ‘Say It to My Face!’
https://www.westernjournal.com/hakeem-jeffries-freaks-meme-video-posted-trump-say-face/
video – 00:00:34 – https://x.com/i/status/1972822596397003159

WordPress Issues

For years the go-to source for consistent container images has been Bitnami. Bitnami is owned by Broadcom via its acquisition of VMware in 2023.

With over 200 different containers covering every part of the container infrastructure, developers and system administrators have gone to Bitnami images for consistent interfaces and methods.

Until last month, these container images were offered free of charge to the world.

Starting on the 1st of this month, only development containers are offered free of charge. This means that if you want tagged versions of WordPress, you need to buy a subscription for the Secure Containers from Bitnami.

I looked into this. Does anybody think paying $62,000/year is a good deal? I don’t.

This is not a long-term issue; it is a pain because I have to reconfigure all my WordPress clients to use a new source for images with different mounting points.

Wire Runs

There are times when it is so simple that you can’t find instructions.

When running redundant cable or fiber, you want to make sure that there are no single points of failure. I remember the great Internet outage of the early 90s. Some good old boys in a swamp down in the south took some potshots at something hanging on telephone poles.

They managed to sever a fiber optic bundle. This cut the US Internet in half because all the redundant fibers were in that same optic bundle.

The contracts for those fiber circuits had been let to different long-haul fiber networks. Those long-haul networks were picked because they had north, south, and mid-Atlantic routes heading west. When a new dark fiber vendor came on the market, offering better service with better prices, these long-haul networks purchased their dark fiber from the same vendor.

And all the circuits ended up in a single bundle, down south.

I currently have a star configuration for my network. I’m going to be adding a ring around the outside of the star. This allows better throughput between adjacent data closets. Instead of going to the hub then out to the data closet, we will be routing closet to closet.

While the “cost” of that extra hop isn’t really measurable, it does put some limits on the total cluster bandwidth.

Say you have to move 10 Gigabytes from Node 101 to Node 102 in the same closet. We move that at 10 gigabits, so around 15 seconds to move the data.

But say you want to move the same 10 Gigabytes from Node 101 to Node 103 in a different closet. It still takes around 15 seconds to move the data.

But what if you need to move 10 gigabytes from Node 101 in closet 3 to Node 103 in closet 2, plus 10 Gigabytes from Node 101 to Node 105 in closet 1, and 10 Gigabytes from Node 101 to Node 129 in closet 0? Each movement would only take 15 seconds, but the total time to move would be 3*15, or 45 seconds.

With the extra links in place, we can go directly from Closet 3 to Closets 1 and 2. This will reduce our total time to 30 seconds.

I have the hardware to do this ring. What I don’t have is the conduit. If I use the existing conduit, it is easy. But that means if that conduit is compromised, I lose access to that closet.

I figured out that I can run some conduit along the outside of the building with much shorter runs, much easier access, and with the level of redundancy I’m looking for.

When I finish pulling fiber, I will have three paths to every node.

OSPF/Multicast

In networking, we use broadcast packets when we want to reach every node on a network segment. In the old days there was a single IPv4 address for that, which was the host portion of the IPv4 address was all ones.

It turns out that there are other reasons to want to use a broadcast packet. Often for discovery purposes. OSPF uses this method to find other routers on the network segment.

Which leads to the issue of L3 managed switches. These things are not advertised as full routers, though they can act like them. In particular, each of these switches can run an OSPF process.

This means that the network topology is quickly updated when things change.

And these low cost managed switches don’t understand how to forward OSPF packets when they are running an OSPF process.

Another thing to figure out and fix.

Government Shutdown!!!

The world is wonderful. With the government shutdown, they are less likely to FA with me.

The reality is that the government barely notices when it is “shut down.”

It looks like the Democrats played into Trump’s agenda. J.D. Vance has stated that they will start firing people very shortly if the government isn’t started back up.

The government is shut down because the Democrats and the Republicans could not reach an agreement on a continuing funding resolution.

The Republicans have put forth a CR that funds the government at current levels but for VA housing, security for federal law enforcement, and security for the Supreme Court.

There is nothing in the CR that the Democrats object to.

The Democrats have put forth a proposal that adds more than 1 trillion dollars to the budget. They want to restore funding for healthcare for people that are unwilling to meet Medicaid work requirements. They also want to provide funding to states that are showing healthcare budget shortages because the state spent state money on providing healthcare to criminal illegal aliens.

The big word is “fungible.” Let’s say you want to buy a fancy dinner for your wife. You have $1,000 in the bank. You owe $700 for the mortgage, you owe $100 for Internet, and you owe $100 for water. This leaves you only $100 for food and other things. This means you can’t afford to take your wife out for a $100 dinner. There is no money in the budget.

You reach out to your parents and ask for help with the Mortgage. They agree to pay $500 for the mortgage but tell you that it can’t be used for “fun” things.

To make sure they send the $500 directly to the mortgage holder. You send your $200, the mortgage is paid for the month. None of your parents money went to fun things like dinner out with your wife.

You now have $600 for food and other things. You allocate $250 for food, spend $100 on other things. You have $150 of your money to take your wife to dinner.

Where did the money come from for that dinner? From you or your parents.

Fungible means that you can’t send any money to states that are spending money on criminal illegal aliens. You can’t send any money to organizations that spend money on abortions.

Question of the Week

What is your opinion of this government shutdown?

Costs

Like almost everything I learn, the startup costs are quickly outweighed by the cost of the “tooling.”

My lathe and milling machine cost less than $1500. The cost of my micrometers exceeds $1000 without counting toolposts, toolholders, inserts, and a wealth of other things.

Reloading is something like that. You can get a starting kit for around $175 that has just about everything you need to start reloading. You need to add dies, reloading manual, and consumables.

Assuming you are reloading for 9mm, your dies will be between $40 and a couple of hundred. I’m currently using Redding, which prices out at $75. Manuals run $25 or so. This puts the total cost of tooling just under $300.

Your consumables will be primers at $80 per 1,000, powder at $156 for four pounds, 115gr RMR JHP at $115 per 1,000.

This puts your consumables at $351 for a total start cost of $650 or so.

Assuming you are reloading “free” brass, this gives you a startup cost of $0.60/round, which is more than range candy but less than personal defense ammo.

After your initial investment, your costs will decrease, but it will take a while before you are truly saving money.

Your next 1,000 rounds will cost you $80 for primers and $115 for bullets, giving you a cost per round of $0.195. This would bring your costs from $0.60 to $0.422 per round, including your original investment.

The place where costs really change is when you need to start reloading a different caliber. Using the same equipment, you can add a set of dies, $75, and begin reloading a different caliber.

Availability

During the great panic-demic it became nearly impossible to buy certain calibers of ammunition. Even now, it is sometimes difficult to buy certain calibers.

If you have reloading equipment, those limitations are reduced.

I, personally, reload .38 Special and .357 Magnum with cast bullets. I cast HP myself and find those rounds to be consistent in weight and go where I point them.

My LGS was only selling cowboy loads and very expensive self-defense loads. They had no brass, they had no bullets, they had no primers, and their selection of powders was limited. For the cost of a set of very nice bullet molds, I was able to create freedom seeds for my R95 and revolver.

8mm Mauser is difficult to find and expensive; I’ve got nearly 500 rounds of it for the cost of bullets and powder. The same with 30-30 and 45-70.

I believe the only firearms I cannot reload for are my shotguns. Since I only run 4 rounds a year out of them, it’s not a real issue.

This is the great power of reloading, in my opinion. You can reload for unusual calibers for the cost of a set of dies and bullets.

Quality

The big-time long-distance shooters swear by hand reloading their ammo. I believe them. When I’m reloading, I attempt to maintain that same level of quality as they do. I may or may not succeed, but it is nice to know that I’m close.

Safety

There are two big rules in reloading:

1. Don’t Shoot Other People’s Reload.
2. Your mistake can kill you.

I currently use a Franklin Armory hand primer. It works for me. I can feel each primer seat properly. Before I had the hand primer, I used two different on-press tools.

One day, I was at a private range shooting .45 Colt out of a Marlin lever action. I would pull the trigger, the hammer would fall, and there would be no bang. Not even a pop. This was a problem, but I found nothing horribly wrong. It just meant I had to fix something.

Then I switched to my 1911. Bang. Bang. Pop. STOP!

I had a squib.

This led to me pulling every bullet on that set of reloaded rounds. Luckily there were only 20 of each caliber.

Conclusion

The startup cost of reloading is not horrible. The cost grows like in every hobby. Your break-even point will be in the 4,000 round range at today’s prices.

My start was $50 for a press, four or five sets of dies, a bunch of brass, and some other stuff. I bought a pound of Hodgdon’s No. 5 powder, a Lee Reloading manual, Lee powder scoops, a box of .45 ACP bullets, and 100 primers. My total investment to start was less than $200 for my first 100 rounds, giving me breakeven on my first 100 rounds.

Your mileage may vary.

I’ve been working with Ally on how to communicate in Charlie’s Voice.

What I believe I’ve found is that he starts with people that are willing to have a conversation. Usually, the people he is speaking with have the start of their conversation with Charlie written out. They expect to have a one punch knockout.

It seldom goes that way.

The reason is that Charlie starts investigating how to connect with them or to get them to articulate what they mean by the words they are using.

This allows him to use his wealth of general knowledge to have a conversation where they are working from talking points, emotions, and opinions and Charlie is working from a fact based world view.

I’m still working on this, and we are still looking from articles by you.

Yes, I’m a day late. I unloaded the truck Sunday, fell down, went boom. Yesterday was a lot of cleaning and recovery. So we’re a day late.

This weekend, I had the most amazing time cooking an 18th century supper for about 40 or so reenactors. I had a blast, even though it was a ton of work. We started cooking at about 9:30am, and rang the dinner bell at just after 6pm. By 8pm, I was in bed, in the dark, half asleep. LOL… But what a day! Everyone loved the food, and I made both a 13 lb turkey and an 8 lb ham, both of which were stripped like locusts in a wheat field. LOL… There were plenty of successes, and a couple of partial failures, but overall I did well. People enjoyed it, and I’ve been asked if I’m willing to repeat it next year (spoiler alert: I am!). Of the side dishes I presented, though, Roots a la Creme was probably the group favorite. It just tasted GOOD. So here is the version I made:

Ingredients:

• 4 large carrots
• 4 medium parsnips
• 1 stick of butter/margarine
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 3 small scallions
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 shallot about one inch round
• A small pinch of ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp or so of flour for thickening
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 cup cashew yogurt OR sour cream OR heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• vegetable broth, if needed to thin it out a bit.

Peel your carrots and parsnips and cut them in large slices. Boil them until you can stick a fork in them easily (usually 15 to 20 minutes). Drain and transfer them to a stew pan. Add the butter, parsley, scallions, garlic, shallots, cloves and basil. Over a medium heat stir well to blend the butter and seasonings with the roots.

Add flour, salt pepper and broth. Boil quickly, stirring as you do, until it thickens to a sauce. Remove from heat and reduce your heat to medium. Add the yogurt to the roots. Stir over medium heat until well blended and smooth. Take care not to boil or scorch this. If your sauce breaks, take a few tablespoons out, add a bit of white vinegar to it, and whisk well. Slowly add that back to the sauce, and it should fix it. You can add broth if it’s too thick.

Serve.

Saturday, September 27th:

VERY LONG, lots of memes, but well worth the time to read it all – (it explains a lot about what is happening in the US and globally – jlr)
We Have Been Living Through a Global Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Experiment – The Cruelites Want Civil War; Let’s Resurrect Civil Discourse Instead
bt Margaret Anna Alice and CJ Hopkins, 26Sep2025
https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/we-have-been-living-through-a-global

At One Time Many Mocked The Idea That The Radical Left Wanted A Violent Internal Revolution In America, But Nobody Is Laughing Now –
by Michael Snyder, 25Sep2025
https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/at-one-time-many-mocked-the-idea
If you truly believe that your political opponents are “fascists” that plan to commit “genocide”, what is the appropriate response?
In the hate-filled world that many of these radical leftists exist in, the appropriate response is violence…there was just a mass shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas…In this environment, violence can erupt literally anywhere at any moment…There is nowhere in this country that is truly safe. When you are out in public, please be constantly aware of what is going on around you. Even if you have nothing to do with politics, you can still be targeted…A whopping 74 percent of Democrats are convinced that democracy is not working. If they do not believe that democracy is working, they are not going to rely on the political system to enact change. Instead, they will use other means…An age of unprecedented civil unrest and extremely violent domestic terrorism is here.
(good info, but still trying to sell you his books – jlr)

PSST! Come Read Antifa’s Official Insurrection Guidelines – by Stephen Green, 24Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/09/24/psst-come-read-antifas-official-insurrection-guidelines-n4944059
Here’s their handy guide to forming an Antifa sub-group of your own in just seven easy steps:…Antifa is the American rebranding of the original Antifaschistische Aktion, a militant wing of the German Communist Party in the Weimar era.

Word Crimes: How the Redefinition of Language Destroys Truth – by Jamie K. Wilson, 24Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/jamie-wilson/2025/09/24/word-crimes-how-the-redefinition-of-language-destroys-truth-n4944049
…Orwell warned of this in 1984 with his invented language, Newspeak. But Newspeak was built by replacing old words with new ones — destroying vocabulary so certain ideas couldn’t even be thought. What we face today is subtler and more deceptive. Instead of erasing words, our institutions keep the familiar ones — equity, violence, woman, democracy — and hollow them out, refilling them with alien meanings. Orwell imagined burning the library. In our real world, the library still stands, but many of the books have been replaced with forgeries…

John Bolton’s Office Raid Bombshell: Classified Documents Related to WMDs, Strategic Comms Found – By Rusty Weiss, 24Sep2025
https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2025/09/24/john-boltons-office-raid-bombshell-classified-documents-related-to-wmds-strategic-comms-found-n2194302
Bolton Was, Indeed, Hiding Classified Files in His Office
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/09/24/bolton-was-indeed-hiding-classified-files-in-his-office-n3807129

Expectant Libs Post TikTok Videos of Themselves Gobbling Down Tylenol to Spite Trump, RFK Jr. – by Brett T., 23Sep2025
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2025/09/23/expectant-libs-post-tiktok-videos-of-themselves-gobbling-down-tylenol-n2419408
video – 00:00:10 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1970531489080320183
video – 00:00:20 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1970391539240112351
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/820200-overview
Minimum toxic doses of acetaminophen for a single ingestion, posing a significant risk of severe hepatotoxicity, are as follows:
Adults: 7.5-10 g – Children: 150 mg/kg; 200 mg/kg in healthy children aged 1-6 years
(Each tablet = 500mg, so 16-20 tabs, untreated, is a lethal dose for an adult and much less for children – unknown is the lethal dose for a fetus, much less a chronic 9-month+/- long ingestion of Tylenol
ALSO SEE: https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/acetaminophen-intoxication-a-criticalcare-emergency

Climate Crusader-in-Chief Newsom Flip-Flops As Scheduled Refinery Closures Spark Panic – By Steve Williams, 24Sep2025
https://redstate.com/steve-williams/2025/09/24/from-climate-hero-to-flip-flopper-shuttered-refineries-leave-newsom-in-panic-n2194317
…California’s biggest energy threats: refinery closures. Negotiations to keep two Bay Area refineries open collapsed. Without a deal, the Valero plant in Benicia (the city’s largest private employer) will close by the end of the year. More refinery closures are scheduled, further shrinking capacity, killing jobs, and locking California into even higher prices and deeper dependence on imported fuel.

Supreme Court Sides With Trump: Grants Executive Authority to Fire FTC Commissioner – By Pamela Geller, 24Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/09/supreme-court-sides-with-trump-grants-executive-authority-to-fire-ftc-commissioner.html/?lctg=92233992
(SCOTUS didn’t GRANT anything.  It AFFIRMED his right, as head of the administrative branch, to fire employees, just like any CEO – jlr)

Speech Is Not Violence – Why imprecise political language is creating a permission structure for violence – and how we fight back with precision. – by Kaizen Asiedu, 25Sep2025
https://thatskaizen.substack.com/p/speech-is-not-violence
When “fascist” can mean anything from Hitler to someone who disagrees with you, when we operate on a political spectrum but pretend everything is binary, when words become tribal weapons instead of tools for understanding – we create the conditions where speech gets conflated with violence. This isn’t just an academic problem. It’s getting people killed.
embedded video – 00:14:19

Dem Candidate Laughs At Charlie Kirk’s Murder, Mocks MAGA for Mourning Him – by Caden Olson, 27Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/dem-candidate-laughs-charlie-kirks-murder-mocks-maga-mourning

‘The View’ Panel Gets Triggered Hearing Trump Would Win ‘By Bigger Margin’ If the 2024 Election Were Today – by  Nicole Silverio, 27Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/view-co-host-triggers-panel-saying-trump-win-bigger-margin-2024-election-held-now

Texas Jihad Update: It’s WAY Worse Than We Thought – by Kevin Downey Jr., 26Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/kevindowneyjr/2025/09/26/texas-jihad-update-guess-who-let-the-shooters-in-n4944156

THE SKY IS FALLING
Asteroid 2025 SU4 flew past Earth at 0.06 lunar distances – By Teo Blašković, 24Sep2025
https://watchers.news/2025/09/24/asteroid-2025-su4-flew-past-earth-0-06-lunar-distances/
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2025 SU4 flew past Earth at just 0.06 lunar distances (0.00015 AU / 22 380 km / 13 906 miles) from the center of our planet at 08:34 UTC on September 24, 2025.
(The Earth’s radius is approximately 6,371 kilometers (3,959 miles), and the asteroid was at13906 miles from the center of the earth sooo the rock was only 9,947 miles above the surface – I think that qualifies as CLOSE – jlr)

This was slipped under the door by e-mail – and yes, I remember a lot of this, and so does Pepperage Farm
Comments Made in the Year 1955! – That’s only 70 years ago!

‘I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.00.’
‘Have you seen the new cars coming out next year?  It won’t be long before $2,000.00 will only buy a used one.’
‘If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit.  A quarter a pack is ridiculous.
‘Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?’
‘If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.’
‘When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon.  Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.’
‘Kids today are impossible.  Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed.  Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.’
‘I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.’
‘I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century.  They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in  Texas  ‘
‘Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball?  It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the President.’
‘I never thought I’d see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric.  They are even making electric typewriters now.’
‘It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays.  I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.’
‘It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.’
‘Marriage doesn’t mean a thing any more, those-Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.’
‘I’m afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.’
‘The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.’
‘There is no sense going for a weekend, it costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel.’
‘No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $35.00 a day in the hospital it’s too rich for my blood.’
‘If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.’

Tuesday, September 30th:

Recommended reading… – by OldNFO, 30Sep2025
https://oldnfo.substack.com/p/recommended-reading
Originally written by John Murphy in 2015, updated this year…It is only a matter of time before Islamic terrorists execute a Mumbai, Westgate Mall, Garissa University College, and perhaps even a 7 October scale attack in the United States. –
https://www.citizen-defender.com/blog-1-1/Blog%20Post%20Title%20One-nlc94

17 days after Charlie’s death, it’s clear: We are now on the other side of the Rubicon – by BlazeTV Staff, 27sep2025
https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-auron-macintyre-show/17-days-after-charlies-death-its-clear-we-are-now-on-the-other-side-of-the-rubicon
…when one side believes that chopping off the genitals of a child is not only permissible but loving? Peaceable discourse is no longer a viable option…

It Is Always About Violence – By Chris Johnson, 27Sep2025
https://vineofliberty.com/2025/09/27/it-is-always-about-violence/
Communism, an idea so good it has to use force to keep its citizens in. – Soft Violence – Physical Violence – Murder

We Now Know Why That Charlie Kirk Tribute Never Aired: Death Threats from the Leftists Who Murdered Him – By Samuel Short, 27Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/now-know-charlie-kirk-tribute-never-aired-death-threats-leftists-murdered/
…Sinclair took these threats seriously as more deranged leftist terrorists would have acted against their other affiliates. This is becoming a pattern after Kirk’s assassination and the attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday.

Leading Democrats Incite to Murder, Leftwing Protests Call to “SHOOT ICE” – By Pamela Geller – on 27Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/09/video-democrats-incite-to-murder.html/?lctg=92233992
video – 00:01:38 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1970876028248891880
video – 00:00:46 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1971220642348605738
video – 00:01:33 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1933168342547780032
video – 00:01:38 0 https://twitter.com/i/status/1942265570923274346
*video – 00:07:06 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1971695145784692806
video 0 00:00:59 – https://twitter.com/i/status/1971450671032652262

John Brown Gun Club Invokes Kirk Assassin’s Message on Campus Flier – By Tom Knighton, 26Sep2025
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2025/09/26/john-brown-gun-club-invokes-kirk-assassins-message-on-campus-flier-n1230048
“make a real change” through aggressive activism instead of “ceremonial resistance.”

Now Chicago Anti-ICE Rioters Are Carrying Guns – by By Ward Clark28Sep2025
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/09/28/escalation-now-chicago-anti-ice-rioters-are-carrying-guns-n2194494
It is beginning to look a lot like open rebellion in several of the country’s major cities…some sort of explosive device found last night near the ICE Chicago detention facility…the presence of an IED seems a significant escalation.

Get training – And carry your guns. – by Ian29Sep2025
https://thelawdogfiles.substack.com/p/get-training
get training…don’t forget first aid…don’t forget legal insurance
***(Carry ALL the time, even at home, because bad things happen suddenly and the bad guys are NOT going to wait while you go and get your firearm – jlr)
“God created all men, but Samuel Colt made them equal.” – Unknown
“A Smith & Wesson does more for empowering women than Feminism ever could” – Greg Gutfeld 29 Jul 2017
“An armed society is a polite society” – “Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

Trump Official Attacked at United Nations By Leftist Goon – By Pamela Geller, 27Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/09/trump-official-attacked-at-united-nations-by-leftist-goon.html/?lctg=92233992
“An HHS official was followed into a bathroom, recorded, physically assaulted and verbally accosted by a deranged leftist at the UN who somehow entered the venue past multiple layers of security,”

***INTERESTING READING/listening/watching
What Civil War Could Look Like and How to Prepare – by Brian Duff, 26Sep2025
https://mind4survival.com/civil-war-preparedness/
podcast – 00:29:47 –https://content.libsyn.com/p/9/f/b/9fb64627c7caf640/M4S265_Civil_War_Prepping.mp3
video – 00:37:33 – https://youtu.be/-cJ_aktCWDE
video – 00:11:10 – https://youtu.be/HVHgPnGWtec

Trump Admin Set to Inflict ‘Maximum Pain’ on Democrats if Shutdown Goes Forward: ‘They Will Pay a Huge Price’ – By Jack Davis, 25Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.com/trump-admin-set-inflict-maximum-pain-democrats-shutdown-goes-forward-will-pay-huge-price/
The White House is gearing up for major layoffs if the government shuts down, using the funding gap to cut federal jobs. A memo directs agencies to fire employees from unfunded programs misaligned with Trump’s priorities, per WaPo. Even if funding resumes, only essential staff will stay.

***Liberals More Likely to Cut Ties with Friends and Family Over Politics – by W. J. Lee, 29Sep2025
https://amac.us/newsline/politics/poll-liberals-more-likely-to-cut-ties-with-friends-and-family-over-politics/
(However, since Sept 10th, I don’t think so.  I think conservatives are now fed up with, and no longer wish to put up with, the whining, the crying, the feeling-driven rather than fact-based political lectures, the political diatribes and rants, the sulking, the hurt feelings, and the generally divisive drama from their leftist relatives, especially at holiday family gatherings.  So they just won’t invite them this year, or maybe ever again, depending on how divisive and abusive they have been to the family – jlr)