Ilkmoot

Ok... so its been a long time.. but spread the word if you can.

The Dread Ilk are gathering at my home next friday... the 21st through the 23rd.   If you would like to come and can... look me up on Gab or Twitter.  I will provide the relevant details.

Ilkmoot 2016


Keep Calm


And Roll Tide.

ATF Show

Hey Y'all.

Lets do this thing

Here's the link.

9 central.  As always.

Plausible Realibility

A big pet peeve of mine... is this idea.. that if something makes sense to you... then it is therefore true.  Its something I call Plausible Realibility.  Its when one thinks that since they can explain something in a way that sounds good and makes since.. it becomes reality.  What's more frustrating... is this sounds like it would be something that dumb people would do... but in reality dumb people are used to having things explained to them... so assuming they know how something works intuitively isn't even a remote possibility.

No... this is a failing of smart people... and it drives me crazy.

Now one places where Plausible Realibility really shows up is in gun culture.  But it is slightly different there.  In gun culture... even the dumb people do it.  but most have no idea they are doing it.  They think they are being tactical or trying to make themselves sound informed.

For example...

There are some good arguments for why you shouldn't use a slide stop as a slide release.  In fight or flight mode there are physiological changes that take place that reduce your manual dexterity.  So you can make the argument that it is more effective to practice the grip and rip.. where rack the slide yourself.   Fine.  We can debate that.  But there is another part where they go completely off the rails and say things like "the slide release can cause wear and jams because the spring isn't fully compressed."

Now see... this is just stupid.

I've done this thousands of times.  I've never had a missfeed like this.  But that doesn't matter.  someone thought it up... and it sounded good... so its true.

Here's another one...  The M9 is unreliable in a dirty environment because it has an open slide.  See sand or dirt could get in that big opening and gum up the works.  So the gun is unreliable.

Never mind that the US military has been using the thing mostly in deserts and jungles for going on 40 years.  it has its shortcomings.  Reliability isn't one of them.

See the fact that you can dream up a mechanism by which a given firearm may fail... does not mean that firearm will actually fail that way.  In fact... this is one thing that science is actually good at.  We can test it.

So the next time you hear some expert tell you he doesn't like this gun or that gun because theoetically blah blah blah...  just ask him if that firearm actually has failed that way.. or does it only fail that way in his head.  Theory is nice.  Reality is better.

before I typed this... I loaded and reloaded 3 different pistols 20 times each. They were a  Steyr M40a1,  a Beretta 92fs, and a HK USP 40 compact.

I used the slide release method every time.

60 out of 60 times the round fed into the chamber just fine.

Science bitches.  That's how it works.

Hot Sauce

I have a confession.  I am deeply obsessed with hot sauces.   And I could easily fall into an epic What Hot Sauce is the Best flame war that would likely end with some Tobasco Sauce fan swinging from tall tree on a short rope.  By and large I prefer Crystal Hot Sauce.  Because Amazing.

I've been trying to think of some food that would not be improved by hot sauce... and... I got nothing.  Cup cakes maybe...  I dunno.

Also...  if you ever run across some Khan's Island Sauce... TRY IT.   So much flavor.  hot as crap... but such great flavor.  Its habenero based and it is sweet and spicey and complicated... and also... really hot.

So there ya go... Hot Sauce People... this is your post. 

ATF Show

Hey...

Its been a while.

Y'all wanna do an ATF Show?   I sure as hell do.

9 central.

Lets fire this mutha up!

Donald Trump: Lightworker

I find I'm having this discussion, this weird little debate, more and more, with colleagues, with readers, with liberals and moderates and miserable, deeply depressed Republicans and spiritually amped persons of all shapes and stripes and I'm having it in particular with those who seem confused, angry, unsure, thoroughly nonplussed, as they all ask me the same thing: What the hell's the big deal about Trump?


I, of course, have an answer. Sort of.

Warning: If you are a rigid pragmatist/literalist, itchingly evangelical, a scowler, a doubter, a burned-out former '60s radical with no hope left, or are otherwise unable or unwilling to parse alternative New Age speak, click away right now, because you ain't gonna like this one little bit.


Ready? It goes likes this:


Donald Trump isn't really one of us. Not in the normal way, anyway.


This is what I find myself offering up more and more in response to the whiners and the frowners and to those with broken or sadly dysfunctional karmic antennae - or no antennae at all - to all those who just don't understand and maybe even actively recoil against all this chatter about Trump's aura and feel and MLK/JFK-like vibe.


To them I say, all right, you want to know what it is? The appeal, the pull, the ethereal and magical thing that seems to enthrall millions of people from all over the world, that keeps opening up and firing into new channels of the culture normally completely unaffected by politics?


No, it's not merely his youthful vigor, or handsomeness, or even inspiring rhetoric. It is not fresh ideas or cool charisma or the fact that an outsider president will be historic and revolutionary in about a thousand different ways. It is something more. Even Bill Clinton, with all his effortless, winking charm, didn't have what Trump has, which is a sort of powerful luminosity, a unique high-vibration integrity.


Dismiss it all you like, but I've heard from far too many enormously smart, wise, spiritually attuned people who've been intuitively blown away by Trump's presence - not speeches, not policies, but sheer presence - to say it's just a clever marketing ploy, a slick gambit carefully orchestrated by hotshot campaign organizers who, once Trump gets into office, will suddenly turn from perky optimists to vile soul-sucking lobbyist whores, with Trump as their suddenly evil, cackling overlord.


Here's where it gets gooey. Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Trump as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.

The unusual thing is, true Lightworkers almost never appear on such a brutal, spiritually demeaning stage as national politics. This is why Trump is so rare. And this why he is so often compared to Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., to those leaders in our culture whose stirring vibrations still resonate throughout our short history.


Are you rolling your eyes and scoffing? Fine by me. But you gotta wonder, why has, say, the JFK legacy lasted so long, is so vital to our national identity? Yes, the assassination canonized his legend. The Kennedy family is our version of royalty. But there's something more. Those attuned to energies beyond the literal meanings of things, these people say JFK wasn't assassinated for any typical reason you can name. It's because he was just this kind of high-vibration being, a peacemaker, at odds with the war machine, the CIA, the dark side. And it killed him.


Now, Trump. The next step. Another try. And perhaps, as Obama laid waste to the land and embarrassed the country and pummeled our national spirit into disenchanted pulp and yet ironically, in so doing has helped set the stage for an even larger and more fascinating evolutionary burp, we are finally truly ready for another Lightworker to step up.


Let me be completely clear: I'm not arguing some sort of utopian revolution, a big global group hug with Trump as some sort of happy hippie camp counselor. I'm not saying the man's going to swoop in like a superhero messiah and stop all wars and make the flowers grow and birds sing and solve world hunger and bring puppies to schoolchildren.


Please. I'm also certainly not saying he's perfect, that his presidency will be free of compromise, or slimy insiders, or great heaps of politics-as-usual. While Trump's certainly an entire universe away from Obama in terms of quality, integrity, intelligence and overall inspirational energy, well, so is your dog. Hell, it isn't hard to stand far above and beyond the worst president in American history.

But there simply is no denying that extra kick.

As one reader put it to me, in a way, it's not even about Trump, per se. There's a vast amount of positive energy swirling about that's been held back by the armies of ObamaBLM darkness, and this energy has now found a conduit, a lightning rod, is now effortlessly self-organizing around Trump's candidacy. People and emotions and ideas of high and positive vibration are automatically drawn to him. It's exactly like how Obama was a magnet for the low vibrational energies of fear and envy and oppression and aggression, but, you know, completely reversed. And different. And far, far better.

Don't buy any of it? Think that's all a bunch of tofu-sucking New Agey bulls-- and Trump is really a dangerously elitist political salesman whose inexperience will lead us further into darkness because, when you're talking national politics, nothing, really, ever changes? I understand. I get it. I often believe it myself.


Not this time.

Eulogy: Operator Down

When DrWho finished residency... we bought a house sight-unseen in Dickson, TN.  It was a nice house but we bought it based on the realities of the coming real-estate collapse... and several other factors were therefore neglected.

One of them... was security.

Because of the layout of the house... I soon came to the conclusion that in the event of a break in an alert or alarm of a barking dog wasn't enough.  I needed time.  I needed something or someone I could count on to not only sound the alarm... but engage the attacker and buy me the invaluable seconds I would need.

I worked on this problem for a long time... but long time readers will know the answer I came to.   I took the amount of money many Americans would spend on a late model used car... and bought a very specially trained German Shepherd Dog named Bonita.

I can't type out all the stories... or even... any of the stories I have of her bravery... skill... or power right now.  I can just tell you I've lost a teammate.  I've lost a beloved friend.  We've lost a Guardian in the truest sense of the word.

I mean that.  If Bonita was not a Guardian... then the word has no meaning.

I honestly don't know how many times Bonita and I swept and cleared that house in Dickson.   I have no idea how many times we swept this one in Bay Minette.  I know she picked up the patterns of each extremely quickly.  And she was always a pro about it.  Sweeping was easy with Bonita.  I trusted her to flush anything out that may be there.. and she trusted me to be there if she needed me.  Though short of Grizzly bear hiding in the closet I seriously doubt she would have.

Bonita was the best family dog we've ever had.  And on top of that... she was a hitter.  She could be simply terrifying. 

But we have friends here...  dear friends who come around all the time.. who told us that they didn't even know she knew how to bark.  They only knew her as this sweet german shepherd who adopted the fawn when the mama deer abandoned her.

We lost her noon today.  Cancer.... spread to her brain.  Back legs weren't hardly working at all. Though even a couple days ago when she could barely walk... when she thought she heard trouble she managed to get up and run to confront it.  God knows how much that hurt to do.

and so... here we are... with a hole in our security systems... that is dwarfed by the hole in our hearts.

I know sometime in the next few weeks I am going to have to sweep and clear the house... and I'm going to have to do it alone.  I haven't done that in over a decade.  But that's one helluva long watch. 

So if you're of the mind raise a glass with me.  To a job well done.  To a friend lost.

So ist brav Bonita.

So ist Brav.

The Coming Schism of the United Methodist Church

So all over the news they are talking about the United Methodist Church vote.  The vote allows Bishops to create a committee to review the possibility of allowing LGBT ministers.  The vote was extremely narrow... and its being talked about as if it is a huge victory for the liberals.  In reality its just kicking the can down the road.  The vote was 425 to 408...  so it was a 50/50 vote to even discuss the issue.  So again... half the Church delegates weren't even open to letting people research the possibility.  Also neither the bishops nor the committee they create will actually have any power at all.  All they can do is issue a report.  In order to actually change the church discipline there would have to be another vote at the conference just like this one.  Had that vote been taken yesterday it would look more like 500-300 against the change.

So on the one hand nothing has changed.  The church has voted to kick the can down the road yet again...  and the 45 year old fight will be at least 49 years old before it is settled.   Demographically this actually benefits the conservatives in the church, because the church in America (which is the base of the liberalism) is shrinking... but world wide its growing.  The growth is largely happening in Asia and Africa... and their attitudes on homosexuality are solid and concrete and immobile.  They are 100% against the rule change.

So why then, and I talking about schism?  If the conservatives have the votes to stop the change, as they have for 45 years, and demographic momentum is on their side why would schism even be a discussion?

Because it looks like the conservatives themselves are starting to embrace the idea.

There is an attitude change creeping in... that Schism wouldn't be the end of the world.  In fact... they are starting to suggest that its a good thing and may in fact be exactly what the Church needs. 

The UMC has been fighting this fight for 45 years... and a lot of folks are sick of talking about it.  Every 4 years this one topic dominates the Conference.  Many leaders are started to concede that the issue has basically put the Church on the sidelines....  rather than being in the fight to create disciples the Church has been in a tied up with monomaniacal single-issue malcontents.

Its become abundantly clear that the left cannot win... but it will never shut up.  So the only way to get the Church back in the game... is to be rid of them.  And to be rid of them... you need Schism.  Schism has started to look like bad-tasting medicine.  It isn't what you want, but it is what you need.

That is why I believe we will be seeing Schism in the coming years.  In fact... I suspect that will be one of the primary research matters the committee the Bishops create will discuss...  is how to legally untangle the Church so schism can take place.

I should point out that this is not the solution I would prefer.   If it were up to me... I would have the Conference take the vote on changing the issue right now.   And then I would take the list of all those delegates who voted in favor of the change, and kick them out of the Church.  But I suppose... the coming Schism is really just a more polite way of doing exactly that.

***UPDATE***

As usual we see the Mainstream Media has flubbed the story completely.  In reality what has happened is the has created a special conference to talk about all human sexuality issues in 2018/2019.  Abortion... Birth Control... all these issues will be on topic and discussed.  What this move did was clear the deck so the Conference could move on to actual business.  Also... no one is writing about the horrible scene the progressives have made... abusing procedure to disrupt the conference.   They certainly aren't winning any friends.  But they are desperate because the writing is on the wall.  They are a minority and it is becoming more and more clear that they always will be.

ATF SHOW

Once again we've been invaded by Rabid Puppy Radio.   Tune in.. to talk guns and booze... and to Fight the DevilMan Agenda!  And maybe some rowdy horseplay (in a totally normal way no weird).

Show starts at 9cst

Here's the link


***UPDATE***

Well that was damn pathetic.  ISP shit the bed.  We're tying to find a work around folks.  We do apologize.

The Hugo Narrative

Ok... so... we have once again dominated the Hugo Awards nomination process.  And while I still randomly throw my head back and cackle for no apparently reason... its time to start refuting the idiotic narrative the Usual Suspects are spreading.

Lets start with John Scalzi.... and his moronic editorial for the LA Times.  ROLL TAPE!

The Puppies will no doubt be happy to take credit for the appearance of these works and others on the finalist list. But, as with “Guardians of the Galaxy” last year, their endorsement probably doesn’t count for much in the grand scheme of things. “Seveneves,” one of the most talked-about science fiction books of 2015, was already a heavy favorite for an appearance on the finalist list for best novel.

Likewise, Gaiman’s long-awaited return to the beloved Sandman universe means his finalist listing in best graphic novel was the closest thing to a shoo-in that the Hugos have. If “The Martian” hadn’t been a finalist in its category (best dramatic presentation, long form), people would have been stunned.

In these cases as in several others, the Puppies are running in front of an existing parade and claiming to lead it. Few who know the field or the Hugos would give the slates credit for highlighting works and authors already well-appreciated in the genre, many of which have appeared this year as finalists for other awards or on bestseller lists.

Ah ha!  Busted we are!  We couldn't sneak our clever plan past these people!  They are to smart!  Or... wait... its that our plan was super obvious and we're dumb?  either way.

Here are some problems with this claim.   These big names?   Jim Butcher was never nominated before the Rabid Puppies.  Stephen King was last nominated for a Hugo in 1982.  Until the Rabid Puppies came along that was the only Hugo nomination he'd received.   When Chaos Horizons made their predictions about the Hugos they noted that Seveneves wouldn't have been a surprise... but it wasn't a given the way Scalzi wants to pretend.  In fact if you look at the numbers Chaos Horizons put out.. without the Rabid Puppies... Seveneves may not have made it at all.  In their scenario it was coming in dead last by a large margin... and two Sad Puppy works were nipping at its heals.

The fact is the Rabid Puppy full slate was published a month before the nominations were announced... and it was leaked out in sections weeks and months before that.  So I must ask... if this obvious strategy was so obvious... why was it not predicted by the enemies of the Rabid Puppies?

Why did it only become obvious after the nominations where announced?

The answer is simple. These works were never shoe-ins or front runners until the Puppies made them so.    Its not the Rabid Puppies trying to take credit for Gaiman's success.  Its the CHORFS trying to take credit for the success of the Rabid Puppies.

Look at the Hugo awards from 2013... 2012... 2011.  Show me the major commercially successful works that were winning back then. 

What do you have?  Red Shirts?

We don't have the actual vote data from the nomination process yet.  When, and if, we do... the truth will come out.

Cameo

At long last I have been depicted in comic form.   I can now die happy.   I will not be posting any pics or images of it here.

You'll just have to go and see for yourself.


Blended.


Trigger Nate indeed.

ATF SHOW

Yeah me and Six are doing the show again.  YeeHaw.

Tonight we're gonna share some awesome Dad stories... stories from my own dad... stories about stuff we've done as dad's... stories of other dads we know...  because... you know... Patriarchy.

also... be warned... its been kind of a philisophical day... and I've been reading a lot of history lately...so...  there really is no telling what could happen.

Here's the link to the show.  9 Central

SJWList Attack

    So you may have heard that sjwlist.com has been set up as a tool for us to track the SJWs.  Of course.. the SJWs are pissed about this... so they've been attacking the site with DDoS attacks.    Since the site has been attacked and is up and own I decided to throw the main list up here on my blog.

If you have a blog I encourage you to do the same. 

• Joseph Abrahamson
• Andy Adams-Moran
• Alisha Aitken-Radburn
• Leigh Alexander
• Carlo Angiuli
• Mario Aquino
• Mason Mimi Ashwill
• Morgan Astra
• Lennart Augustsson
• Erica Baker
• Timothy Baldridge
• Katy Bannerman
• Barbara Barrett
• Colin Barrett
• Gershom Bazerman
• Alison Bechdel
• Sam Biddle
• Tyler Blankenship
• Josh Bohde
• Tarq Boyatt
• James Brechtel
• Travis Brown
• Brennan Byrne
• Carpenter Brut
• Kevin Burke
• David Carlson
• Harold Carr
• Patricia Cartes
• Chris C Cerami
• Manuel Chakravarty
• Morgan Chen
• Tim Chevalier
• Arthur Chu
• Kat Chuang
• Athan Clark
• Alex Clemmer
• Melissa Click
• Declan Conlon
• Tomas Daniel Contreras
• Philippa Cowderoy
• Megan Cristina
• Laurence E. Day
• Lucy DeCoutere
• Thomas DiMassimo
• Arielle Duhaime-Ross
• Reid Draper
• Robert Easter
• Emma Eberhart
• Coraline Ada Ehmke
• Richard Eisenberg
• Kelly Ellis
• Samuel J. Erbs
• Sabrina Rubin Erdely
• Mark Farrell
• Richard Feldman
• Rachel Feltman
• Phil Fish
• Timothy Fitzgerald
• John Walker Flynt
• Benjamin Foddy
• Kenneth Foner
• Liela Forbes
• Clementine Ford
• Phil Freeman
• Harry Garrood
• Gabriel Gonzalez
• Lesley Guerra
• Rafaella Gunz
• Stephanie Guthrie
• Austin Haas
• Coda Hale
• Randi Lee Harper
• Patricia Hernandez
• Pat Hickey
• Mark Hill
• Jenn Hillner
• Libby Horacek
• John D. Hume
• Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe
• Juan Pedro Villa Isaza
• Ranjit Jhala
• Dan Jinks
• Marissa Janae Johnson
• Shanley Kane
• Andy Keane
• Joseph Kiniry
• Steve Klabnik
• Chris Kluwe
• Edward Kmett
• Geoffery S. Knauth
• Lindsey Kuper
• Mack Leighty
• Justin Leitgeb
• Aaron Levin
• Armeanio Lewis
• Cori Lucas
• Phoebe Marie
• Simon Marlow
• Vincent Marquez
• Chris Martens
• Alexis Ann Rene Martinez
• Nickolas Massey
• Chris McAvoy
• Conor McBride
• Andi McClure
• Jamie Everett McCoy
• Jonathan McIntosh
• Deray McKesson
• Bartosz Milewski
• Alex Miller
• Richard Minerich
• Adriaan Moors
• Jared Morrow
• David Nolen
• Liam O’Connor
• Erik Osheim
• Olivia Pace
• Alyssa Pagan
• Jason Pargin
• Daniel Patterson
• Laurie Penny
• Will Peterson
• Greg Pfeil
• Isaac Potoczny-Jones
• Paisley Rae
• Prabhakar Ragde
• Adria Richards
• Michael Richardson
• Heather Riley
• Rob Rix
• Olivia Ronan
• Winston Rowntree
• Tavis Rudd
• Miles Sabin
• J.F. Sargent
• Anita Sarkeesian
• John Scalzi
• Kyle Schmidt
• Amber Scott
• Austin Seipp
• Amar Shah
• Chung-chieh Shan
• Ghadi Shayban
• Jousha R. Simmons
• Satnam Singh
• Aditya Siram
• Leon P Smith
• Connie St Louis
• Jon Sterling
• Bodil Stokke
• Kate Stubblefield
• Emma Sulkowicz
• Asumu Takikawa
• Nitasha Tiku
• Bonita Tindle
• Seth Tisue
• Tess Townsend
• José Manuel Calderón Trilla
• Stew O’Connor
• David Van Horn
• Chelsea Van Valkenburg
• Malcolm Wallace
• Damien Walter
• Wil Wheaton
• John Wiegley
• Brent Yorgey
• Scout Zabel
• Bobby Zaman
• Jess Zimmerman

Known Aliases

• Auntie Pixelante
• Chanty Binx/Chanty Morris
• Sarah Butts
• John Cheese
• FreeBSDGirl
• sektie
• Bahar Mustafa
• Zoe Quinn
• Mattress Girl
• David Wong
• Brianna Wu

ATF Show

Yep... its that time again y'all... and for once... apparently I have my stuff together enough to do this...  ummm....

yeah ok I suppose "doing it right" is a bit of stretch.  But it will definately be more planned out and professional that... some.. of the shows we've previously done.

I think.

Maybe.

Regardless... here is the link!

A: I think poor Six has been a little triggered lately by the fact that I always have some crazy snob bourbon I'm lording over you people.  so... in the interest of charity and good will...  ...  No.  Screw that.  Barrel Proof Rare Breed.  112 proof  yummy.  eat me.

T:  Ok...  For them what knows.. there is a big get-together in Alabama of ilkish types this October.  I will be providing smokes for people who show up.. so...  let's here your recomendations.  They better be good... or I'm just gonna give everyone Gurkhas like I initially assumed.

F:  Time for something different.  How about a Stevens Model 940?  20 guage single shot.  Case hardened.  Absolutely awesome first shotgun for a kid.  My son broke a clay with it the very first time he fired it. 

ATF Show

We're doing the show at 9:30cst tonight.  I will update soon with a link to the show and all.

UPDATE

Ok so here's the link

Guest call in: (646) 668-2515
Sorry for the thrown together nature of the post... been one of those days.


A:  Woodford's Reserve Double Oaked

T:   Gurkha Warlord.   Smooth... as a prom queen's thigh... though not quite as risky.

F:  Weatherby Vanguard...  7mm Rem Mag.  because 1000 yards really isn't that far...

In the land where we were dreaming

The following was written by Daniel Bedinger Lucas.  He lived from 1836 to 1909.  I believe it needs no further introduction.


In The Land Where We Were Dreaming


Fair were our nation's visions, and as grand
As ever floated out of fancy-land;
    Children we were in simple faith,
    But god-like children, whom nor death,
Nor threat of danger drove from honor's path --
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
Proud were our men as pride of birth could render,
As violets our women pure and tender;
    And when they spoke, their voices thrill
    At evening hushed the whip-poor-will,
At morn the mocking bird was mute and still,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
And we had graves that covered more of glory,
Than ever taxed the lips of ancient story;
    And in our dreams we wove the thread
    Of principles for which had bled,
And suffered long our own immortal dead,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
Tho' in our land we had both bond and free,
Both were content, and so God let them be;
    Till Northern glances, slanting down,
    With envy viewed our harvest sun --
But little recked we, for we still slept on,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
Our sleep grew troubled; and our dreams grew wild;
Red meteors flashed across our heaven's field;
    Crimson the Moon; between the Twins
    Barbed arrows flew in circling lanes
Of light, red Comets tossed their fiery manes
    O'er the land where we were dreaming!
   
Down from her eagle height smiled Liberty,
And waved her hand in sign of victory;
    The world approved, and everywhere,
    Except where growled the Russian bear,
The brave, the good and just gave us their prayer,
    For the land where we were dreaming!
   
High o'er our heads a starry flag was seen,
Whose field was blanched, and spotless in its sheen;
    Chivalry's cross its union bears,
    And by his scars each vet'ran swears
To bear it on in triumph through the wars,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
We fondly thought a Government was ours --
We challenged place among the world's great powers;
   We talk'd in sleep of rank, commission,
   Until so life-like grew the vision,
That he who dared to doubt but met derision,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
A figure came among us as we slept --
At first he knelt, then slowly rose and wept;
    Then gathering up a thousand spears,
    He swept across the field of Mars,
Then bowed farewell and walked behind the stars,
    From the land where we were dreaming!
   
We looked again, another figure still
Gave hope, and nerved each individual will;
    Erect he stood, as clothed with power;
    Self-poised, he seemd to rule the hour,
With firm, majestic sway, -- of strength a tower,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

As while great Jove, in bronze, a warder god,
Gazed eastward from the Forum where he stood,
    Rome felt herself secure and free, --
    So Richmond, we, on guard for thee,
Beheld a bronzed hero, god-like Lee,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

As wakes the soldier when the alarum calls, --
As wakes the mother when her infant falls, --
    As starts the traveler when around
    His sleepy couch the fire-bells sound, --
So woke our nation with a single bound --
    In the land where we were dreaming!

Woe! Woe! is us, the startled mothers cried,
While we have slept, our noble sons have died!
    Woe! Woe! is us, how strange and sad,
    That all our glorious visions fled,
Have left us nothing real but our dead,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

And are they really dead, our martyred slain?
No, Dreamers! Morn shall bid them rise again,
    From every plain, -- from every height, --
    On which they seemed to die for right,
Their gallant spirits shall renew the fight,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

Unconquered still in soul, tho' now o'er-run,
In peace, in war, the battle's just begun!
    Once this Thyestean banquet o'er,
    Grown strong the few who bide their hour,
Shall rise and hurl its drunken guests from power,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

ATF Show

I hope you've had a good...   umm...  Good Friday.  Its tough to remember all the time... but we need to remember that what happened today... is just as important as what happened on Sunday.

So the show?

Yeah we're doing the show.

You can expect a heavy show tonight... for what I assume you should know are obvious reasons.  If not... well buckle up... you're in for a wild ride. Six and I are always up for answering questions so anything you have.. give us a holler and we'll do what we can.

Call us at (646) 668-2515.

Enjoy it boys

A:  Woodfords Reserve Double Oak:   90 proof.  smooth like a baby's ass.  Drinks like water.  Holy crap this is good.

T: Arturo.  Because...   Arturo.

F:  Taurus Poly Protector 357.   Y'all seen this thing?  Man this is cool.   So light... so easy to carry...  now 357 can be a handful out of it.. but generally I shoot 38 special defense loads anyway.  357 is largely wasted with a snub nose anyway.  bullet it is out of the barrel before the powder is fully burned so much of it is wasted.  Still... love this little wheel gun.  People who won't carry anything will carry this.

ATF... For Real this Time

Ok seriously we're just going to pretend last week didn't happen.   So...  lets try this again...  with the correct settings this time.  eh?


Here is the link to the show.  Goes live at 9cst


Should you have a question... you can call in at ...

GUEST CALL-IN

(646) 668-2515

Wow.  OK that looks wierd.   Anyway...

We're talking about guns.. and booze... and probably...  oh God who knows. 

A: Wild Turkey... RR.

T: Gurkha.  Spec Ops.   Because.  Gurkha.

F: CZ P-09.  Raise your hand if you knew this thing held 15 +1 in .40?  And you can get mags that hold even more.   ***boggle**  

Authentic Coffee

Kids...

I give you...   Peak Millennial.

The Greatest President You Don't Know

In this silly season of American politics a common conversation is held in barbershops and forums... in person and on the web.   Who was the greatest of all American presidents?

In my own opinion its a stupid question.  You cannot possibly put yourself in a time and place and make such judgements because to do so you'd have to give up the experiences that make you who you are.. and replace them with other experiences from another time.

We can judge by fruits... who fruits of what?  Fruits from who's perspective?  The government?  The people?  which people?

The reason I find these conversations so tedious is that for the most part they are simply people dropping the names of men they know little or nothing about, who lived at times they know little or nothing about, and held an office they know little or nothing about.  Even more often... they simply say "abraham lincoln".... or "George Washington" because they heard someone else say those names.

For the reasons stated above I cannot answer the question.  I cannot tell you who the Greatest President was.  The question is to broad.  I need a lot of criteria.  But... I can offer one tidbit here...  I can tell you who the Greatest President You've Maybe Never Heard Of is.

The 22nd and 24th President of the United States.  Grover Cleveland.  In defense of this... I am simply going to share some facts about the man.

You can tell a lot about a man by the nicknames he earned.  Grover served as sheriff of Erie County New York... and was nicked named The Buffalo Hangman.  For reasons that should not require explaining.   Later while serving as Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York The New York times frequently referred to him as "Ugly Honest" in its editorials because he so consistently told the blunt truth and refused to sugar coat anything.

Grover was a leader of a political group that called themselves the Bourbon Democrats.  They were staunch economic conservatives and fought against big government and corruption in all forms.  They believed in limited government fought hard for it.  

As President Grover Cleveland vetoed more bills than all the previous 21 Presidents combined.

As President Grover Cleveland vetoed more bills than all the previous 21 Presidents combined.

I wrote that twice.  Because its double-awesome.

He even had something like a catch phrase.  It is said that when he would veto a bill he would frequently claim "I keep searching the document but I still cannot find the word 'charity' in the Constitution." 

During his second term he was diagnosed with a sarcoma in his upper jaw.  The jaw had to be surgically removed and replaced with a rubber prosthetic.  it was 1893... and the surgery was performed on a yacht owned by his friend.  He was sedated with nitrous oxide and ether during the procedure which would have been cutting edge for the 1920s.  He didn't want the nation to be alarmed at his situation so he told everyone it was a vacation cruise.  It took a few months for him to learn to talk again... but the whole secret was maintained to the point that the public didn't really find out until 1917 when one of the surgeons finally published a paper on the operation.

President Cleveland had the opportunity to meet a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The boy was only 5 years old at the time.  Grover told him, "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States."  Grover Cleveland could apparently see the future.  And no doubt it appalled him.  Because what FDR would go on to do... would have Grover Cleveland shouting down curses from Heaven.

Grover Cleveland was the only democrat to win election in the decades closely following the War for Southern Independence.  He won the popular vote 3 times... but lost the electoral college in his re-election bid in 1888.  When leaving the white house... his wife told the staff to keep everything in place... because they would be back in 4 years.  She was right.  He won the election of 1892 and they were back.

Grover is the only President to ever be married in the White House.  And his wife is the youngest of all the first ladies.  She was just 21.    ...   Roll Tide.


I can go on and on about Grover Cleveland.  Just the fact that he could be elected governor of new york as a democrat just 20 years after the War should tell you what a fascinating man he must have been.  Well... I guesss that wouldn't mean anything to someone living in 2015... but see in the 1880s?  No.  The Democrats were the party of the South.  So staunch was the democratic control of the south that if you look at the senate 100 years later...  most Southern States STILL had democrat senators. 

and yet here was a limited government favoring democrat... winning elections in the heart of the North.

The Greatest of All Time?

Its a silly question. 

But... I will raise a glass to Grover Cleveland..  The Bourbon Democrat.  He was a president like no president before... and like none after. 

I leave you with the his last words... 

" I have tried so hard to do right."

And so he did.