Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Winners and losers in the Culture War

I apologize but I have been away from the desk for a few days.  Work and school have been crazy with new schedules and frankly I needed a little mental health break.  Back to the trenches.

Tom Lombardi: Thank you, Sir, for the assist on this one.

As I am sure many of you have heard, the University of Texas hosted an event by the group. "Cocks not Glocks".  Yes, you read that correctly.  The group held a rally, championed as the biggest anti-gun protest of its kind in Texas, to pass out 4,500 dildos.  Why would anyone want to do this?  The concern was that incredulously, a discussion was being held to decriminalize student possession of weapons on the campus. The horror of it was that UT student will still have to leave their plastic male members outside of school zones.  The fact that they brought the phallus's on campus without the permission of the faculty was an irony completely lost on them.  One of the many.

Normally, this is where the pro-liberty groups screw up.  They lay out a passionate defense, filled with facts and vigor and it ends up drowned out in the din of the media.

The Students for Campus Carry turned the whole argument on its ear, joined the protest, and gave this release in response:

Students for Concealed Carry Embraces UT Dildos

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 08/24/2016
AUSTIN, TX - In keeping with the organization's long-held position that individuals should enjoy the same rights on college campuses as virtually everywhere else, Students for Concealed Carry fully endorses the burgeoning movement of Texas college students who wish to openly carry oversized dildos on campus. Brian Bensimon, SCC director for the state of Texas, commented, "If carrying a phallus to class helps you express yourself, go for it. We welcome this demonstration that freedom of speech and concealed carry of handguns can coexist on the same campus." 
SCC does recommend, however, that students use their dildos for political or recreational purposes only. Using a dildo as a defensive weapon could classify it as a "club," which, under Texas law, is illegal to carry in public and constitutes a felony if carried into a building on campus. Bensimon added, "Although SCC's opinion shouldn't be taken as legal advice, we feel that Texas students are on pretty solid legal ground as long as they use their dildos only as expressions of free speech or for the manufacturers' intended purpose."
They even gave it a cute little meme:


On a side note, I'm left wondering what happened to the the 4000+ dildos that were not distributed. Some Texas grievance studies major is undoubtedly sitting on a literal mountain of penises.

Some of you may be asking how is this germane to anything related to normal Sipsey Street material or the III% movement?  This is the culture war.  It is the biggest thing that we can be fighting until this whole thing goes hot.  Just like any other war there are winners and losers.  We have been losing this particular war for three generations by letting our enemies do our talking for us.  It has brought us to have whole states and regions surrendered to idiots just like this.  We have been too polite and too busy with our daily lives to pay much attention.  We need to do better, or we stand to lose the next generation and then all proceeding ones to this madness.  The SCC took advantage of guerrilla politics and ripped a victory out of the jaws of defeat.  I salute you.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Sunday Jams - The Band

One of the Old Mans favorites.  They just do not make them like this anymore.





"It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting."


Saturday, August 27, 2016

Sparks 31 makes some points regarding the usefulness of protests

I post, you decide.

I will applaud anyone that makes a break from the herd to give us their truth, if we want to hear it or not.  As you know, Mike was a firm supporter in the rally, so long as it was making a point to bring the fight to their doorsteps, and quite literally, "shake their guns in the tyrants face".  The gatherings did not come without careful planning and cool heads.  It also had to make a point, usually regarding nullification of unlawful dictates.  While I abhor everything about Islam, I will completely agree that there are better ways to spend ones time than to peacock for the local media about a book that is not in anyway a danger to Gillette, Wyoming.

Don't attend the Koran protest in Gillette, Wyoming this weekend. Do something productive instead.

Some group has planned an anti-Koran protest in Gillette, Wyoming this weekend. Don't waste your time. In fact, don't waste your time with any type of protest. You can be doing far more productive things with your time. Like training, or improving your kit, or buying ammo or other fiddly bits you're going to need when the time comes. 
For starters, the protest will accomplish nothing productive. Most protester-types on our side of the fence totally lack the necessary training in psychological operations, propaganda, and what the military calls "civil affairs" to do it right. With that said, if any of you protest organizers went through AIT for MOS 37F, 38B, or something similar send me a copy of your DD214 and I will publicly apologize for calling you a fucking idiot. And don't tell me you were an 88M attached to SOCOM under the XVIII Corps., or some nonsense like that. 
Second, protests telegraph intent and out you to the OPFOR at the same time. These are things that no professional or competent individual does. Both are a bad thing, and should be avoided.

Herschel Sends: Another Oathbreaking POS GWOT General comes out against peasants being armed

I am so tired of hearing about these sniveling, groveling, boot-licking, overpaid, Praetorian class politicians telling the great unwashed how to live their life "sensibly".  These people have hopped from one ivory tower gated community to another apart from their Soldiers and citizens for almost all of their lives.

Forgive me, Sir, if we collectively tell you to go pound sand.  Or not forgive.  Eat excrement and expire, anyway.

General Peter Chiarelli Invites Veterans To Violate Their Oath

Chiarelli is now part of the cool kids gang along with all of the other statists.  I’m glad to have him as an enemy.  But if he rationalizes his own adultery towards his oath to the constitution right after reminding us that he did in fact take such an oath, he makes matters worse by telling us that he has no respect whatsoever for those who served and suffered.  He invites veterans to break their oath as well. 
My suspicion is that the ranks of veterans isn’t fertile ground for Chiarelli and his gang of cool kids.  But it should be enough that he thinks no more of you [veterans] than to surmise that you might be an oath-breaker just like him, and he would sooner see you sent to hell than lose his political fight to control other people and take their liberties. 
What contemptible trash.  How sad that men such as him were in charge of any campaign at all.  They are all as bad as the corrupt politicians they serve, and dear veteran, if you side with them, you’re no better than they are.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Watch your step! - IED's found in Harlan County, Kentucky





Much appreciated to Michael Tarvin for putting this one in my lap.


The ATF has issued this warning in response to several IED's that were placed in in trail camera's.

Are you loving that sexy new logo as much as I am?

At first I thought it was a Justified referenced hoax.  For the uninitiated, Justified was a long running TV series that is based primarily in Harlan County, and features a neo-Nazi bomb maker turned preacher turned drug kingpin as a recurring bad guy.  Pretty good show.

Local news had issued this story in response:

ATF warns of improvised explosive devices inside trail cameras in Harlan County


Three trail cameras have exploded and injured people. Agents found an additional nine IEDs and dismantled them. They warn more devices may still exist. 
Some of the trail cameras were found abandoned on paths in rural areas accessed via the Dave Smith Drainage Area, near the Woodland Hills subdivision, on the Little Black Mountain Spur.
The IEDs were designed to explode when a person inserted batteries into the camera. Other IEDs were designed to detonate by a trip wire. In some cases, containers like milk jugs or paint cans were placed near the IED.

The IED's were originally placed by Mark Sawaf.  Mark, tragically, was shot by police before he could identify the locations of the other IED's.  Police have had to comb through the brush of Harlan County looking for more of these devices.

The Kentucky.com article of Mark's arrest adds this information as to what it was and how he set them
The device was made using a Winchester 9mm shell casing, an unknown explosive material and a detonator, according to court documents. The device was designed to explode when batteries were inserted into the camera. 
The ATF had previously been told that Sawaf was involved in the use of “exploding targets,” or targets that blow up when shot with a firearm, according to court records. An investigator previously determined that since Sawaf was not prohibited from using firearms, there was no criminal violation if he was shooting exploding targets.
As a veteran of OIF and OEF, the legal definition of IED would seem to fit but my definition of the real McCoy, so to speak, is much different.  What is curious about the traps that he set, they were not on his property and the cameras were inoperable.  There is certainly a lot of meth and marijuana manufactured in those hills, so it stand as conjecture that Mr. Sawaf could have been involved or it could have been he was just a "hobbyist" as the article infers.   Some of the local commenters seem to think it was a guy that was just tired of thieves, a stance which is more consistent from the evidence.  If that is the case, I can certainly condemn his actions as a III percenter, but I only wish that he could have turned his rage into something more constructive then evoking the Code of Hammurabi in the most passive aggressive way possible.



Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article85851172.html#storylink=cpy

News of the T Shirt Front



I am super excited to announce I had a long talk with a great patriot over at Grunt Style, and soon we will have a custom Sipsey Street/III% design that you can purchase through their website.  We will hash out the details for the design, and I will let you know what comes of it.

A little about Grunt Style; it is a Veteran owned and operated small business that designs and manufactures exclusively in the USA.  I can personally attest to the quality of their products, (they  back up their work with an unlimited lifetime guarantee), and fully endorse this company as they have endorsed many Patriot causes and groups in the past.  Quite simply, it would be impossible to find a better outfit to make this happen.

In the future, we will still re-produce the original batch of the 100 Heads shirts as well as incorporate some of the incredible ideas that have been submitted.  I am still working out the bugs on finding a good source for that.

Click here for the link to Grunt Style.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

I couldn't resist

Don't worry, it took me a minute too.

The Third Rail Option

Not Gary Johnson


Is it me or is this guy the worst Libertarian ever? Because nothing says statist like forcing someone else to pay for weather.

Gary Johnson Backs CO2 ‘Fee’ To Fight Global Warming

The Daily Caller reports:

Libertarian Party presidential nominee and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson said he’s no skeptic of man-made global warming and endorsed a “fee” on carbon dioxide emissions.
“I do believe that climate change is occurring,” Johnson said. “I do believe that it is man-caused” and “that there can be and is a free-market approach to climate change.”
Johnson’s “free market” approach to global warming includes “a fee — not a tax, he said — placed on carbon” to make those who emit the greenhouse gas pay the supposed cost of their actions, according to the Juneau Empire.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Tacticool Tuesday - Lights prevent angels



Many of you train on your shooting skills, by shooting hundreds of stationary paper targets in lighted area with your bullets neatly stacked before you.  For anyone that owns a firearm, (or other defensive tool for that matter), how many of you have actually trained to clear a room in the event of a home invasion?  It seems pretty intuitive; you have a gun so you can defend your family and your property.  But how many have actually trained to protect them?  How many have trained at night?  How many know how many steps it takes from one obstacle to the next and where they are located? How high up are the light switches located?  Where are the mirrors?  Just like all things in training, when you train as you will fight, certain things become apparent.  One of these is the use of a light.

Before we go any further, please let me dispel one myth.  Unless your only defense is to sneak up on the bugler and attempt to give them a heart attack, use every opportunity to have to illuminate the area.  This means turning on lights, positioning lamps to your advantage or even having your spouse hold another light.  Despite your Youtube Academy credentials, you are not a Ninja, and when you are in your home, darkness is not your friend.  Yes, you can certainly barricade yourself in your room and call the police.  If you have little ones or if the good guys are too far or too busy to help you, this may not be an option.  To paraphrase an adage, failing to train, is training to fail.

Lights prevent angels

Lights and proper training could have prevented these types of senseless shootings:

Father Shoots Teen Daughter Mistaken for Intruder
Father 'shot dead teenage daughter he thought was a burglar'
Father mistakes son for burglar and accidentally shoots him during early-morning break-in

Clearing a house at night can be a tricky thing.  Is the noise you heard your teenage daughter sneaking back in?  Was it a raccoon that came in through a doggy door?  Or is it a Meth head looking to grab something quick to pawn?  Just like Coopers second and fourth rules, you must first identify your target before you pull the trigger.

The Two Schools

There are two schools of thought when it comes to lights and firearms: mounted on the gun or in your non-dominant hand.  I will list the advantages and disadvantages.

Weapon mounted
  •  When you reach for the weapon, everything is "in hand".  No fumbling around to get both your weapon and the light is needed. 
  •  Your free hand is needed to manipulate doors and move obstacles.  This is a huge advantage.
  •  You will have to train to prevent a "negligent discharge" of the light.  Some models are obviously better than others in this regard.
  •  Having a weapon mounted light is not binary; it is not one or the other.  You can still have a back up light.  
Flashlight in your non-dominant hand
  • There is less of a learning curve to prevent a "negligent discharge" of the light if you are sneaking around your apartment.
  • You can use the light as a striking weapon.
  • You can ditch the light if need be and still have the weapon in hand. This is important in a dark room as the assailant will more likely grab for the light if he is blinded, (it is the only thing they can see), then they will for the gun.
  • Due to its awkwardness, you will still need to train with the flashlight and weapon combo.  It is not intuitive.
I personally am a flashlight mounted kind of guy.  First off, my four year old loves to steal my flashlights for her own nefarious purposes.  For me, the deal breaker is the free hand to manipulate objects and turn on lights.  I had heard a rumor that when Larry Vickers remodeled his home, he had the light switches placed a couple of feet from the ground so he could turn them on with his knee when he cleared the room.  Use what you have available.

If you choose to have the light in your hand, either by design of your firearm or personal preference, this article gives you some alternate positions to use your light.  As with anything else, be wary of anyone that offers the "only solution".  Experts, if they call themselves that, come from thier own point of view that was developed over their experiences of what works and what does not.  Certain universal truths remain, (you have to be physically able to carry the fight to the enemy), but no doctrine is so flexible as to apply to every situation.  The first step is to get trained by a professional, and the next step is to train to your own situation, strengths, weaknesses, etc.

MORE LUMENS!!!

When it comes to your flashlights, certain things you will want to consider.  Availability and commonality of batteries, sound construction, positive or alternating types of on switches are all important.  Buy just like what type of caliber and ammunition you use, what comes out of the light is perhaps the greatest deal breaker when considering one model over the other.  Steamlight, Surefire, Pelican, Ezetta, Inova, etc. all make very fine lights.  What differentiates one over the other is the lumens or the brightness.  Bigger is better in this case.

The best defensive shooting is the one you do not have to make.  If the target is blinded, they cannot effectively fight back.  This may be enough to take the piss out of the perpetrator, or at least give him pause while you get yourself into a better position or buy needed moments until the Cavalry arrives.  As many police can attest to, more lumens means more effectiveness.  You do have the possibility of blinding yourself on reflective surfaces, but knowing where these potential hazards are will become evident in training.

If given the choice between the cute "compact ninja" model of 200 lumens and the slightly bulkier 600 to 2000 lumen lights, go with the bigger one.  You cant go wrong and you can always dress down with filters if need be.

Of course, you can own night vision and make this all largely a moot point.  You will, however, still need to train as if you do not have it.  Batteries die and equipment degrades.  Lights are pretty simple tools so the possibility of them going dead on you are significantly less.  Like it was observed in Fight Club, the survival rate of everything goes to zero on a long enough timeline.   So do you, if you are not careful.


Do you see the light?

Monday, August 22, 2016

Stop the madness

Tin foil hat alert

A very poorly made Memorandum for Record has been making its way around the patriot social media knitting circles. Some are even buying into its validity.  If I may, I would like to lay those fears to rest.


Let's start with what is wrong with this:
  1.  You do not send a division to train with a Memorandum for Record.  For the sake of argument, assuming 4th ID did it this way, the memorandum itself is so wrong it defies reason.  It is as if someone cracked upon Army Regulation 25-50 but did not know what to do from there.  
  2. No such animal as a 423rd Transportation Company.  Apparently, it does exist.  However, unless they are on some sort of standing Active Duty orders, I do not see how Division could directly task out the Reserve unit.  Different food chains.
  3. Again, assuming that this is a legit document, what the hell will the 2,255 personnel going to be doing?  A vague two line summary is not how the Army does business.  On anything. Ever.
  4. Who starts training on a Thursday?
  5. What the funk is training on a Forward Operating Base consist of?  Wearing PT belts to go eat and watching movies in the air conditioned MWR tent? A FOB is a place, not part of the Soldier Common Tasks.
  6. Why would you intentionally cut off the signature block in the picture?  That is like sending in the Declaration of Independence and cutting off who authorized it before they sent it to King George.
I have never been to Fort Carson, so I cannot speak to where it conducts its training.  This seems to be a moot point, however, because of the obvious garbage that the document is.

Seriously, I could go on, but what would be the point?  This is simply the latest in the long ling of dis-informative garbage that some people take as gospel to simply have something to talk about.  


Oh, yeah, what is the referenced bill?  Mr. Woody W. Woodward (W3) was so kind as to provide the leg work on digging it up.

H.R.2322 — 114TH CONGRESS REPT. 114–589
2d Session " HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ! Part 1
PUBLIC BUILDINGS REFORM AND SAVINGS ACT OF 2016

Authorizes: (1) the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to authorize contract security personnel to carry firearms, and (2) such personnel to detain individuals without a warrant. Directs DHS to establish minimum and uniform training standards for security personnel.
Directs DHS to report on: (1) the personnel needs of the Federal Protective Service (FPS), including recommendations on the numbers of FPS law enforcement officers needed to carry out the mission of FPS during the 10-year period after the enactment of this Act, and (2) the best method of funding for the FPS.
This is the cite for the report on 2016’s HR4487 which is the replacement bill for HR2322 of 2015. The best I can tell it’s been passed in the House and forwarded to the Senate. I’ve, so far, been unable to determine if it has passed the Senate. I am acquainted with an employee of DHS who has told me that the DHS has changed FPS contracted security guards’ badges to read something like “federal police officer” and that for all practical purposes the FPS guards stationed at social security offices and other federal offices are now police officers.
‘‘(1) AUTHORITIES FOR CONTRACT SECURITY PERSONNEL.— 
‘‘(A) CARRYING OF FIREARMS.—The Secretary may authorize contract security personnel engaged in the protection of buildings and grounds that are owned, occupied, or secured by the General Services Administration Public Buildings Service to carry firearms to carry out their official duties.
‘‘(B) DETENTION WITHOUT A WARRANT.—A person authorized to carry a firearm under this subsection may, while in the performance of, and in connection with, official duties, detain an individual without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in that person’s presence or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if that person has reasonable grounds to believe that the individual to be detained has committed or is committing such felony. The detention authority conferred by this paragraph is in addition to any detention authority provided under other laws.
Did you see anything in there about Martial Law?  Me neither,

Thus endeth the lesson.





Zeitgeist: Germans are being told to hoard for...reasons



In Germany, both the social and main stream medias have been alive with talk of recommending that citizens begin to gather in earnest the Government recommended two weeks worth of supplies for a potential bad day in the future.  News sources switch between outright saying it is for potential war, (though with whom is even more fuzzy). and being more pragmatic say it is simply for a natural disaster.  It should be noted that Germany is not exactly known for its catastrophic tornadoes or earthquakes, but it it certainly prudent advice none-the-less.

I could not find an official release from the German government which would have promoted this recent bout of panic buying.  From what I have been told, the last time that this was an issue was in 2005 during a mass power outage in certain areas of the country.

This summer has not been nearly as festive as it has been in the States in relation to its feral population, but it just may be that they are slow starters.  The Russians are still eyeballing Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, so there is that too.  Time, as they say, will tell.


Edit:
Finally, I have found an English version of the story.  This one comes from Deutche Welle.  

"A civil defense plan to be debated by the cabinet would require citizens to stockpile supplies in case of a catastrophe. The plan says people should prepare for an unlikely event that "could threaten our existence."

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to encourage its citizens to prepare for a catastrophe or armed attack by stockpiling food, water and other supplies, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" reported on Sunday.
Citing the government's "Concept for Civil Defense" paper to be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday, the government will require people to stock 10 days worth of food and five days of worth of drinking water.
The civil defense strategy would require citizens to have a sufficient supply of food, water, energy, money and medicine to wait out a period until the state would be able to initiate a response to a catastrophe or attack.
A spokesperson from the interior ministry declined to comment on the contents of the paper until a Wednesday press conference.
The 69-page report said an armed attack on Germany was unlikely. However, as a precaution people should "prepare appropriately for a development that could threaten our existence and cannot be categorically ruled out in the future," FAS quoted the report as saying.
The civil defense strategy was originally commission by a parliamentary committee in 2012, but its release comes amid a raft of new security measures in the country.




Bad Ass of the Week


Sunday, August 21, 2016

Sunday Jams - Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Now this is going to knock your socks off.







Saturday, August 20, 2016

Casting Call for New Sipsey and III% T-Shirts


After a ton of interest to resume the 100 Heads Insurance Co. T-Shirt sales and after the past couple of days worth of hobnobbing with my fellow conspirators, we have decided to kick this thing off again.  But instead of my untalented butt making the designs up, we decided it would be better to pool from among the community and see what we can come up with.  From what I have seen, the amount of talent in this commu ity is staggering and I know we have a ton of folks just sitting on designs.

Rules for submission:

The designs can be a simple text or graphics.  No real rules as to the content, other then that they have to be either original work or open source materiel.  Also, please keep it relatively PG13 clean.  Submit your design in a pdf or ppt format to sipseystreetirregularstshirt@gmail.com by September 2nd, 2016.

Gifts and Prizes

So what is in it for you other than the prestige and a lifetime's worth of III% street cred?  Well, I have had a couple of training vouchers and some loot to give out to the winners.  More will information will follow as to whom and how much.

Just a note though on what happens to the money:

I have not, nor will I ever, personally see a dime for anything generated from Sipsey Street Irregulars.  I don't do ad space and I like it that way.  I think you do too.  The link to Mike's paypal account will remain up in perpetuity, and all donations go directly to his widow.   The proceeds of the shirts will go to fund Patriot causes like smuggling magazines, funding Patriot events, etc.

Please keep in mind that submitting the designs or text, just like any other design contest, you will forfeit all claims of intellectual property.  The only people who will benefit from this will be other patriots.

Also, if you know of any small patriot run business that wouod do these shirts in batches, please let us know.  I would so much rather support the little guy than a Cafe Press.

Says a lot about the new polls



Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Another Awesome IIIper Piece


Many thanks to Eddy Belew for putting this together.

The way these are floating around EVERYWHERE, I am starting to see showcasing III% fan art as a regular thing on SSI.  This is just goes to show you the power of the message.

TOWR sends: Leaderless Resistance

Revisiting a Co-Opted Concept

In 1992, white supremacist and former KKK leader Louis Beam wrote an article for his fringe publication The Seditionist titled “Leaderless Resistance.” (We will not link to Beam’s work or to any of the sites that feature it.) Though the concept was not originally his, he popularized the idea and in doing so, he became inexorably linked with the phrase. A simple web search shows that Beam’s name is as synonymous with that concept as the brand Kleenex is to facial tissue. Interestingly enough, leaderless resistance was initially designed by an intelligence officer to fight Communism. Beam simply co-opted and adapted the idea.

Beam’s politics and belief system, however, are the antithesis of liberty and what we as three-percenters believe; no patriot who identifies with the III% or with the concept of liberty could ever view white supremacy doctrine as anything less than horrifying. In addition, Beam’s quest for government overthrow goes against the III% Creed.

In short, there is nothing about Louis Beam’s white supremacist, anti-government philosophy, doctrine, or belief system that we identify with in any form or fashion.

To make it even more clear:
  • TOWR does not advocate or agree with the armed “preemptive” overthrow of government.
  • TOWR does not advocate or agree with the “first strike” concept of offensive violence toward government officials or law enforcement. In fact, TOWR will stand to defend any law enforcement officers who suffer reprisals for honoring the rights of the citizens.
  • TOWR does not advocate or agree with the targeting of innocents at any time or for any reason.
  • TOWR does not advocate or agree with the use of violence except in a defensive capacity to prevent imminent physical harm to one’s person, family or property, or the defense of innocents.
You’ve seen us use the term “leaderless resistance.” We accept that there are connotations within that many find unpalatable. In fact, leaderless resistance is seen as a concept “which encourages small, independent cells to commit violent acts.” That was not, is not, and will never be our intent.

In fact, let us repeat that. That was not, is not, and will never be our intent. In hindsight, the phrase itself does not even accurately explain what we are about; since we are just beginning, what better time than now to explain and clarify before pushing forward?

A better way of describing what we are preparing for, training for, studying for would be “open source insurgency,” along the lines of what Mike Vanderboegh wrote about in 2012.

The reason I’m so particular about allies and principles is that what we must attempt, should we ever face more tyranny from the Feds, is an open source insurgency, which is to say, many small-scale, local fights with national, even international, principles. Some call it “leaderless resistance” but that is not true. We must be led, but by principle. And only 4th Generation Warfare which targets policymakers — and policymakers only, not their families or other innocents — will win.
Leaderless resistance as explained by Beam focuses on the problems with a traditional “pyramid” leadership model. Military units (and by extension, nearly every militia unit and patriot group currently out there in the open) operate with it. The inherent problems with this model should be evident. They are susceptible to infiltration, ego, power grabs, and internal conflicts that tear them into pieces…which is exactly what the Feds want. The bigger and more public the group, the easier it is to tear apart or infiltrate and destroy. By nature, however, many patriots want to make big groups, multi-state groups, groups with hierarchies and impressive member lists and roll calls and public deployments and loud, outspoken leaders that get a lot of media attention—and want more. In fact, we were ourselves members of one of those groups…and we watched it fail for all the reasons mentioned above.

O’Ryan, writing in a comment on an SSI article in 2010, pinpointed another reason why the organized militia units are by nature ineffective:
Militia culture focuses on the kinetic activities, not the quieter domains of intelligence, perception management and clandestine operations. Most militia (and I use the term broadly) think in terms of fighting a II or III GEN war, not in terms of modern insurgency. Militias have no real influence operations or the intelligence apparatus to drive them…[…] The militias need more intelligence training and application. Low-level HUMINT, analysis, Close Target Reconnaissance and HUMINT enabled SIGINT and less talk radio. Mark Koernke is not an intelligence source and military publications are written for an audience with a large supporting infrastructure. There is plenty of information available for militias to develop really a spectacular intelligence capability, but the militias, for a variety of reasons, have not matured to this.
Because militias lack basic HUMINT capability, they lack basic HUMINT knowledge and are unable to perform counter-intelligence. There are no fine grained background checks to vet prospective applicants—ensuring that the Opposition can always stay inside their OODA loop. There is no Intelligence Preparation of the Environment to develop the intelligence fabric for operations. Because of this, the militias are always several moves behind while the Opposition is always several moves ahead. The militias cannot “detect” the Opposition let alone “finish” them.
His next words are what drive the point home.
I’ve met a few individual actors that understand this. Some have interesting military backgrounds, others are entirely self-taught and to good effect. They don’t get involved in militias because militias are a giant boy’s club with OPSEC problems. Further, militias just don’t want to learn anything that would upset their self image of modern Minutemen fighting with honor on some contemporary Breed’s Hill.
The Opposition is allot more cutthroat. Plus they do intelligence very well—as we have seen with the Oppositions use of informants (or ‘sources’ in the HUMINT lexicon).
Until the militias develop a functional intelligence capability, they will never be a fighting force.
Enter the leaderless resistance redux, or the preparation for open source insurgency—and, by the way, the purpose of the Order of the White Rose.

We are not wholly leaderless, for we are led by principles. We are not violent; we seek peace and liberty. We are not offensive, but defensive. However, we are also not a II or III Generation militia unit. We are not a Constitutional task force. We are training for whatwill be, not what was and has been before.

And we are determined to win.

Long live Freedom!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Tacticool Tuesday - Everything you would ever want to know, ever, about Night Vision Devices

I know this is going to seem lame by comparison to some other better researched posts, but rest assured that these guy can speak volumes better than I ever could about the subject.

The only thing that I can add to it is that 1. Never pay full price for anything. and 2. NVGs are the single biggest individual force multiplier you can have but it should never come at the expense of your bullets, beans, and band aid stash.

1.  Read this primer by ITS Tactical

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: A Comprehensive Intro to Night Vision Devices


2.  Watch this podcast as it goes into the minutia of night vision devices and accessories, and answers some frequently answered questions. 



Monday, August 15, 2016

A Homework Assignment

As I am sure many of you know, the email and home addresses of many Democratic party staffers have been leaked.  This presents us with a wonderful opportunity to speak directly with men and women behind the men and women that represent you on Capitol Hill.  These are the gatekeepers of the Representatives and the same people that write the legislation to cut away at the very rights that were passed down through centuries,  They pick the winners or losers of a debate.  These are the deaf ears that your cries for "not one more inch" have fallen.  What will you tell them now?

What will you tell them?

I suggest educating them on the errors of legislatively backing a people up to a wall.  You can tell them that you will not be disenfranchised anymore.  Let them know of the ruinous foreign and domestic policies have only created unending poverty and conflict.  Let them know what their illegal immigration policies have cost you or about the elections they have stolen.  You can send them a copy of the III% Catechism and Valediction to let them know who you are.  There will be no Fort Sumter's on our part but there will be a genuine refusal to obey unjust laws.  You can send them your latest range card or target score cards.  You can let them know that their small tyrannies will be answered.

If nothing else.. let them know that the 100 Heads Life Insurance Company sends its regards.

Click on this link to see who you can tell.



For the benefit of our new Three Percenters - Welcome

I am seeing a trend of people that are familiar with the III% and even this blog, but that are not familiar with the concepts of the movement or why it was started.  

Don't mistake me, I think this is absolutely wonderful.  It means that more people are coming here for the first time and that means that new eyes are being opened.  This is my one goal: seeing the movement grow to dizzying heights and still remain true to the founding principles.

To that end, I am reposting "A Brief Three Percent Catechism -- A discipline not for the faint-hearted."


Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life. -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 5 (quoting John Paul II).
Wikipedia tells us that "in the early church, new converts . . . were instructed (catechized) in the basic elements of the faith such as the Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, and sacraments in preparation for baptism." Although I'm a Baptist, this always struck me as a useful tool to make sure that all of the folks who professed a creed actually understood the faith. Catechism hardly contains all the elements of a particular belief system, but it puts the newbie on the right path of study. I have been convinced for some time that the Three Percent needed a catechism of our own, since there are a number of folks who seem to want to reinterpret (if not hijack) the original concept for their own purposes. To quote Obi Wan Kenobi, "It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it!"
The Three Percent idea, the movement, the ideal, was designed to be a simple, powerful concept that could not be infiltrated or subjected to agents provocateurs like many organizations that I observed in the constitutional militia movement of the 90s. In this I was both correct and dead wrong, as I have been battling folks almost since the beginning who have misunderstood, deliberately or not, what the Three Percent was in history, what it is today and what its aims are for the future.
What is a "Three Percenter"?
During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King's tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists. They were in turn actively supported by perhaps 10% of the population. In addition to these revolutionaries were perhaps another 20% who favored their cause but did little or nothing to support it. Another one-third of the population sided with the King (by the end of the war there were actually more Americans fighting FOR the King than there were in the field against him) and the final third took no side, blew with the wind and took what came.
Three Percenters today do not claim that we represent 3% of the American people, although we might. That theory has not yet been tested. We DO claim that we represent at least 3% of American gun owners, which is still a healthy number somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million people. History, for good or ill, is made by determined minorities. We are one such minority. So too are the current enemies of the Founders' Republic. What remains, then, is the test of will and skill to determine who shall shape the future of our nation.
The Three Percent today are gun owners who will not disarm, will not compromise and will no longer back up at the passage of the next gun control act. Three Percenters say quite explicitly that we will not obey any further circumscription of our traditional liberties and will defend ourselves if attacked. We intend to maintain our God-given natural rights to liberty and property, and that means most especially the right to keep and bear arms. Thus, we are committed to the restoration of the Founders' Republic, and are willing to fight, die and, if forced by any would-be oppressor, to kill in the defense of ourselves and the Constitution that we all took an oath to uphold against enemies foreign and domestic.
The Doctrine of the Three Percent in a few sentences.
The Three Percent are the citizens the Founders counted on to save the Republic when everyone else abandoned it. And we will. There will be no more free Wacos and no more free Katrinas. For we are the Three Percent. We will not disarm. You cannot convince us. You cannot intimidate us. You can kill us, if you think you can. But remember, we’ll shoot back. We are not going away. We are not backing up another inch. And there are THREE MILLION OF US. The next move, if any, is up to the aspiring tyrants among the domestic enemies of the Constitution.
This is not to say that all politics, even in the rigged, corrupt game played by both political parties today, is futile. It isn't. The Founders did not cede that ground to the forces of the King until forced to do so and we must not. Indeed, this is one way that we make the local contacts and build the local networks so key to the Founders' concepts of the militia as the guardian of, and the true expression of the will of, the people. There is a place then, for all who adopt the Three Percent ideal, regardless of age, sex, fitness, infirmity. Resistance is an expression of a determined minority, but that minority comes from everywhere and contributes what it can, where it can.
One other point. The Three Percent idea, being an idea, is internalized and finds expression in action when required without any top-down organization issuing orders. This was on perfect display at the Bundy Ranch stand-off when Three Percenters from everywhere flocked on their own to the Bundy's defense, interposing themselves between the Bundys and the Feds. No call was issued, they just came because they understood the concept of "No More Free Wacos." The Feds were shocked -- first into inaction and then into retreat. Indeed, the Bundy confrontation may be seen as the proof of the successful weaponizing of the idea of the Three Percent.
The Three Percent as a modern expression of the Founder's model.
The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end why they chuse and authorize a legislative, is, that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society, to limit the power, and moderate the dominion, of every part and member of the society: for since it can never be supposed to be the will of the society, that the legislative should have a power to destroy that which every one designs to secure, by entering into society, and for which the people submitted themselves to legislators of their own making; whenever the legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence. -- John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, Chapter XIX, Of the Dissolution of Government, Sec. 222, 1690.
The Founders, it must be remembered, thought of themselves as Englishmen who were merely seeking their rights under the English Constitution from the depredations of a corrupt monarchy and its ministers. In this they were guided by the philosophy of John Locke's social contract theory. Locke declared that under natural law, all people have the right to life, liberty, and estate, further, under the social contract, the people could resist the government by force of arms when it acted against the interests of citizens and could replace it with one that served the interests of citizens. Such armed resistance, in Locke's mind, was an obligation which acted as a safeguard against tyranny. The language and reasoning of the Declaration of independence come straight from Locke.
Not only is the moral basis of the modern-day Three Percent movement the same as that of the Founders, but the tactics and strategy of resistance that was used by them, including the Sons of Liberty, the Committees of Correspondence and Safety and the Minutemen, are fully applicable to today's struggle. First, as I wrote over six years ago, Three Percenters recognize that with such a declaration of resistance comes responsibility:
"Take not counsel of your fears." In the coming period many rumors will sweep the blogosphere. Imminent danger will perceived from a million different directions. But here is how we should conduct ourselves.
"Wilson, I'm a damned sight smarter man than Grant; I know more about organization, supply and administration and about everything else than he does, but I'll tell you where he beats me and where he beats the world. He don't care a damn for what the enemy does out of his sight but it scares me like hell." -- William Tecumseh Sherman as recalled by James Harrison Wilson, in Under the Old Flag.
Now Sherman wasn't saying that Grant should fail to seek through intelligence-gathering or scouting what the dispositions and the intentions of the enemy were. He was saying that you don't let your fears affect how you fight the enemy in front of you. Sherman also recalled that Grant worried less about what the enemy was going to do him and more about what HE was going to do the the enemy. As Three Percenters, we must only react to what we see and know and not some rumored threat. Above all, we must not lose our cool. We must always remain under control, and ready.
We must not react to, or repeat, disinformation, for this is the principal way the domestic enemies of the Constitution have used to discredit us over the years. As Three Percenters we must always be the adults in the room. We do not have the luxury of reacting out of emotion, fear or hatred. This is made easier by the discipline of building deterrence.
Again, from six years ago:
Work on the credibility of your deterrence. Deterrence only works if it's credible. We must ready ourselves for whatever comes. That means training, physical fitness, building up logistical bases, more training, marksmanship competence, organization, more logistics, more training.
We have our enemy's promises that they will negate any possibility of our using the standard methods of politics against them. They have won the "majority vote" decision. Fine. But if we are to avoid conflict, we must convince them of how little this actually buys them in the way of power. We do that by building up the armed citizenry, one three-man buddy team, one six-man fire team and one squad at a time. Don't advertise. Friends and neighbors will do nicely. And remember, you're doing this in case the deterrence doesn't work. This is as real as it gets, folks. Act like it.
This is a major component of the discipline of the Three Percent. If you are focused on readiness you will be less likely to jump at shadows, less likely to take counsel of your fears. When in doubt about what is going on around you, train, organize, forge yourself and your teams into the sort of "well regulated militia" the Founders first created in the period leading up to 19 April 1775 and then later codified in the Second Amendment.
"Don't fire unless fired upon." -- Captain John Parker, Lexington Minutemen, 19 April 1775.
As Three Percenters we are bound by an ironclad commitment to no first use of force. We call this, "No Fort Sumters." From six years ago:
No "Fort Sumters." This means exactly and precisely what it says. We must not fire first.
Neither were the leaders of the Confederacy eager to start a war. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, sitting in their offices in Montgomery (Alabama), much preferred to negotiate until they got their way. They always had, after all. In fact, Southerners in general considered Northerners to be incapable of standing up to them. They had seceded thinking the North would "just let them go." Should it come to civil war they were confident that the great European powers, desperately needing cotton for their mills, would intervene on the side of the Confederacy. The one possibility the South never considered was the one that actually happened: that the North would actually fight an all out civil war rather than let the Union be shattered and that England and France would not come to the aid of the South. Lincoln's adroit handling of the matter left Montgomery with few choices. If they attacked Fort Sumter, they'd lose both their moral high ground and their Northern allies. -- Joe Wheeler, Abraham Lincoln, Howard Books, 2008
We don't fire first, nor second, nor perhaps even third. This does not mean we can't defend ourselves. We must.
What it does mean is that the rest of don't react until everyone understands that it is collective self-defense. We must not cede the moral high ground.
If the Confederacy had not fired on Sumter, what would Lincoln have done? Whatever it was would have cost him the moral high ground and political legitimacy. And for the brave new world of imperial presidency that he was embarked upon, that might have led to an entirely different result. Division in the North, perhaps even impeachment. It is our enemies who are the revolutionists and the aggressors.
Take a stand on familiar ground and their appetites will do the rest. They will come to us. Just be ready. Then when it is apparent, ACT, at once and collectively, on familiar ground of our own choosing and in enlightened self-defense on a large scale seeking only the criminally culpable.
This absolute tenet of the Three Percent concept comes in for the most criticism from those who would have someone (someone, significantly, NOT themselves) take the first shot out of fear or other motives which may or may not be their own. It is in the interest of the domestic enemies of the Constitution to get us to go to proactive violence. The solution then is to refuse to do so. Their own tyrannical hungers combined with impatience at our defiance, like that of the Founders', will in time force them to cede this vital point or, far less likely, to give up the game. But it must be their choice and their action. Again, here it is vital not to take counsel of your fears and to assign some supernatural powers to the enemies of liberty. They cannot sweep down and bag the lot of us, as some Chicken Littles fear. We have them out-numbered by a long shot. If some of us are killed to make the point that THEY are the aggressors in Locke's "war against against the people," then we must recognize that this is what we signed up for when we took our oaths.
The other moral absolute that you sign on to when you become a Three Percenter is no targeting of innocents. We call this "No Oklahoma City bombings." And this includes the innocents who make up the non-combatants on the enemy's side. If you claim to fight monsters, it is important not to become one yourself. They target innocents in retributive terror operations like Waco, we do not. We are also criticized by some for this "weakness." It is, rather, not only a strength but our greatest strength. It is what defines us as defenders of liberty and the people. It is also what the tyrants most fear -- if innocents are taken off the target list, only the guilty remain. And the one thing the war-makers and decision-takers of tyranny fear is a Fourth Generation civil war targeted solely and precisely at THEIR miserable existence. It is the only thing they cherish, the only real thing they believe in -- their own existence and the power that existence gives them to feed their hunger off other people's liberty, property and lives. If the order-givers start to disappear, through death or desertion, the orders do NOT get given. With no Eichmanns to make up the schedules, no cattle cars depart to the East for "Arbeit Macht Frei." This strategy also takes advantage of our greatest strength -- our rifle marksmanship. The accurate rifle in the handle of a trained marksman is our "precision guided munition." Millions of such rifles, properly targeted, by people with the will to use them, amounts to utter defeat for any would-be tyranny, and death for any would-be tyrant.
These four principles -- moral strength, physical readiness, no first use of force and no targeting of innocents -- are the hallmarks of the Three Percent ideal. Anyone who cannot accept them as a self-imposed discipline in the fight to restore the Founders' Republic should find something else to do and cease calling themselves a "Three Percenter."
This is by no means a complete exploration of the subject and I will have more as time progresses. I invite comment and criticism.
Mike Vanderboegh, 29 June 2014.

If ever there was a case to be a Prepper


Starting your week off right

Badass of the Week




.........

"Funk, of course, wasn't going to quit just because he'd single-handedly captured an entire town and its garrison with just thirty non-combatants, and he immediately left the eighty POWs under guard of four armed Americans and pressed on with his attack.  While he was out beating people to death with anything larger than a two-by-four, however, a group of Germans in arctic camouflage snuck back into the town Funk had just captured, overwhelmed the American guards, and freed the recently-captured POWs. Funk and one of his men returned to their camp to find a hundred cranky Germans waving guns in his face, and a Nazi officer pointing at Luger in his face from point-blank range."

Sunday, August 14, 2016

The Core Principles of the III%

Feel free to distribute.


Anyone grab this before it was pulled?

You know, for educational purposes and such.

Hacker Publishes List Of Cell Phone Numbers, Private E-Mails For Most House Democrats


"After disappearing for a couple of weeks, the hacker “Guccifer 2.0” returned late this afternoon to provide a new headache for Democrats"
"In a post to his WordPress blog, the vandal--who previously provided nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee e-mails to Wikileaks--uploaded an Excel file that includes the cell phone numbers and private e-mail addresses of nearly every Democratic member of the House of Representatives."
"The Excel file also includes similar contact information for hundreds of congressional staff members (chiefs of staff, press secretaries, legislative directors, schedulers) and campaign personnel."
"In announcing the leak of the document, “Guccifer 2.0” reported that the spreadsheet was stolen during a hack of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “As you see I wasn’t wasting my time! It was even easier than in the case of the DNC breach,” the hacker wrote."
"Along with the Excel file, “Guccifer 2.0” also uploaded documents that included the account names and passwords for an assortment of subscription services used by the DCCC, from Lexis-Nexis to Glenn Beck’s web site (password: nutbag)."



Tributes

If this past week has shown me anything, it is the dictum of it being better to be despised by the despicable than admired by the admirable actually may be false.  Well, perhaps at least it should come with a caveat that being admired by the admirable is an awesome thing to behold.  The outpouring of support from those that knew Mike and those that he affected has been overwhelming to say the very least.  I was unable to fly in for the funeral but I understand that there was a good many III% folks that showed up.  This is quite astonishing given the very short notice of the event.  Ken Lane over at Knuckledraggin gives us a short synopsis of the event.

Online and around the blogopheres support has continued to pour in.  Some from unlikely sources.

The Kansas City Star reporter, Judy Thomas, had contacted Mike months ago, (if memory serves it was around April), to produce a news story of his life and publish it upon his death.  This article was vetted and sanctioned by Mike, warts and all.  I was initially incredulous to the adding of SPLC semi-pro B.S. artist Mark Pitcavage as a source, but in a certain point of view it was appropriate if you want to look at Mike's life in the full spectrum.  The Old Man was good with it, so I am good with it.

David Codrea was, quite appropriately, the first blog to publish the notification of Mike's death: Freedom Movement Loses Important Voice with Passing of Mike Vanderboegh

In the article, David outlines some of Mikes accomplishments and his career in the Patriot Movement.  As a very close friend and associate, he was able to interact with Mike in a way that I could not.

Mr. Codrea observed:
"It’s also true he could at times be impulsive in his response to perceived injustices. There are more affronts to liberty and wrongs to right than any of us could hope to even hear about, let alone do anything about. When one came across Mike’s transom, he was on it like a pit bull, even if already overburdened – and that tendency was something he would not ease up on until the weakness of the flesh stripped him of any choice – and even then he would do what he could to defy."
Another longtime friend, Herschel Smith from the Captains Blog had a very poignant and touching viewpoint in "Remembering Mike Vanderboegh"
"I’ve heard it said that such-and-such a man had “redeeming qualities.” Hogwash. Men don’t have redeeming qualities. Men are themselves redeemed, or they are lost. The God-man Christ Jesus saves men or they perish without Christ but with all of the punishments due to them, and all men are under judgment."
"That’s the sweet thing about Mike. He knew this, and he believed it. Mike didn’t do a single thing to redeem himself, but he trusted Christ and the vicarious atonement for his very life. That means that it was a life well-lived. Everything else is wasted."
"But if man cannot redeem himself, that doesn’t mean he cannot redeem what’s around him by taking dominion of the world for God’s glory. Mike did exactly that, and today he is in heaven with his Lord. I don’t believe in the phrase “rest in peace” (and Isaiah 57:2 isn’t discussing ethereal floating of one’s spirit for eternity). I also don’t believe that man’s body cools to ambient temperature and that’s the end. Mike didn’t believe that either." 
III% news aggregation point, and another longtime friend, WRSA, had some excellent comments.  Thank you all for that incredible grassroots tribute.

On Facebook, I could not appropriately begin to describe the level of support the family has received from that community.  I am humbled that Mike's message of the III percent and teachings had been so pervasive.  What an honor it is to continue to push the reach of the message further than it ever has been before.  I am very proud that the social media referrals have effectively eclipsed and even doubled my Google site referrals.  It is only through the high engagement of the supporters there that this has been possible.

Sharyl Attkisson, fellow conspirator of the Fast and Furious scandal, had this to say in her post "Fast and Furious blogger Vanderboegh passes away"
"In my early interactions with Vanderboegh, he was patient and rightly skeptical. To him, I was the liberal, know-nothing press. He had terse dealings with other reporters. (He told one national reporter to f-off when the reporter “asked for the names and phone numbers of all my sources so he could contact them”). I knew little of guns and gun laws, and was not working from a pro-gun rights position, as he was. I saw it as a story of government misdeeds and corruption. He came to see my point of view and thought there was value in helping out. He encouraged ATF agents to speak to me and provide information. Some of those relationships continue today."
"So today, a nod to Vanderboegh and a moment to recognize his role in stopping a deadly practice that the government first denied, then later acknowledged. The gunwalking is responsible for many deaths, the government still won’t disclose how many, but surely many other deaths were prevented by the story being exposed and the practice being stopped."
Another tribute that came quite unexpectedly was that of Sebastian, NRA apologist, at the Pagunblog (formerly of "Snowflakes in Hell").  From a cursory internet search, the last public discussion was in 2015 in a Sipsey post defending Texas Open Carry

His article, simply titled "Mike Vanderboegh Dies" was as magnanimous as it was simple.  
"I had come to appreciate that regardless of whatever disagreements I may have had with Mike Vanderboegh strategically, he was quite a powerful public speaker and organizer (organizing gun owners is herding cats on a good day), in the way I could never hope to match. His work with David Codrea to break open Fast and Furious turned out to be top notch citizen journalism, despite a lot of initial skepticism. It was fine enough work that others in the media lined up to take credit and cash in."
"I will always think of him any time I put on my big Russian hat to go shovel the driveway."
Much to my surprise and delight, the best and most well known of the Mike Vanderboegh tribute articles came from his long time sparring partners, the Southern Poverty Law Center.  There is something to be said for having your enemies write your eulogy.

It starts out with a dramatic, salacious, bold sub-headline:
"Michael Brian Vanderboegh, who rose from the 1990s militia ranks to become the angry, vocal co-founder of the extremist, pro-gun III Percent movement, using an Internet blog to promote his antigovernment views, has died." 
I am positively bumfuzzled as to whom this other co-founder person or persons could be.  I am also left wondering after their candidate loses the election, how quickly they will go from "you must support your president and government" back to demanding that "dissent is patriotic".  They are nothing if not dependable in their hypocrisy.

On a whole, the article is filled with a laundry list of striking back at the empire.  One of which is an amusing anecdote of when he sent a plastic skull to self-proclaimed "militia expert" Mark Potok.  If I was told about this, perhaps I had forgotten it, but it did illustrate the creative lengths that the Old Man went to consistently jab at his enemies.  He was a master at riding straight up to the line and going an inch over to see what they would do.  Every time he did, they did nothing but howl loudly from their keyboards. A lesson could be learned here.

I found it curious that Kerodin did get an honorable mention of a couple of lines.  For all of the chest pounding and the division that was made between those two, if Kerodin is ever mentioned at all in future, it will always be as a minor footnote to the much better man.  

Several other "left" leaning articles seemed to parrot the SPLC language at least in part.

ABC, Yahoo, and AL.com, quite the lazy journalists, simply played the good parrot and re-posted the SPLC article.  Boring, but the AL.com comments are pretty good.  ABC got his age wrong but gets points for at least spelling the name right.  You have to just see the silver lining with some people.

Idavox (whatever that is) said quite simply Mike Vanderboegh, Rot in Hell!.  Oh my.  Dread indeed.  Mike would be proud for that indictment.  Despised by the despicable and such.

As for me?  I find that where I thought I had reached acceptance, I am struggling a bit now that the man is gone and his funeral complete.  After such a long illness that took him down below 75 pounds and robbed him of even the ability to speak, I can see that it was a mercy.  He needed to transition and the family needed to move on.  I still find it difficult that I cannot pick up the phone, as I did so infrequently, and talk for a bit.

While I cannot lift up the phone, my father left me with an incredible network of experts and allies that, combined, has been everything and more that I could need.  Other than this blog, that has been the best thing that I could have been heir to.  I am incredibly grateful that he thought that I was capable to take the mantle of this blog on and help grow the movement that he fought so hard to create.  I will continue to endeavor to let neither you nor he down.

The life of the dead is placed in the memories of the living. - Cicero

Edit:  I was not familiar with the piece that was run in the American Thinker until I started looking at the blog stats.  For some reason that was not coming up the Google queries.  The tribute is a very honest look at the man and well worth the look.


Sunday Jams - A Farewell


Thursday, August 11, 2016