Willow Hand (The rider, not the horse.)
Adequan Global Dressage Festival
Wellington, Florida
Congratulations!
*************************************************************************
Greetings Sheepdogs,
"Mexico!" by John Farnam
"Don't have a gun? Buy one.
Don't know How to use it? Learn.
Don't believe in guns? Get ready to hide behind someone who does."
-- Charlie Daniels
Table of Contents:
Software --
Prevention
Mindset
Situational Awareness
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
Intervention
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
Postvention
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
Education
Legal
Instruction
Hardware --
Gear
Intelligence --
Signals Intelligence
Cryptology
Religion and Politics --
"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
-- Thomas Jefferson
*************************************************************************
I love dressage.
A couple of years ago my sister, brother-in-law and I went to the Nationals in Kentucky.
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Prevention ***** ***** *****
Things you can do to avoid the lethal force incident.
“To those who have fought for it,
freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know.”
― P. McCree Thornton
Table of sections:
Mindset
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Mindset and Attitude --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct way to think.
“Your character is what you do when no one is looking.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
Figuring out how to think.
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
ISBN-10 : 9781451673319
ISBN-13 : 978-1451673319
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
ISBN-10 : 0060850523
ISBN-13 : 978-0060850524
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell
ISBN-10 : 9780451526342
“You need to have the capacity for danger. You need to be ‘dangerous’.
Yet, you need to learn how to not use it except when necessary.
And, that is not the same thing as being harmless.
There's nothing virtuous about harmlessness.
Harmless just means you’re ineffectual and useless.”
-- Jordan Peterson
"Establishing Home Defense Thresholds
Giving yourself time to assess the threat"
by Shawn Vincent
---
"Byron David Smith Part 1: The Limits of Home Defense" by Shawn Vincent
"Byron David Smith Part 2: Prairie Justice" by Shawn Vincent
"Byron David Smith Part 3: Deterring Home Intrusions" by Shawn Vincent
You would never do anything like this.
But if you did, you wouldn't talk to your neighbor about the incident,
and you would never turn recordings over to the police.
You would keep your mouth shut. You would immediately call your attorney.
“The Man in the Arena”
by Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), 26th President of the United States
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who
does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat.”
“I am merely competent.
But in an age of incompetence,
that makes me extraordinary!”
-- Billy Joel
---
"Three?" by John Farnam
Excerpts:
"LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) are paid to seek-out, pursue, contact,
confront, and sometimes arrest dangerous/unstable people. They do this,
so the rest of us don’t have to!"
[Whereas (as the civilian defender) your duty is to escape and allow the escape
of your loved ones. Huge difference. But not understood outside of the well
trained community. -- Jon Low]
"When suspects (wounded or not) decide to run away, let them!"
[In the Marine Corps, we were taught to never take prisoners. Let them run
away. Because you don't have the personnel to guard prisoners, you can't feed
them, provide medical for them, or anything else required by the Geneva
Convention or laws of war. If, on the other hand, they are running away with
their weapons, they are retreating which is a tactical maneuver, not surrender.
Shoot them in the back, because they still pose a threat.]
---
“Personal competence gives one a secure sense of identity.”
--Mary Louise Kelly
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
"Irony!" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
“Irony is wasted on the stupid.”
-- Oscar Wilde
"Your gunfights will always be anomalies.
So are those of all the instructors you venerate.
It’s useful to keep those facts in mind."
-- Greg Ellifritz
"Recovering the Lost Art of Diplomacy" by A. Wess Mitchell
Important to keep in mind when attempting to talk your way out of a lethal force
incident.
‷If you look at someone bigger, faster, and stronger and immediately think,
‶I'm at a disadvantage″,
I have news for you: you are.
But that's only because you just put yourself there for no reason.
The truth is that anyone can do debilitating violence to anyone else.
Your size, your speed, your strength, your gender --
all the factors that untrained people think make the difference when it comes to violence --
all matter far less than your mindset and your intent.‴
-- Tim Larkin
"Current citizens often falsely assume that the revolutionary generation
in the colonies was unlearned and uninformed. Neither is true."
-- Linda Moss Mines
"America 250: European Thought Influences Colonies" by Linda Moss Mines
Excerpt:
"By 1760 — the time of the French and Indian War — the English colonies
boasted one of the highest literacy rates in the world. White males in New England
read and wrote at a 90-95% rate, while Southern rates were a bit lower at 70%.
Females, equally and perhaps even more responsible for educating their children
in the “ways of faith,” were estimated to have a literary rate of 60-65% across
the colonies."
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and
evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -- Jeff Cooper
"Your life is as good as your mindset." -- Nicola Cavanis
"Safe gun handling and knowing how to operate the gun competently is one thing.
How to fight with the gun is a whole other plane of knowledge."
-- Tiger McKee
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist.
Children already know that dragons exist.
Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
-- G.K. Chesterton
‟If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it.
The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury.
Therefore what he must fear is his victim.
It is high time for society to stop worrying about the criminal,
and to let the criminal start worrying about society.
And by "society" I mean you.”
-- Col. Jeff Cooper, "Principles of Personal Defense"
"Be so focused on watering your grass that
you don't have time to check if someone else's is greener."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Before all else, be armed." -- Nicolo Machiavelli
‟Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice.”
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, U.S. Navy
"I do not carry a pistol so that I may impose my will on others.
I carry a pistol so that others may not impose their will on me."
-- Tom Givens
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
--Benjamin Franklin
"The line between everyday life and sudden violence is thinner than most realize."
-- Tim Larkin
“You can’t truly call yourself ‘peaceful’ unless you are capable of great violence.
If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Important distinction.”
-- Stef Starkgaryen
"Superior judgment trumps superior skills." -- Dan Millican
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Situational Awareness --------------------------------
How to avoid being taken by surprise.
"Many people don't realize that your awareness skills
are more important than your marksmanship skills.
Well, you can't shoot something you don't know is there,
or don't know it needs to be shot!" -- Tom Givens
"Your Mind is Your Weapon: Mastering Situational Awareness" by Rev. Kenn Blanchard
Hat tip to Docent.
Excerpt:
"Carrying a concealed weapon is not just about having the right firearm;
it’s about being able to transition instantly from a passive state to full combat readiness."
"Jeff Cooper's Color Code exists to help you get your head
around the need to kill someone in the immediate future."
-- John Hearne
---
Jeff Cooper's Color Code of Mental Awareness
UNAWARE - of what's going on around you. (White)
AWARE - of who is around you and what they are doing. (Yellow)
ALERT - to a POTENTIAL threat and taking action to avoid the threat. (Orange)
ALARM - by a REAL threat and taking action to escape the threat,
which might include shooting to PREVENT the attack. (Red)
COMBAT - front sight, press. Shooting to STOP the attack. (Black)
---
The colors are meaningless, requiring a level of indirection.
So you should use meaningful words instead. So the student doesn't
have to decode the meaning of the color. Using insider jargon is WRONG!
---
"Jargon Does not Equal Expertise"
-- Rick Billington
"How to improve your situational awareness with natural threat detection mechanisms"
by Patrice Bonnafoux
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"An officer may be forgiven for losing a battle,
but never for being taken by surprise."
-- Jeff Cooper
Zugzwang is a thing. But with situational awareness, you can avoid it.
*************************************************************************
This is what comes of hanging out with jumpers.
(They don't jump in dressage.)
The Colonel was telling me his daughter jumps.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Safety --------------------------------
How to prevent the bad thing from happening in the first place.
How to avoid shooting yourself, friendlies, and innocent bystanders.
How to prevent unauthorized persons from using your guns.
Jeff Cooper′s Rules of Gun Safety
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED.
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING
THAT YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY.
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER
UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET.
---
RULE V: Maintain control of your gun. -- Stephen P. Wenger
By creating and adhering to systems, we prevent negative outcomes.
"He Shot Himself" by CarryTrainer
"You brought a gun to the fight. That doesn’t mean it’s YOUR gun.
The gun belongs to whomever can keep it. Think about that before
intervening in other folks’ problems. When is the last time you practiced
your in-hand weapon retention skills?"
-- Greg Ellifritz
---
When was the last time you practiced your in-holster weapon retention skills?
Have you taken a class to learn such techniques?
-- Jon Low
---
". . . if the assailant has a gun, it may actually be the easiest
gun for you to access, if you know how to take it from him."
-- Stephen P. Wenger
"Taser Weapon Confusion" by Warren Wilson
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
---
In my humble opinion from my limited experience, Tasers are ineffective in the
real world, and therefore should never be used. So they should never be carried.
The purpose of Tasers is to reduce the liability of the law enforcement agency.
The effect is to put officers in precarious positions, because the agencies don't
expend the budget for training and practice; in particular force-on-force training.
-- Jon Low
John Farnam's rules to keep you out of trouble:
Don’t go to stupid places.
Don’t associate with stupid people.
Don’t do stupid things.
Have a “normal” appearance.
Be in bed by 10:00 PM (your own bed).
Don’t fail the attitude test.
This is not a political issue. This is a safety issue.
Email from John Lott --
Dear Jonathan:
We have just posted new research showing that, transgender individuals commit
active shootings at rates at least 12 times higher than their share of the population—
far higher than other group. Fact-checking organizations such as PolitiFact and
Snopes make a basic error: they fail to adjust for transgender individuals’ share
of the population. If a group makes up just 1 percent of the population but commits
10 percent of the attacks, no one would dismiss that disparity simply because the
group accounts for “only” 10 percent of active shooting incidents. There is likely
something different with that group. The media show strong bias on this issue,
and many news outlets refuse even to report whether a murderer is transgender.
Hopefully, with our new report, we can get people to discuss this issue more
thoughtfully.
"Transgender Shooters Commit Disproportionate Shares of Mass Public and
Active Shooting Attacks—In 2024, at Least 12 Times Their Share of the Population"
"Safety is something that happens between your ears,
not something you hold in your hands."
-- Jeff Cooper
Email from Joe Shahoud --
I went to dinner at my buddy's house last week. He had security cameras everywhere.
I'm talking full CSI setup. So I asked him when he runs them. Day? Night? 24/7?
His answer shocked me. "Only when we're sleeping," he said. I nearly choked on my
steak. Here's why that's backwards . . . Most home invasions happen during the DAY.
Not at night when you're sleeping.
The Department of Justice says burglaries happen every 13 seconds in America.
And 6% more happen during daytime hours. Think about it. Burglars aren't stupid.
During the day, most people are at work. Kids are at school. The house is empty.
That's when they strike. But here's what really got my attention . . .
In 27% of home invasions, someone IS home when it happens. And in those cases,
44% of the time the person was awake. Just going about their day. Scary stuff.
The good news? Most prevention is stupid simple. Cut back bushes around your
house. Burglars love hiding spots. Leave exterior lights on all night. Motion sensors
don't work. Criminals know this trick. Get a security system and USE it. SimpliSafe
is solid and affordable. Lock your doors. Always. Even during the day. If you hear
a break in, make noise. Yell "Honey, get the gun!" even if you don't have one. And if
you DO have a gun, make sure it's accessible and you know how to use it. I keep mine
in a Vaultek RS500i safe
right in the master bedroom (our safe room).
Look, I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to prepare you. There's a big difference
between paranoia and preparedness. You have smoke detectors for fires. You should
have protection for intruders.
Check out fast access gun safes at
Keep your family safe and your guns secure.
Be prepared,
Joe "better safe than sorry" Shahoud
"It's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble."
-- Claude Werner
Do not use soft nylon holsters that collapse. You won't be able to holster your pistol
with one hand. Which will force you to use two hands. Which will force you to muzzle
your support-side hand. Eventually, you will shoot your support-side hand.
Or, you will point your pistol in toward your hip to holster your pistol. Eventually,
you will shoot your hip.
Oh yes, lots of documented cases.
What induced me to mention this? I've have received several advertisements from
holster companies hawking such holsters. I write to them, telling them not to sell such
things. But they ignore me. I hope you don't.
"You are not responsible for negative reactions to your boundaries."
-- Nicola Cavanis
The point is, there are crazy people in your neighborhood who will kill you and your
family, if you let them. Don't let them.
"Vehicular and Gun Attack on White Family--The Rest of the Story" by Docent
"Gut feelings are guardian angels."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Training --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct tasks to practice.
Care enough to continue your training.
Breath vs. Depth
Some choose to take a line of training like Tom Givens' series of Instructor Development
courses. Which I think is great.
Others choose to take one instructor development course from several different
instructors / schools. Which I think is great.
I have taken the instructor development courses from NRA, Front Sight,
Defense Training International, Rangemaster, and have started the instructor
development program with Active Self Protection.
The important thing is for you to consider, decide, and execute intentionally.
Which path will achieve your goals?
You need training because:
You don't know what you don't know.
Much of what you know is false.
It's good to the have the answers before the criminal tests you.
-- Claude Werner (paraphrased)
"Is 4 Shots “Overkill”? Let’s Be Honest." by Colion Noir
Ansatz is a thing. And the better your training, the better your guesses / estimates.
"The Final Category Problem" by Dustin Salomon
It would be well worth your time to follow the links.
Excerpts:
". . . the brain has memory that can only be accessed consciously (declarative memory).
It also has a separate memory system, located in a geographically different part of the brain,
that can only be accessed unconsciously (procedural memory)."
"For example, if both memory systems contain the same information for
“grip the pistol,” then the shooter will perform an equivalent grip both under
stress and during range exercises. If not, the shooter may grip the pistol much
differently in the real-world or during force-on-force training than during range
training and qualification."
"In order to produce effective outcomes (i.e., physically construct the brain
circuitry necessary for real-world performance in long-term memory), this cannot
happen just once-in-a-while. It needs to comprise the majority—very nearly all—of
training, to include live fire, dryfire, and simulation. Does your training program
do that?"
---
For those who haven't taken Dustin's classes, let me recap.
1. Priming - the student reads the book / handouts before the class. Because,
‟An instructor should not expect any learning to
take place the first time new information is presented.”
-- ‶Building Shooters″ by Dustin Salomon.
2. Instruction - the student learns the material / skill. Instructors must be
careful not to overload the students. This places the information / skill into
short term memory. Detailed explanations and carefully watch the student
perform the skill to ensure the student is doing it correctly. Remember what
John Farnam says,
"The limited time you spend with students may be the only training they ever receive!"
-- John Farnam
3. Time away from the material doing other things, including one or two sleep
cycles. This moves the information / skill into long term declarative memory.
The information / skill may be recalled by conscious effort. For example,
you read the test question, remember the answer, and write it down.
4. Thousands of repetitions. Deliberate intentional practice. This moves the
skill / information into long term procedural memory. The skill / information
may be recalled unconsciously. Because there is no conscious effort, there is
often no memory of the execution of the skill. For instance,
"Nice malfunction clearing."
"Did I have a malfunction?"
"Yes, and you cleared it and proceeded without a glitch."
5. Practice under stress, such as force-on-force scenarios. Eventually, you
will be able to execute the skill automatically under the debilitating stress
of a lethal force encounter.
"Those motivated by a desire to improve their
gunfighting skills as opposed to a quest for trophies,
must be willing to bleed ego on the match results
to avoid shedding blood in combat."
-- Andy Stanford
"Ep. 171 | Competition vs Real-World? Lee Weems & Tyler Tharp Debate Readiness"
by Defenders LIVE
"Without discrimination,
you're going to shoot the wrong person really fast."
-- Paul Howe
"Training Facilities: Throwing money the wrong way" by Paul Howe
Excerpts:
"As we all know, qualifications are an academic ticket punch and not training.
Structured training is thought out, stair-stepped and continuous. Structured training
addresses trends in the criminal community or gaps in the existing training program."
"Most Shooting Houses are built by companies that don’t know how to set up
or structure training."
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"Magician Reviews Sleight of Hand and Visual Tricks In Movies & TV | Vanity Fair"
Excerpt:
"This requires practice."
[As does everything in our self-defense repertoire. -- Jon Low]
---
Yes, as a matter of fact, this applies directly to your ability to shoot the bad guy
before he knows what's going on. Before he knows that you are a threat.
"If you’re not measuring your training,
what you’re doing is called playing."
-- Chris Sajnog
"In order to measure, we must be able to quantify."
-- Aaron Cowan
Email from Active Self Protection --
If At First You Don't Succeed . . .
. . . try, try again. But what happens when you try too much, too hard and maybe
for too long a time? Do things get better, or worse?
It’s a pretty good bet that when you first start a new endeavor you do so with
excitement and joy. The excitement of learning, acquiring new skills, and/or
conquering challenges can all lead to satisfaction and maybe even a touch of
euphoria. Remember that feeling? It’s the honeymoon phase.
As we progress and grow, new goals are set, and new challenges exist to be
conquered. Then somewhere along the way the goals may begin to feel like
work and the challenges may feel like too much. Everything feels like an uphill
battle. Dread, frustration, and excuses are all indicators that things may be going
south. The honeymoon is definitely over.
When this happens, we may think that if we put in more time, we work harder,
or we establish more difficult training regimens we cannot only recapture the
honeymoon feelings, we can also become the best of the best. While pushing
hard is not necessarily a bad thing, pushing too hard and for too long can have
adverse effects and may leave you with lasting physical or emotional consequences.
When something we love, like shooting, training, instructing, etc. feels like a
chore and becomes something we dread, we may be on the verge of burnout.
While burnout is not classified as a medical condition it is recognized by the
medical community. Symptoms linked to burnout are persistent exhaustion
(even after rest), emotional detachment, decreased motivation, irritability, and
concentration problems. More typically it is associated with our jobs but stick
around long enough in this space and you will hear high level shooters discuss
a time when they experienced burnout. This thing once loved is now hated or
at the least has become a great weight.
So how do we prevent burning out and finding that comfortable and
companionable relationship with the things we enjoy? Where do we find the
balance? Self-care and advocating for ourselves becomes important. Honesty
with ourselves and being aware of our feelings are great indicators. Recognizing
when the fun has gone or the satisfaction has disappeared is a sure sign that we
may need to re-evaluate. Thinking back to the last time we had true enjoyment
and satisfaction may reveal where the path changed course. If we can go back
to that place, we have a chance to plot a new direction and avoid the pitfalls of
trying too much, too hard, or for too long.
Now we have a chance to have that second honeymoon.
-- J. Green
"When you're training to protect yourself and others, speed always comes last.
In the more than twenty-five years I've been training people in self-protection,
I've never heard from someone who used self-protection tools in the field and
felt like they suffered from a lack of speed at the moment of truth. In fact, I
usually hear the opposite: it's much more common to suffer from a lack of
accuracy or force."
-- Tim Larkin
My alarm went off and I lay in bed thinking I don't have to go, I can sleep in, no one
is depending on me showing up. What a strange thought! Was I depressed? apathetic?
complacent?
Then self-discipline kicked in and I flossed and brushed my teeth, took a shower,
put in my contact lenses, loaded my gear in the car, and started the 4-hour drive.
If you actually get up and go, you see things and experience things that you would
have missed, otherwise. I now know that Jefferson City Elementary School has a
fantastic playground. I will make a point of bringing the grandkids to play in it.
I shot the Tennessee State Indoor Archery Championship. I wasn't expecting anything,
not having practiced much during the previous years. During the awards ceremony,
they called my name and awarded me the Silver Medal for men's recurve.
Half the job is showing up (on time). The other half is finishing the job.
Of course, it helps to have practiced during the previous decades.
"In reality, we are training for an unknown event, against unknown threats,
by developing as many known skills as possible."
-- Jeff Gonzales
"Having a gun is important.
But knowing WHEN to use it is even more important."
-- Greg Ellifritz
"There are three different areas, or disciplines,
in which the armed person must train.
These are mindset, gun handling, and marksmanship.
Each is equally important, and you must be at least
competent in all three areas."
-- Tom Givens
"A mistake that makes you humble is better
than an achievement that makes you arrogant."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Shoot sooner, not faster."
-- Matt Little
“The secret of success is this.
Train like it means everything when it means nothing –
so you can fight like it means nothing when it means everything.”
-- Lofty Wiseman
"Most deadly force encounters occur spontaneously, without warning and
at extremely close ranges. Realistically, you may not have the time or the
space to effectively draw, no matter how fast your draw stroke."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
“The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns,
we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise,
they will win and decent people will loose.”
-- James Earl Jones
"Proper training ingrains the proper responses.
Repetition is the mother of all skill. With skill comes confidence.
With confidence comes the ability to think under pressure and make
sound tactical decisions."
-- Tom Givens
“You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol
than you are a musician because you own a guitar.”
from "Principles of Personal Defense" by Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC,
(1920 – 2006 A.D.)
Simple is faster. Simple is more reliable. So, simple is better.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Psychology --------------------------------
"Train and practice so that you can stay in your rational mind,
and force your enemy into his emotional mind. The emotional
mind makes bad judgments which will allow you to win."
-- John Hearne
Email from Orion Taraban, Psy.D --
In agriculture, it is necessary to occasionally leave fields fallow so that the soil
can recuperate from the previous harvest. I think the same thing holds true here.
In retrospect, I likely began this project too soon after completing my last one,
and – as a result – had not left sufficient time for my mind to grow fallow with
the fecundity of my next idea. This is not quitting: it is awaiting the right moment
to act. Perhaps you might have the same grace with yourself in some area of your
own life.
This week's behavioral experiment:
Where have you been forcing things in your life? Consider taking a step back.
Warmly,
Orion
"Be stronger than your strongest excuse."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"You can't cheat yourself: understanding self love" by Orion Taraban
Learn to enjoy the process of becoming. (Enjoy the training and practice.)
Self-love means sacrifice for one's self.
---
My father had a more extreme view. He would tell me that you can't really cheat.
If you cheat in any game, you're actually playing a different game. Those you play
with will eventually figure out what game you're playing and decide to play with you
or not. I had to stop and think about how Machiavellian this was. Because it means
you never really know what game the others are playing.
“Training deals not with an object,
but with the human spirit and human emotions.”
--Bruce Lee
"Some People’s Nerves" by SLG
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
I think SLG is wrong. Preventing your body from executing an autonomic nervous
system response to report and recoil is not just a matter of "mind over matter discipline".
And you probably don't want to train away instinctive responses. For instance, blinking
when something approaches your eye prevents your eye from getting injured.
The correct solution is to learn and practice the surprise trigger break. If you don't
know what I'm talking about, get expert instruction. It takes a lot of practice. Eventually,
you will have an epiphany and tight groups, on demand, every time.
False positives in threat detection.
"She who cries wolf: is she seeing clearly?" by Orion Taraban
Neurosis: believing that a fake problem is a real problem.
Note that "believing that a fake problem is a real problem" is a real problem.
---
This is not specific to women. Men have the same problem. But there is a
statistical difference in the psychology literature.
---
My father would tell me that any problem that can be solved with money is not
a real problem. With real problems, you are forced to spend time and effort,
you can't buy your way out.
Email from Orion Taraban, Psy.D. --
"The importance of small wins."
Wednesday, February 25th, 2026
There are times in life when it feels like nothing is going your way.
All you can see is a series of setbacks and losses, and it can feel immensely
difficult to work up the motivation to keep moving forward. What should
you do, if you find yourself in this situation?
The more I live, the more I realize the extent to which human action
depends on momentum and inertia – which are really two sides of the same
coin. Stay down and inactive, and you accumulate inertia. Stay up and active,
and you generate momentum. And the more momentum you have, the more
quickly setbacks vanish in the onrush of forward progress.
Therefore, if you find yourself mired in a state of inaction, your goal
should be to transform your inertia into momentum. And the way to do
that is to chain wins. Reduce the size of an accomplishment to the smallest
quantum of action – to something that you literally cannot fail at nor be
prevented in achieving.
You got out of bed: win one. You put your clothes on: win two.
You brushed your teeth: win three. Begin to chain these wins together
into longer and longer sequences as you slowly raise the bar on your
threshold of accomplishment with each passing day. This is how you
transform inertia into momentum – and that, in turn, is how you get
out of a rut.
This week's behavioral experiment:
Where could your life benefit from momentum? Generate a win chain
by reducing the threshold of accomplishment.
Warmly,
Orion
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Conferences --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required for growth.
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword;
because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force
superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense,
raised in the United States."
-- Noah Webster
Rangemaster Tactical Conference, $639
TacCon26 is scheduled for
March 27-29, 2026
at the Dallas Pistol Club in Carrollton, Texas
Security Operations Summit 2026, $150.00
July 23-25, 2026 A.D.
With hands-on pre-event options on Wednesday, July 22nd!
Wednesday to Saturday, so as not to interfere with church on Sunday.
Southeast Christian Church
920 Blankenbaker Parkway
Louisville, KY 40243
Bullets & Bibles 2026 (The registration fee is a tax deductible charitable donation).
Friday, August 21, 2026 – Sunday, August 23, 2026
Hosted at Living Water Ranch, north of Manhattan, KS.
Food and lodging included in registration price.
The Guardian Conference, $800
September 18th - 20th, 2026 in Oklahoma City, OK.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Classes --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required to avoid teaching
obsolete material, and to ensure you are teaching best practices.
Protective Pistolcraft Instructor, 5 Days, $ 1350
Mon, Nov 2, 2026 – Fri, Nov 6, 2026, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CST
Last Resort Firearms Training, 4220 Gravel Pit Road, White Hall, AR, USA
Excellent training and education at
Project Appleseed
I have taken their pistol and rifle classes. I highly recommend.
Gunsite Academy
Lee Weems
Massad Ayoob Group
West Coast Armory North
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Map of Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Dustin Salomon
KR Training
KR Training newsletter
Kari Grayson
Citizens Safety Academy
Carry Trainer, Mickey Schuch
Paladin Training, Inc.
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Defensive Training International, John Farnam
Rangemaster, Tom Givens
Trident Concepts, Jeff Gonzales
Apache Solutions, Tim Kelly
Harris Combative Strategies, Randy Harris
Mead Hall Range & Tactics, Bill Armstrong
Two Pillars Training, John Hearne
Mike Seeklander
Claude Werner, The Tactical Professor
Tatiana Whitlock - Training in Context
NRA Instructors and their classes.
‟Training is NOT an event, but a process.
Training is the preparation FOR practice.”
-- Claude Werner
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Practice --------------------------------
How to get proficient at that task.
"Your speed [in mastering the art and science of your discipline] doesn't matter.
Forward is forward."
-- Nicola Cavanis
Realistic practice?
I need one of these.
“Willingness is a state of mind. Readiness is a statement of fact!”
-- Lt. Gen. David M Shoup, USMC Commandant 1960-1963
Because helicopters flip over when they crash in the water.
Learning to overcome your fear, prevents panic. Allowing you to win.
"Remember, growing may feel like breaking at first."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"The Fight Starts Here" by Jeff Boren
The sub-second draw to first shot on a static target gets a lot of love on
social media. It looks fast. It looks impressive. And it is impressive, in
the same way a parlor trick is impressive. It works under controlled
conditions, on a known signal, against a target that is not moving, not
shooting, and not trying to kill anyone.
A presentation built for fighting is something different entirely.
Jeff Cooper gave us the Combat Triad: mindset, gun handling, and
marksmanship. Three legs that support the entire structure of armed defense.
What makes the presentation from concealment so critical is that it does
not live on one leg of that triad. It touches all three. The decision to act
is mindset. Getting the gun out efficiently is gun handling. And establishing
a solid master grip during the presentation directly affects the marksmanship
that follows. If the presentation falls apart, the entire triad is compromised
before we ever press the trigger.
Nothing else we train matters if the gun never comes out. Or if it comes
out too late.
That is not a ranking of skills or an argument that the draw is more
important than shot placement or decision-making. It is simply a logical
reality. Everything downstream of the presentation depends on it happening.
An efficient, automatic presentation is the gateway to everything else we
need to do in a fight.
Here is why that matters so much: we are already behind. We do not get
to pick the time and place. The attacker does. They are already acting with
intent. There is no clean start signal. There is no courtesy pause while we
organize ourselves. The fight has already started, and the presentation has
to meet it where it is. Any hesitation, any delay, any fumbled grip or tangled
garment costs us time we were never given in the first place.
This is where automaticity becomes essential. Not speed for speed’s sake,
but automaticity. A presentation that has been trained to the point where it
does not require conscious thought frees up cognitive bandwidth for the things
that do require it: identifying the threat, choosing a response, managing the
environment. If the draw itself is eating up processing power, we have less
of it available for the problems that actually need solving. The gun coming
out should be a background process, not a foreground task.
Tom Givens reshaped the way we should think about this. His teaching
makes the point clearly: an efficient presentation does not just get us into
the fight sooner. It buys us time on the back end to work sights and trigger
press. That time is invaluable. A relentless, efficient draw does not steal
precision from us. It gives it back.
When the gun comes out cleanly and on time, we are not rushing to catch up.
We are not trying to compensate for a slow start with frantic shooting. We have
the space to see what we need to see. We have the space to press the trigger
the way it needs to be pressed. Efficiency up front creates opportunity
downstream, and that opportunity is often the difference between hits that matter
and noise that does not.
Efficiency also survives chaos. It does not rely on perfect conditions,
a stable stance, or a quiet moment. It functions when things are ugly, when
distance is collapsing, when our body is dumping adrenaline and our mind is
already behind the curve. A presentation trained to the level of automaticity
holds up under exactly the conditions where conscious, step-by-step
processing falls apart.
And here is the part we do not get to complain about: this is free.
Presentation from concealment is one of the most trainable skills we have,
and it costs nothing to develop. Dry practice at home, done consistently,
builds the same neural pathways that show up on the range and, more importantly,
in a real encounter. Realistic plastic training guns such as Blue Guns, which are
exact replicas of our carry guns, make this practice even safer and more accessible.
And if a training replica is not available, we follow the same safety protocols
we follow with any dry fire session and use our real firearm.
Like most physical skills, some of us will develop this faster than others.
That is normal. What matters is consistency, because like all shooting-related
skills, the presentation is perishable. Neglect it, and it depreciates. Maintain it,
and it stays ready when everything else is going wrong.
We do not arrive at a destination with this work. There is no finish line.
We are always refining, always pressure-testing, always trying to make the
presentation more reliable and more honest. The standard does not change,
though.
The fight does not start when the sights settle. It starts when the gun clears
concealment. Everything we need in that moment, we can build at home,
on our own time, for free. There is no reason not to.
-- Jeff Boren
"You have to be lucky to win. And the more you practice, the luckier you get."
-- Col. Lones Wigger
"Grip Keeper Review: Is This 3D-Printed Training Pistol Worth It?"
by Jacob Paulsen
Why practice?
“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment
when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and
offered the chance to do a very special thing,
unique to them and fitted to their talents.
What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or
unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”
-- Winston Churchill
When using cover, IDPA used to require the shooter to keep half of his body behind
cover relative to the target. Admittedly subjective and difficult to enforce. Now days,
IDPA requires only that the shooter not step over the line on the floor. So the shooter
can effectively expose his entire body.
If you are using these events for your self-defense training, as opposed to playing to
win the game, you must practice keeping everything except your aiming eye and muzzle
behind cover. Otherwise, you will get shot in combat.
"Be careful what you practice.
Because you will do in combat whatever you have practiced,
no matter how ridiculous."
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
‶Practice is the small deposits you make over time,
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal.″
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
"Why are the little things called little things?
They are everything."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"People rust faster than equipment."
-- John Hearne
"Remember, the day you plant the seed is not the day you earn the fruit."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intervention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to deal with the incident that you failed to avoid.
Table of sections:
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Strategy --------------------------------
Deciding on the end state and how to achieve it.
"You win gunfights by not getting shot."
-- John Holschen
"Never let fear decide your fate."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.”
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Tactics --------------------------------
Maneuver and fire in support of your strategy.
Sometimes fire and close combat.
"Real fights are short." -- Bruce Lee
"Cover and Concealment – What Your Vehicle Offers"
by Travis Pike
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpts:
"Windshields are not a single pane of glass; they are two sheets of glass and
a layer of rigid, clear plastic. This causes unpredictable bullet reactions."
[This is much closer to reality in my humble experience than those who teach
that the windshield will deflect at a certain angle relative to the angle of incidence.
-- Jon Low]
[Ya, engine blocks will probably stop pistol bullets. I have fired a 30-06 through
an old American engine block. That's my experience. -- Jon Low]
"You often don't know where the bad guy is who is shooting at you."
-- Phillip Groff
"Crazy Oakland Pawn Shop Gunfight Caught on Camera"
by Active Self Protection
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
John and Neil give an analysis.
“People shoot you because they see you.
They see you because you let them.
Don’t let them see you.”
-- Clint Smith
"Movement & Moving" by Erick Gelhaus
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
“Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics.”
-- Chuck Haggard
“When you’re in the dark, stay in the dark;
when you’re in the light, light up the dark.”
-- Stephen P. Wenger
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Techniques --------------------------------
Ways to execute a given task in support of your tactics,
especially when disabled or under stress.
"I can always do nothing more consistently than I can do something."
-- Ben Stoeger
"The TAP in Tap Rack" by Suarez Tactics
Gabe advocates Tap, Rack, Bang. NRA and Front Sight advocated Tap, Rack, Assess.
Gabe believes in preventative maintenance, but only cleans his gun once every six
months? That's not preventative maintenance.
I think you ought to clean your gun before first use, after every use, before storage,
and monthly if not used at all. Because your body is a moist warm environment which
will rust and crack the tiny springs in your trigger and frame. And because your clothing
sheds lint. And because your body sheds dead skin. How do you think the micro critters
survive? They eat your dead skin.
“What’s the number one reason for reloading?
Missing the target!”
-- Claude Werner
"Aiming with the Pistol video353" by Heinz Reinkemeier
Heinz Reinkemeier
"Grip first, then press."
-- Mike Seeklander
"Self-Defense and the Law: Weapon-Mounted Lights for Concealed Carry"
by Massad Ayoob
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"Use only that which works,
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
"Ayoob: Can You Shoot Your 1911 Backwards?" by Massad Ayoob
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Backwards meaning left-handed.
"The foundations of your grip are established
before you even draw the pistol from the holster."
-- Tanner Denton
"The Mechanical Safety: Use it or take the gamble." by Paul Howe
Hat tip to Docent.
Excerpts:
"During ten years in military special operations, I can remember at several
instances in live-fire training where operators shot themselves because their
weapon was not on safe and their reliance on a straight finger failed them.
In one instance, a piece of gear snagged the weapon when it was dropped to
its sling while the operator was fighting with a role player. In another instance,
a shooter released a breaching shotgun to its sling to employ his primary weapon.
Upon reaching back to re-employ the shotgun, his grab connected with the trigger,
discharging a lock-buster round into his calf."
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
Context: The Sul (south in Portuguese) position is generally taught as keeping the
thumbs in contact as if they were linked on a universal hinge. From your two-handed
pistol grip, move your support-side hand to place the palm of the support-side hand
against your chest and your firing-side hand (still gripping the pistol) against the back
of your support hand, keeping the pistol pointed down in front of you. (I have also
seen a retention Sul position taught, where the support-side hand is on top of the
pistol holding the pistol in addition to the firing-side grip.)
---
"Everyone needs to learn SUL on the flat range before doing any movement
drills or Shoot House work."
---
I disagree with Paul Howe concerning using the Sul position. The Sul position
breaks your two handed grip. Which means you must re-establish your grip before
shooting. The Sul position does not allow you to use your support-side hand for
other things. Your support-side hand is "in use" in the Sul position.
I think better would be to maintain your two handed grip, pull your pistol into
a close contact position (where your forearms and writs are prssed against your
rib cage), pivot from the elbows (not the wrists, the wrists must remain straight
to maintain a strong grip) to point the pistol down in front of you.
As always, shoulders down and relaxed, head up. No turtles.
"The secret is applying extreme force with the pinkies and
working your way up the rest of the digits."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
"Eye Dominance / Shmominance" by Brian Enos
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"Never believe anything you read or hear.
To figure out what’s best for you,
experiment until you have no doubt."
---
"Whatever you leave alone is perfect." -- Brian Enos
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!"
-- Bruce Lee
"Pepper Spray window of opportunity" by Claude Werner
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
At contact range, spray into the assailant's nostril or mouth.
Because spraying into his eye, may tear his eyeball.
Well, I guess that depends on your goal.
". . . only shoot as fast as you can assess, and . . . assess after each shot,
both of which we should be training to do all the time anyway."
-- Ralph Mroz, "Street Focused Handgun Training"
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Postvention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to treat your wounds or the wounds of your loved ones.
Suggestions on how to avoid prosecution, conviction, and prison time.
Suggestions on how to avoid the civil law suit and judgment.
Table of Sections:
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Aftermath --------------------------------
You must be alive to have these problems: criminal and civil liability.
“Your understanding and consent are not required
for someone to take your life, kill your loved ones,
and destroy all you hold dear.”
-- William Aprill
"She Stayed Silent & Went To JAIL | Active Self Protection Extra"
by Tim Forshey and John Correia
Which was the smart move. Gave statement after consulting with an attorney.
All charges dismissed. If she had given a statement at the scene in an attempt to
avoid getting arrested, she would have gone to prison for the rest of her life.
In the right-hand column of this web page, click on "Never Talk To The Police"
or use the address,
Gabe and a lot of other instructors teach talking to the responding officers to
establish yourself as the victim, because remaining silent forces the responding
officers to treat you as the suspect.
"Ignorant Knowledge - Bullshit About The Aftermath" by Suarez Tactics
You need to be calm and articulate to accomplish what Gabe is suggesting.
Could you? After the most stressful event of your life? Could you stop talking?
It is extremely difficult to stop talking in such a situation. The cops will be
bombarding you with questions, which you will feel compelled to answer.
Ask any prosecutor, and he will tell you that the primary evidence against
the suspect is the suspect's statements made at the scene or immediately afterwards
in the hospital emergency room.
If you think you can avoid incriminating yourself with your statements
immediately following the debilitating stress of a lethal force event, you're
kidding yourself. Cops don't make a statement (in spite of what Massad
Ayoob claims), until after one or two sleep cycles. And then only with their
attorney present. So, why in the world would you?
In reality, the senior police officer will tell the officer involved in the shooting
to turn his body camera off, go sit in the back of the patrol car, and don't talk to
anyone. I've witnessed it.
You won't have that help from anyone. You got to take care of yourself.
In the right hand column, click on the link labeled "Self Defense Insurance".
Or, the link is,
Read this before you buy insurance. You need to make an informed decision.
The various policies are drastically different.
"You need to read the fine print." -- Massad Ayoob
"Most People Don’t Know This About Self-Defense Killings"
by Massad Ayoob - Facts and Firearms
This is why I teach that the conditional probability that your assailant has a violent
criminal history is high given that he is attacking you. You knew this because your
self-defense / firearms instructor taught you this.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him,
but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Medical --------------------------------
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Sherman House
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Course - NAEMT Certified, $495.00
Tracey Mendenhall | VP of Operations
(Life Saving Ninja)
DEFEND SYSTEMS
(615) 480-7758
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Survival --------------------------------
"If you stay fit, you do not have to get fit.
If you stay trained, you do not have to get trained.
If you stay prepared, you do not have to get prepared."
-- Robert Margulies
"Fire Extinguishers – Learn the Basics of This Critical Safety Tool"
by Jim Cobb
Excerpt:
P = Pull the pin
A = Aim the nozzle (at the base of the flame)
S = Squeeze the handle
S = Sweep the nozzle back and forth
Don’t aim at the flames. Instead, aim at the base of the fire.
That’s where the burning is happening,
and that’s what you want to smother and extinguish."
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
‟We don’t decide what is necessary to survive a
lethal force encounter initiated by someone else.
That person decides what’s necessary for us to survive.”
– William Aprill
"Survival is not based solely on technique.
Survivability may hinge on the use of the correct technique
appropriate to the environment you are fighting in.
Oh, and yes, marksmanship is always valuable."
-- Clint Smith
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
--Benjamin Franklin
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Education ***** ***** *****
Table of contents:
Legal
Instruction
Gear
*************************************************************************
"You will never get smarter or broaden your horizons
if you're unwilling to learn from others and read."
-- Becca Martin
"True Prepper Offers Free E-Book Downloads" by Docent
The True Prepper offers quite a library.
"Free Survival PDFs, Manuals, & Downloads" by SEAN GOLD
American Rifleman and American Hunter are now online free of charge.
Practical Eschatology
2nd Amendment News & Articles
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Blog posts,
Rangemaster Newsletter, Tom Givens
---
MARCH 2026 NEWSLETTER
Excerpt:
"A lot of people have this goofy notion that if you are involved in a
shooting, there will be YOU, THE BAD GUY, and NO ONE ELSE for at
least a mile in any direction. What nonsense!"
---
Please read "Situational Awareness: Space, Time, and the Self"
by Jim Shanahan.
Active Self Protection, John Correia
"My Gun Culture" by Tom McHale
Quips, John Farnam
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
The Tactical Professor, Claude Werner
American Handgunner Magazine
Tactical Science
International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors
Alien Gear blog
Shooting Classes Blog
"Cogito, ergo armatum sum." (I think, therefore armed am I.)
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Legal --------------------------------
Gun Law Database
“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore,
be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not
to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean
everything or nothing at pleasure.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1823)
Entrapment. That's what the FBI does.
They let the prisoners beat you, so that you will accept any deal to get out.
“Is there no virtue among us? If there is not, we are without hope!
No form of government, existing nor theoretical, will keep us from harm.
To think that any government, in any form, will insure liberty and happiness
for a dishonorable population represents the height of self-deception.”
-- James Madison, 1788
"41 DUI ARRESTS BY TENNESSEE TROOPER PEARL DISMISSED.
HEAD OF TN TROOPERS SAY ALL STILL VALID ARRESTS"
by MUMFORD LAW
A staggering level of corruption.
---
"Sober people being arrested nationwide for DUI" by WSMV 4 Nashville
It's in the thousands now. No one can claim it's an honest mistake.
This is what happens when leaders incentivize bad behavior.
---
"Tennessee Trooper Fired and Decertified for making GHOST TRAFFIC STOPS"
by Southern Drawl Law
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
-- Second Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America
"Guns bought legally could be stolen without you knowing" by WSB-TV
I had an FFL (Federal Firearms License) for several years. The claim that FFL's
can check the database is false. We can't. I never could.
When I called the ATF to check they would never cooperate. When I called
local or state law enforcement they would never cooperate. (Because they didn't
want to assume liability.)
"Firearms are second only to the constitution in importance,
they are the people's liberty's teeth." -- George Washington
"SB1958 / HB1971 — A Nefarious Attempt to Place Legislative Power
Beyond Constitutional Accountability"
"The attention on SB1958 / HB1971 has now gone national!"
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other."
-- John Adams, October 11, 1798
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Instruction --------------------------------
"Remember,
the students who require the extra effort
are the ones who need us the most!"
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
----- Instructors -----
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith
Be aware that female humans have longer trigger fingers relative to their hand size.
Their trigger (index) fingers are about as long as their ring fingers.
Male humans have shorter trigger (index) fingers relative to their ring fingers
and hands. Testosterone in the womb causes this (a competent doctor told me).
Also, females in general have smaller hands and shorter fingers.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but it's important to be aware of
generalities when fitting a pistol to your student.
Be careful what you teach.
Because your students will do in combat
whatever you have trained them to do,
no matter how ridiculous.
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
You might want to keep such splints around for your students. I didn't now about them.
Your students might not know about them.
"I Got Finger Splints to Help Me Shoot Better!" by Gun Bunny
Low information density. You might need to increase play speed.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
"You must teach skill sustainment as part of training."
-- John Hearne
Breath vs. Depth
Some choose to take a line of training like Tom Givens' series of Instructor Development
courses. Which I think is great.
Others choose to take one instructor development course from several different
instructors / schools. Which I think is great.
I have taken the instructor development courses from NRA, Front Sight,
Defense Training International, Rangemaster, and have started the instructor
development program with Active Self Protection.
The important thing is for you to consider, decide, and execute intentionally.
Which path will achieve your goals? Which path is economically feasible? Which
path is logistically feasible? If you don't plan, it is unlikely that you will achieve.
"You don't have to memorize formulae.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
"Your curriculum needs to be recent, relevant, and realistic."
-- Austin Killmer
"The limited time you spend with students may be the only training they ever receive!"
-- John Farnam
“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
-- Robert John Meehan
“The student’s purpose is to expand their body of knowledge and social network.
The instructor’s purpose is to help the student achieve the student’s goals.”
-- Amy Schwartz
"A false path will always be tensely, angrily, violently defended
by those it has deceived, because those who are so easily deceived
are ever too arrogant to repent.”
-- Instructional axiom
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
“Qui docet, discet.” (Who teaches, learns.)
-- American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
“He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
-- Richard Henry Dana
************************************************************************
----- Students -----
"It's better to be wrong than to be vague."
-- Freeman Dyson
"Your Firearms Instructor Has to be a Gunfight Survivor?" by Rich Grassi
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
". . . if that individual can teach."
[It's important to understand that being able to teach a skill is entirely different from
being able to execute that skill (at a high level or under stress). -- Jon Low]
"It’s less about those who’ve won fights and more about those who were
able to avoid it."
---
"Is it better to take a class with an instructor who has been in a gunfight or
one who has successfully avoided gunfights through use of his superior awareness
and strategies?"
-- Greg Ellifrtiz
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it."
-- Henry Ford
“Train, Practice, Compete
are the key elements in the development of humans.”
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
"Keep in mind that this is some seriously next level material.
It is totally normal that the first time you see this stuff, you find
it confusing. You find it difficult to understand. So, confusion
should not discourage you. It does not represent any intellectual
failing on your part. Rather, keep in mind that it represents an
opportunity to get even smarter."
– Tim Roughgarden, Professor of Computer Science and other
stuff at Stanford University
"Try.
Try again.
Try once more.
Try differently.
Try again tomorrow.
Try and ask for help.
Try find someone who's done it.
Try to fix the problem.
Keep trying until you succeed."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“It may seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first.”
-- Miyamota Mushashi
*************************************************************************
----- Andragogy (as opposed to pedagogy) -----
"Growth is uncomfortable because you've never been there before."
-- Nicola Cavanis
‟An instructor should not expect any learning to
take place the first time new information is presented.”
-- ‶Building Shooters″ by Dustin Salomon
*************************************************************************
Felicitations!
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Gear --------------------------------
And the safe storage thereof.
Remember, in a high stress situation, easy things become difficult and difficult
things become impossible. So, your holster must work easily, without thought.
"Editor’s Notebook: Physical Infirmity" by Rich Grassi
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Accommodate your disabilities.
The purpose of a high capacity magazine is NOT to let you shoot more;
it is to let you reload less.
-- Tom Givens
Strategic Sciences LLC Completes Successful Phase II Government
Inspection & Performance Verification for the Multi-Function Muzzle Device (MFMD)
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
Excerpt:
". . . The MFMD is a hybrid suppressor architecture that integrates
flash suppression, sound reduction, and recoil mitigation into a single,
compact device—without increasing weapon length . . ."
“Your car is not a holster.”
-- Pat Rogers
"The Dangers Of Bullet Setback" by Richard A. Mann
Excerpt:
"It’s estimated that 0.10 inch of bullet setback in the .40 Smith & Wesson
can cause [chamber] pressures to double."
[The SAAMI maximum average pressure (MAP) for 40 S&W is 35,000 psi
(pounds per square inch). So according to the author, Mann, a tenth of an inch
setback would cause a 70,000 psi chamber pressure upon firing.]
"There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
The holster should not cover the magazine release button (or lever) on the
inboard side. If the mag release button is covered, you won't be able to charge
the magazine in your pistol without taking the pistol out of the holster. The
holster should cover the magazine release button on the outboard side to prevent
unintentionally releasing the magazine when you bump something or fall.
"Introduction to Concealed Carry Belts: The Foundation of Your EDC Setup"
by Jacob Paulsen
Excerpt:
". . . A gun belt has to do something completely different. It needs to distribute
the weight of your firearm across your entire waistline while preventing sag and
maintaining the position of your gun throughout the day. When you sit, stand,
bend over, or move around, your belt has to keep that gun exactly where it needs
to be."
---
My recommendation for a concealed carry belt is the KORE
BLACK LEATHER GUN BELT 1.5"
with X2 Gunmetal belt buckle.
Use code
KORENEW10
at check out for 10% discount.
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
"Headspacing" by John Farnam
Do not use soft nylon holsters that collapse. You won't be able to holster your pistol
with one hand. Which will force you to use two hands. Which will force you to muzzle
your support-side hand. Eventually, you will shoot your support-side hand.
Or, you will point your pistol in toward your hip to holster your pistol. Eventually,
you will shoot your hip.
Oh yes, lots of documented cases.
What induced me to mention this? I've have received several advertisements from
holster companies hawking such holsters. I write to them, telling them not to sell such
things. But they ignore me. I hope you don't.
Springfield Armory is doing great marketing by selling Gear Pac's. They are
bundling a pistol, 4 magazines, green dot optic sight, and a nice nylon bag.
All optics are mounted and ready for the range.
"The Failure Points of Handgun Red Dots" by Travis Pike
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"The use of a single focal plane allows you to focus on the target,
and the dot will just appear over the target."
[No, that is false. For beginners, the dot will often not be in the window at all.
It takes a bit of practice and a consistent grip and a consistent presentation to
make the dot appear in the window automatically (especially under the debilitating
stress of combat, especially when shooting from awkward positions).
It's a perishable skill that must be mastered, and then practiced at least monthly
to be maintained. If you're not willing to put in the time and effort, understand
the results you can expect. -- Jon Low]
"The best way to keep your dot from breaking is to protect it."
[Well, that's one philosophy. My philosophy is that if you can't use your weapon
system as a hammer, it's not sturdy enough to be your weapon system. It might
make a great toy for competition, but that's not the same as combat. -- Jon Low]
Ammo sources:
Unlimited Ammo
Target Sports USA
GunMag Warehouse
SGAmmo
True Shot Ammo
The Mag Shack
If you know of any others, let me know.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intelligence ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source. There is always some conspiracy theorists who has said
what you want to say. Quote him. Everyone will understand.
"Will the Cartel War in Mexico Spill Over Into the United States?
An intelligence assessment of CJNG escalation in Mexico and
the real risk to U.S. law enforcement and citizens."
by Keith Graves
Knowing what's important.
"AI and the Corporate Capture of Knowledge"
"NEW POLL Reveals Why Democrats are ABANDONING The Party in Droves"
by Trish Regan
Do the Democrats not understand that they have been maneuvered / forced into
their policy positions by the Republicans (Trump in particular). How can the
Democrats not realize that they are being manipulated?
"RUSSIA UNDER HUGE ATTACK:
EXPLOSIONS IN MOSCOW BRYANKS KALUGA BELGOROD
Vlog 1321: War in Ukraine"
by Anna from Ukraine
President Trump tried to broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine, but the
President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, wouldn't play. So Trump
said Ukraine could take Russia. (Hey, it was a public statement. I saw it on
YouTube.com.)
I think the non-military types missed the connotation. When a commanding
officer asks you to do something or suggests that you do something,
you understand it as a direct order to do it. (Or at least attempt to do it.)
When it's the Commander-in-Chief . . .
So a lot of us are working hard to make it happen. Especially that Star Link guy.
Because he sees it as opening a huge new market for him (and others of course);
opportunity, not an opportunity cost. And the Wagner Group guys, as they have
an ax to grind. And of course the family and friends of the political prisoners;
alive, dead, or disappeared. Putin and his subordinates (I hesitate to call them allies)
have made a lot of enemies. They can all be useful, and they are easy to find.
Good officers never tell you how to do anything. They just tell you to get it done.
It's up to you to figure out how to do it and to execute the plan. Of course, in any
big operation, we have to communicate, so as not to step on each other's toes.
Friendly fire is not friendly, and no less deadly than enemy fire. So be careful.
We are not cowboys. We are not thugs. We are Intel. If we can get the enemy
to kill themselves, that's pretty much optimal. Control the narrative; information
warfare, psychological warfare, etc. Zero friendly casualties (as opposed to millions),
zero collateral damage, etc.
Hey, if you want to do assassinations, it's a free country. But turning that guy
against the regime is probably more useful than killing him. Martin Luther King, Jr.
preached turning your enemies into your friends. It's a very effective mindset.
It goes beyond Jesus commanding us to love our enemies. Turn your enemies.
The U.S. government spends $100,000 and a few years training a Tier 1 operator.
Your selection process, whether you were aware of it or not, was much more rigorous.
I'm not saying that running around killing bad guys ain't good. I'm saying that causing
the bad guy to die peacefully in his sleep with no connection to us is better. Right?
Causing the enemy to kill his superiors is best. Right? It's really easy to convince
the enlisted guys that their officers are corrupt, abusing them, stealing their pay by
deducting money for stuff, or traitors working for NATO. (I've witnessed it.)
As Persephone, the Merovingian's wife, said, "Have fun."
[Of course, the one you really have to watch out for is Euphrosyne. Because
she is real and active. Not some character out of the Matrix. Frosty is a spy, not
a snowman. Remember the Falcon and the Snowman. It was required reading
when I was in school.]
From SoldierSystems.net --
Written a few years back, but it’s still relevant. This is a reprint of Chapter 9 from
"Perceptions Are Reality: Historical Case Studies of Information Operations
in Large-Scale Combat Operations"
part of Army University Press’ The Large-Scale Combat Operations Series.
---
Absolutely read this!
---
Speaking of quoting generals, the author gets serious negative marks from me
for mentioning Air Force General James Slife, former AFSOC CG. His is a name
which should never be uttered again. He did significant damage to AFSOF,
particularly Special Warfare, and was thankfully kicked to the curb before he could
do further damage to the Air Force writ large as Vice Chief of Staff. But I digress.
---
Interestingly, 3.4% of their drone-injured had some toxic exposure,
generally felt to be chloropicrin from Russian K-51 grenades.
---
Out of everything I’ve ever shared, SGM Franck’s assertion that
“The Department of War (DoW) needs to analyze whether historical,
legal, and ethical guidelines for armed conflict are still relevant for
future engagements,” couldn’t be more relevant.
We’ve put a out of rules in place that don’t make sense anymore
like the Title 10 / Title 50 distinction that holds back SOF and the IC
from performing to their full potential across the entire spectrum of
conflict including peacetime. But there are loads more we’ve got adapt,
or we will surely perish in a world of changing rules.
Read it here:
---
The SoldierSystems.net newsletter is well worth reading.
"Why the CIA Needed Jeffrey Epstein" by Cappy Army
From an email from Soldier Systems --
The biggest lie the Marine Corps tells itself is that every Marine is a rifleman.
To be fair, it's really it’s not the lie they tell themselves, but rather the lie they
sell to others. Regardless, while Marines aspire to be great marksmen, most aren’t.
While I find the Marine Corps to be taking the greatest care of all the services
as they roll out the use of drones, affordable versions of the technology aren’t
available for every Marine to be able to pick up drones and be competent with
them, at least yet. I’m sure we’ll eventually get there but if we want to keep the
system cost low, that means no frills. Attritable First Person View drones can be
inexpensive but they require a lot of training. There is no way, the Marine Corps,
or any service for that matter, is going to invest that amount of time and money
into their entire force to make them competent with a system they may never
actually use.
The reality is that the Department of War needs to develop specialists in
robotic systems now, in every service, and invest heavily in them. And yes,
I mean every service, including Space Force. We are going to need to be able
to remotely operate maneuverable robotic space systems eventually as well.
Our adversaries have already done it and they are becoming good at it.
Lets learn the lesson now.
Be careful.
"CHAOS erupts in Mexico after cartel leader's death" by Fox News
" 'REIGN OF TERROR': Chaos in Mexico as 25 National Guard troops are killed
in cartel revenge" by Fox News
"Mexico in Flames — The Future Democrats Defend!"
by The Andrew Branca Show
The Mexican Army and Navy executed without informing the Mexican President
because the Mexican President is in the pocket of the cartels.
"How CIA Black Ops Actually Work | Authorized Account | Insider"
When you ram a roadblock of parked cars, hit the part of the car away from the engine.
It's lighter and the car will move.
When you get into your car, immediately lock the doors.
"Deep Intel on America's Imminent War with Iran" by Ward Carroll
They name specifics and numbers.
"Power projection" what a quaint euphemism.
Operational Security (OpSec). As long as you don't mention people's names . . .
The enemy has always gathered and analyzed this data, so now that the public has
access is not bad. As with any "intelligence", the vast majority of people don't care.
Maybe the Iranian air defense software was hacked? The ChiCom weapons
suck.
"Kristi Noem Stumbles On A Deep State Intelligence Operation" by Docent
The X account for Anonymous Conservative was blocked when I attempted
to read it. Good thing Docent excerpted a copy.
---
My cousin, who worked at the Pentagon, told me the Pentagon had a lot of these.
When I worked at Marine Forces Pacific G-2 they had a lot that we couldn't get into.
They would claim "Sensitive Compartmented Information" and that we didn't have
the need to know. The G-2 didn't have the need to know? The scum bags even told
the Commanding General (a Lt. Gen., O-9) he didn't have the need to know. So the
G-2 (a full bird) sent us into the basements to clean. (We checked the wiring while
we were there.) No one would go into the basement or sub-basement because they
were full of asbestos. But we were happy to. Very productive cleaning task.
In those days (1985 to 1995), everything went by wire. No fiber optic, no radio.
Harder to intercept, don't you know.
I couldn't help myself. I had to check out the MarForPac web site.
I couldn't help but notice that all the male leaders had Expert Rifle and Pistol badges.
The female Sgt.Maj. has a Marksman Rifle badge and Sharpshooter Pistol badge.
When I was active duty, the Expert badge was required for promotion into the NCO
ranks. You had to be able to run, shoot, and do your job. Things change.
"US Fighter Pilot charged with training China's Air Force?!" by Sandboxx
"Former U.S. Air Force Pilot Arrested for Providing Defense Services
to the Chinese Military"
"The Worst Cartel Combat Footage" by Cappy Army
Wow! Across the Mexican border into Guatemala and as far south as Columbia.
This directly affects our military and our culture in general.
"The Department of War has Officially put Scouting America on Notice."
by Department of War
The reason the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy was the lawsuits due to
homosexual scout masters sodomizing the boys. Because the Boy Scout
leadership removed the prohibition against homosexuals in the Boy Scouts
and the prohibition against homosexual Scout Masters.
The reason the number of participants has cratered is because parents
don't want to let their kids hang out with homosexuals.
Pete is of course a politician and must be careful.
The Dispatch
Strategy Page
"The Merge"
Breaking Defense
Intrigue
1440
29155
Global Recaps
Timber Sycamore
Ground News
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Signals Intelligence,
Ground Electronic Warfare,
Cyber Security,
(sometimes Air Electronic Warfare too) ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
"A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined,
but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain
a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them,
which would include their own government."
--George Washington
"MaliciousCorgi:
The Cute-Looking AI Extensions Leaking Code from 1.5 Million Developers"
by Tuval Admoni
Hat tip to Ron Scheier.
"US spy satellite agency declassifies high-flying Cold War listening post
The JUMPSEAT satellites loitered over the North Pole to spy on the Soviet Union."
by Stephen Clark
Hat tip to Bruce Schneier.
"Grace Hopper: Full lecture at the University of Tennessee, 1983"
by Rick Graziani
"Silent disaster: Ukraine exposes and bombs 2420 Russian control points in covert op"
by RFU News — Strategic Geopolitics
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
Tom Givens informs me that the U.S. Postal Service lost 4-5 out of 600 mailed
Rangemaster Training Journals. That's 0.666 . . . % to 0.8333 . . . % lost. The
U.S. Postal System is amazingly good.
When I was in grad school at U.C. Santa Cruz, we did an analysis of email
systems. We found that 15% of emails are lost, in the sense that the sender does
not get any notice that the email was not delivered. Stop and think about that.
Email is not reliable. You getting an email message saying that the recipient
received your email doesn't mean anything. Most email systems will not respond
to such embedded commands. But your Microsoft email system might tell you
that your email was delivered and opened, when in fact, it was lost. If you choose
to use Microsoft software, you get what you deserve.
Breaking Defense has a weekly newsletter, "Networks & Digital Warfare" at
Crypto-Gram by Bruce Schneier
2600
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Cryptology ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
Cryptosystems are considered "arms" by federal law, ITAR,
International Traffic in Arms Regulations. That means cryptosystems are
protected by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Never let the
government infringe on your right to keep and bear cryptosystems, to
include home made cryptosystems, to include sharing cryptosystems with
others.
The following can be found in "Standard Mathematical Tables", CRC Press.
Library of Congress Card Number 30-4052
International Standard Book Number 0-8493-0627-2
We're good with Number Theory, right? If not, brush up.
^ means exponentiation (as in the C programming language).
Consider the Totient function ⏀(n), the number of positive integers not exceeding
and relatively prime to n. Write an efficient implementation. Easy. You're going to
be using this later.
Theorem. If x and m ( ≥ 0 ) are relatively prime integers, then
x ^ ⏀(m) ≡ 1 (mod m).
Corollary. If p is a prime which is not a divisor of an integer x, then
x ^ (p-1) ≡ 1 (mod p).
If x and m ( ≥ 0 ) are relatively prime integers, and μ is the least positive integer
for which
x^μ ≡ 1 (mod m),
μ is called the exponent to which x belongs modulo m. If the exponent to which
x belongs modulo m is ⏀(m), x is defined to be a "primitive root" modulo m
(or a primitive root of m).
Theorem. The only integers that possess primitive roots are of the form
2, 4, p^n, 2(p^n), where p is an odd prime.
If m has a primitive root, it has ⏀( ⏀(m) ) distinct primitive roots modulo m.
Let p be any prime, and let r be any primitive root of p. To each integer x
relatively prime to p there corresponds a unique integer i such that
x ≡ rⁱ (mod p) for (0 < i < p-1).
i is called the index to base r of x modulo p. This is written
i = indᵣ (x).
If the integer, n, possesses a primitive root, g, the positive integers less than n
form a cyclic group. The primitive root generates the group under exponentiation,
g^1, g^2, g^3, . . . , g^⏀(n) are distinct modulo n.
If g is a primitive root of p and
g^(p-1) ≢ 1 (mod p²), then g is a primitive root of pˢ for all s. If
g^(p-1) ≡ 1 (mod p²), then g + p is a primitive root of pˢ for all s.
If g is a primitive root of pˢ then either g or g + pˢ, whichever is odd,
is a primitive root of 2pˢ.
If g is a primitive root of n, then gˢ is a primitive root of n iff s and ⏀(n)
are relatively prime, and each primitive root of n is of this form, i.e.
gˢ is a primitive root of n iff (s, ⏀(n)) = 1.
Ya, we could go down this rabbit hole for hours. But I think you got
what you need. If not let me know.
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe,
and preserve order in the world as well as property.
Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of their use."
-- Thomas Paine
"a quaternion version of Euler's formula" by Michael Penn
"You don't have to memorize theorems.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
"We still don't understand magnetism" by Veritasium
A fascinating experiment with magnetic potentials.
"Computer science has nothing to do with computers or science."
-- Donald Knuth
Fq = finite field of order q.
Fq⁕ = multiplicative group of Fq.
From "Handbook of Applied Cryptography"
by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone
11.77 Note
One of the most promising implementations of Algorithm 11.73 is the case where
the finite abelian group G is constructed from the set of points on an elliptic curve
over a finite field Fq. The discrete logarithm problem in groups of this type appears
to be more difficult than the discrete logarithm problem in the multiplicative group
of a finite field Fq. This implies that q can be chosen smaller than for corresponding
implementations in groups such as G = Fq⁕.
Page 459.
[Nothing new. Dr. Norman Hazard and I were studying elliptic curves over finite
fields in 1987 at the NSA. Just mentioning it, because it applies to your problem.]
"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?
We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.
We must believe that we are gifted for something,
and that this thing must be attained."
-- Marie Curie
"Scientists Just Found Why Electrified Drops DON'T Splash"
by The Action Lab
"All that we don't know is astonishing.
Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing."
-- Philip Roth
"A Strange But Elegant Approach to a Surprisingly Hard Problem (GJK Algorithm)"
by Reducible
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
-- Donald Knuth
Dudeney numbers.
∛x = sum of the decimal digits of x.
1 = 1 × 1 × 1, 1 = 1
512 = 8 × 8 × 8, 8 = 5 + 1 + 2
4913 = 17 × 17 × 17, 17 = 4 + 9 + 1 + 3
5832 = 18 ×18 × 18, 18 = 5 + 8 + 3 + 2
17,576 = 26 × 26 × 26, 26 = 1 + 7 + 5 + 7 + 6
19,683 = 27 × 27 × 27, 27 = 1 + 9 + 6 + 8 + 3
Are there infinitely many Dudeney numbers?
What is the next Dudeney number?
Trick questions, there are only 6.
What if we use some other base, instead of base 10?
Is a Dudeney number (in some other base) difficult to find and easy to verify?
NP? If so, that makes for a good crypto problem.
"Never memorize anything. Rather, study it until it becomes obvious."
-- Norman Christ
Consider the sum of the infinite series
1/2 + 1/3 + 1/5 + 1/7 + 1/11 + 1/13 + 1/17 + . . .
the reciprocals of the prime numbers. What is the sum?
The primes become sparse as they approach infinity.
You can do an ε-δ proof. You can always define a sub series of the remaining
terms that sum to more than 1/2. So the sum in infinite.
While
1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64 + 1/128 + . . .
converges to 2. Because you can't define a sub series of the remaining terms
that sums to 1/2.
"Grace Hopper: Full lecture at the University of Tennessee, 1983"
by Rick Graziani
This is real information theory.
Actually, you can tap optical paths. When I was working for Applied Signal Technology
in Sunnyvale, CA we used fine jewler's files to cut groves in fiber optic cables to tap them.
If the path is space, any sort of dust in the path will scatter the light, that can then be observed.
The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)
"Handbook of Applied Cryptography"
by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone
"Computer Security and the Internet:
Tools and Jewels from Malware to Bitcoin", Second Edition
by Paul C. van Oorschot
ISBN: 978-3-030-83410-4 (hardcopy), 978-3-030-83411-1 (eBook)
"An Introduction to Error Correcting Codes with Applications"
by Scott A. Vanstone , Paul C. Oorschot
Research and Publications (P. Van Oorschot)
Alfred J. Menezes
Scott A. Vanstone
*************************************************************************
Congrats!
*************************************************************************
"We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution
was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists."
-- Patrick Henry
Sometimes truth is really hard to take.
"Sex isn't special: feelings don't count" by Orion Taraban
Sports (Super Bowl) and economics ($178,000 bonus for winning the Super Bowl)
and the players lose money by playing in California (jock tax).
Scam.
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
-- Mary Flannery O'Connor
The purpose of war is not to die for your country.
The purpose of war is to ensure that the other guy dies for his country.
—George S. Patton
"I hate it when I'm trying to eat a salad and
it falls in the trash and I have to eat a taco instead."
-- Nicola Cavanis
I worked security at the SCI (Safari Club International) convention at the
Music City Center here in Nashville, TN. Walking the exhibition floor was
staggering. The people who attend this convention are way wealthier than the
demographic of SHOT, NRA, Ducks, Republican, or any of the other conventions
that I have attended. We were transporting huge amounts of cash from the floor to
the armored cars all day long. (Why are they using cash? No, it's a real question.
I couldn't figure it out. Unless things were going on that I didn't know about,
which is obvious.) All the big gun and gun accessory companies were there.
I ran into a couple of escorts at the Omni hotel who were here for the SCI
convention. They told me they double their prices for the SCI (because if you're
too cheap, they don't trust you). I guess if you can buy $100,000 shotguns,
you can afford all kinds of things.
The point is, some vaults are easy to open.
This is not political. This is criminal.
"BREAKING: FBI CAUGHT in ILLEGAL SPY OP on Kash Patel & Susie Wiles . . .
BEFORE Trump 2024!"
by Trish Regan
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always
possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Richard Henry Lee
Sometimes the bureaucracy is very slow.
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Email: Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Radio: KI4SDN
Home on the farm in Nashville, TN.
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