From the Mail Bag:
Q/A: Where do you get the motivation from for each story? People you know? Or random paths you would like to follow and see where they lead?
Never people I know. It’s too dangerous, and I need all the friends I can get. Sometimes I look at a situation and reverse the polarity to see what that might look like. In the upcoming novel “The Confederate Cipher,” I take historical research that I did into the Confederate and Union fledgling intelligence services operating in the War of the Rebellion/War of Northern Aggression/Civil War – add the British element, and create a historical novel that I want to turn into a series. I’m 70,000 words into The Confederate Cipher with a target length of at least 100K words per book. When writing a historical novel, history drives the plot as much as the fictional characters that I insert into that history to tell a story. The characters and the nature of historical people have to be preserved to make the story valid.
When writing a story set during those turbulent war years (and beyond in future volumes of the series), thorough research is crucial because historians have extensively examined the period in the past. If I give somebody like Gideon Welles (SECNAV during the Lincoln Administration) a limp, he’d better have limped in 1861. If I write that the limp was due to gout, there would need to have been a medical diagnosis of the same condition (nearly) 300 years ago.
As I’ve mentioned on the blog previously, I plan to write at least three books in this series, and they will all be available in both electronic and print formats. You ask why – because I hope to give some of them away as Christmas gifts, and so I’ll barf up the money to have covers made.
Q/A: Do you have plans to write another novel with Jules Smith?
Jules oozes talent, and I’m always up for a project with her. Currently, she’s concentrating on art. We discussed a book with a contemporary American organized crime theme, but it never got off the ground.
Highway Democrats – Looking for a handout.
Bullet Points:
** How does it feel to be deported?
** Car shopping with WSF
** Prescott was deemed one of the most expensive cities in Arizona to retire in. Housing prices have soared because it’s a favored destination for retired California law enforcement and firefighters. Sort of the same situation as places like Eagle, Idaho.
** Headline: CNN Falls Below Food Network Amid Devastating Ratings Dip. No surprise there.
** It’s time for your word of the day.
** This summer, socialist Bernie Sanders is spending time away from his Lake Champlain dacha to visit the country with his “Fighting Oligarchs” tour. I thought Bruce Springsteen might open for the Senator, but apparently, Bruce is confused by the oligarch thing because there aren’t any in New Jersey besides Spartacus Booker.
Cicero Rufus Perry
He was shot, stabbed, and pierced by arrows—20 wounds in total. Then, in 1844, left for dead on a bloodied battlefield, Cicero Rufus Perry did the unthinkable: he walked 120 miles alone across hostile land to survive. Born in Alabama in 1822, Perry moved to Texas at 11 and quickly found himself in the thick of violent clashes—fighting in the siege of Bexar, skirmishing along Yegua Creek, and battling Native tribes as a Texas Ranger. His wounds tell a story of relentless grit, but that 120-mile trek stands as a testament to a willpower most could hardly imagine.
It wasn’t just a miraculous escape; it was the raw edge of survival. Perry, bleeding and unarmed, without food or water, staggered through rugged terrain from Uvalde to San Antonio, refusing to give up when even his comrades thought he was gone.
Years later, Perry still fought, surviving battles such as Deer Creek in 1873. Rising through the ranks, he became Captain of Company D, leading men who revered him for his unyielding spirit and battlefield savvy. His life was a quiet legend—known not for riches or fame, but for resilience that inspired those who rode beside him.
By the time he passed away in 1898, in the rugged Texas Hill Country, Perry’s name had become a legend among Rangers. What would you have done if left for dead?
Big Pharma is NOT Amused
Three federal courts have rejected challenges to the Medicare drug price negotiation in separate cases over the last two days, marking a win for consumers and a blow to Big Pharma and the US Chamber of Commerce.
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today denied Boehringer Ingelheim’s bid to block Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices. In another decision today, a federal district court in Texas dismissed the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s (PHRMA) claim that the program was unconstitutional. Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s constitutional challenge to the program.
Public Citizen, along with Doctors for America, Protect Our Care, and Families USA, filed amicus briefs supporting the government and defending the program’s constitutionality. In March, Public Citizen issued an issue brief stating that while Medicare drug price negotiation is a step forward in regulating drug prices, loopholes and restrictions in the law already limit savings for patients and taxpayers.
“The drug industry is faltering in its attempts to use the Constitution and the courts to avoid negotiating fair prices with Medicare,” said Public Citizen Attorney Nandan Joshi. “From New York to Texas, courts are rejecting the industry’s efforts to profit off of Medicare while charging seniors sky-high prices for brand-name drugs.”
Read the full press release here.
New Russian UAVs
(h/t Claudio) The Shaheed jets that Russia used to strike Kiev at night are almost impossible to shoot down. These drones can exceed 500 km/hr (BBC)
Their flight range reaches 2500 km. Such UAVs are virtually unreachable for Ukrainian interceptor drones, helicopters, light aircraft, and mobile fire teams, as new technologies are needed to intercept them.
Kiev was also attacked with Iskander-K missiles from the Kursk region. This is not far from Kiev, and there is almost no time to react. These missiles fly very low, along rivers and terrain to hide from air defense. Today, only 3 out of 8 missiles were shot down.
VM Note: The Shaheed UAVs are not accurate. Think of them as a delta wing Nazi V-1s without the firepower. What they lack in punch, they make up for in quantity. And they’re relatively inexpensive, utilizing off-the-shelf 1943 technology and “welderup” assembly techniques. If you launch them in the general direction of Kiev in numbers, many of them are bound to hit something.
The Iskander-K is more accurate than the delta-wing swarm-style Shaheed pictured above. They’re cruise missiles, including the 9M728 (R-500) and the 9M729 missiles, with ranges of up to 500 km and 1,500 km, respectively. They are known for their ability to strike targets at high speeds (up to 900 km/h) and with a 480 kg warhead. The Iskander system can also launch ballistic missiles (Iskander-M), allowing for simultaneous strikes with both types. They’re more accurate and are much more expensive to manufacture. Which is why the words “drone” and “UAV” can be confusing.
The US can supply the Ukrainian military with very accurate HIMARS and other systems that can target Russian logistics hubs. President Trump is poised to flood the battlespace with those systems if the Russians don’t play ball. Vlad knows this, and a month or two of accurate strikes will render his human wave attack-style army ineffective and starving.
Then you have Zskyy (the little tranny night club act) who pisses everyone off trying to put his thumb on the scale with US weapons, and may make a peace treaty almost impossible.
Identify the Armor
1
Identify the Aircraft
2
3
Parting Shot
End
Talk about true grit!
Cicero Rufus Perry
🫡
will look for a book or two on him.
Thanks again LL. Another interesting bit of forgotten history co-mingled with recent/ongoing history, humor personal goals
and challenging ID the things!
I’d pay twice the subscription price!
Juan
What would I do in his left-for-dead situation? Boggles my imagination. A transcribed version of his hand-written memoir is at sonsofdewittcolony.org if-n anybody was to wanna lookit up.
WWW
I loaded the site nd it looks great. I can see many hours being spent there.
Thanks
Juan
Identify the Armor:
1. Panzerbefehlswagen
Identify the Aircraft:
2. Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat
3. Convair R3Y-1 Tradewind
Well done, as usual.
“Panzerbefehlswagen“- I want one just for the name, sorta like “Farfegnugen”, only with a bit more presence.
There is something about armor plate, a gun, and tracks that makes you take notice and offer at least a little respect.
…with “Old Guys Rule!” Plastered along each side.
Early on the Germans understood the need for an armored command vehicle capable of keeping up with fighting armored vehicles. Thus a command vehicle made out of a Pzkfz 1 chassis. Eh, it worked.
Loved the part about Perry. True grit indeed.
Have a fabulous day and week. :)
Yes, a great deal of grit. I don’t know how they did it.
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Comedy+ I had a great great grandmother who crossed the prairie in 1846. A wagon rolled over her and broke her back. Then at Ft. Bridger, a horse ran away with her with her foot in the stirrup and dragged her. She hit her head on a rock and was blind in one eye thereafter. Then she had 14 children. My great grandfather, who I met before his passing as a young boy was the youngest of 14. Tough people. Different times.
The first time I read the Cicero Perry story I wondered if he was the inspiration for the Woodrow McCall episode in Return to Lonesome Dove.
I think that Charles Goodnight was the inspiration for Woodrow. There were a lot of people, many whose names have been lost to history, who fit that mold. I’m amazed when I read the stories, which are documented as best one can. Researching for The Confederate Cipher – the first of a series that ends up in the West, I’ve run across so many. They laid the framework for much of what we enjoy today.
Yes on Goodnight, but in the non-canonical RTLD, McCall does a long walk like that.
Yes. And there are three books in the Lonesome Dove series. All are well written.
You mentioned the difference between drones and UAVs, but it seems to me that the shahids are not guided, and I thought drones were guided vehicles. What to call them? If not drones?
A UAV can be guided or set on a predetermined path. The term DRONE is over used and I’ve heard politicians blame “drones” without having a clear understanding of what they’re talking about. The same is true of the general public. In a sense it’s like using the term “airplane” for everything from a Wright Flier to a 747 to an F-35. The all fly.
Well…politicians DO drone on, and on, and on, and on. So they go with what they’re familiar with :)
Most of them like the sound of their own voice, which is anathema to the cowboy/southerner/and most rural folks manner. I like to chat (mom’s side heritage) but never learned anything by talking too much…besides making oneself massively boring to others.
The best name for things like the Shaheds is “incredibly bad cruise missiles”.
… but the press has to try and get people excited about something.
– Kle.
Line from You Talk Too Much: “You even worry my pet”. In rural areas, getting animals upset is a bad idea :)
Pharma / Medicare: This is what happens when government (whether local, state, or federal) creates “some program” then decides everyone needs to be in it, then works with large influential companies to supply the necessary products to support said program; it becomes a bloated messy nebula no one understands fully. Same with the IRS. Same with the Covid PsyOp (all of the usual suspects were involved in that deal). Time to whittle back on these asinine “programs” that ultimately do more harm than good.
***
Opening Pic: How the Dems & Left see PDJT, forgetting it’s truly them who operate as an imposing behemoth dictator. Heck, after decades of DC becoming a total crime-ridden cesspool of idiocy, and PDJT…having seen enough…takes temp control of the heart of our Republic (if I hear “our Democracy” one more rime by people who should know better…arg), as a final straw means to fix the mess made by the feckless who believe themselves to be arbiters of right and wrong, Karen Bass comes out yesterday – like clockwork – and demands statehood. The Dems have no play, other than being a thorn in WTP’s backsides.
I didn’t give much thought to Medicare until I turned 65 and found that I was FORCED to pay into it. I explained that I didn’t want or need Medicare. It doesn’t matter what I want or need; it’s a tax. Ok, just come out and call it a MediTax. I’ve seen the propaganda on TV about all the “benefits” it provides. I looked into them. They’re not provided in Northern Arizona. Ok, I don’t want them or need them anyway, but if it’s a national program that you’re taxing me on, why aren’t they provided nationally?
.
Government. Here to help. Sorta. At 10X the cost.
I met a number of older folks (60+) at a Home Depot warehouse job who were carton picking (picking is not bad, wrapping the pallets got old really quick) because they needed medical insurance until they turned 65 and could get Medicare. (HD was self insured and they took about 25% of a paycheck for that coverage.)
If I lived in town I’d be hiding out during the day as a Home Disappointment employee…like a kid in a candy store.
I’d like to live in (almost literally) one of those old hardware stores that employ old men who know what they’re talking about. Those places are rare treasures – mostly gone now.
*meant DC mayor Muriel Bowser not LA mayor Karen Bass…had to be a brain meld because those two are cut from the same incompetent yet arrogant cloth.
Medicare is a huge source of income for drug companies. It appears their manipulation of authorities has dwindled, and their grift is disappearing. Things might get so bad for them they can’t spend billions on advertisement. I wonder how doctors will afford pens, paper, and calendars without all the freebies for their overcrowded offices? Will television survive?
If you go to the doctor, especially AMA and CDC adherents, they WILL find something wrong with you…then prescribe all manner of “drugs” to fix what ailes.
.
Example: Feel fine, operating pn all cylinders, go in for some procedure, like a broken bone, only to discover unexpectedly that yo7 have developed a high secondary hypertension. Doctor immediately starts in;
Dr: “Have you had your Covid shot?”
Me: “Nope, never will either, it’s not a vaccine as there is no vaccine for Coronavirus., and what does that have to do with today?” (That’s me bordering on MikeC offensive retort with intellect territory)
Dr: “Oh, that’s why you’re not in ‘the’ system.”
Me: “Excuse me?” (What the @#$& hay?!).
Dr: “This must be from Sleep Apnea then.”
Me: “Nope, sleeping soundly…don’t have apnea.”
Dr: (looking at the computer still instead of me): Looks like primary hypertension so I’ll write out a prescription [for these two standard drugs].
Me: “Not primary, caused by something else.”
Dr: “Walmart pharmacy will have your prescriptions ready in an hour.”
Me: “Good, I need a couple cans of spray paint and some Doritos.”
—-
Me at the receptionist: “So what do I owe you?”
Gal: Huh? Oh, we won’t know that until e submit it to the insurance company.”
Me (more MikeC Pro-grade retort): “When I go through McDonald’s they tell you what the order costs before getting to the pickup window.”
Gal: Bewildered look on face.
—-
Bottom line: This was beyond stupid…and clear that the K-Street influencing into all aspect of our lives has got to end.
Ps. It WAS secondary hypertension caused by stress and a few other micro things easily remedied…no brain tumors, sleep whatevertheheck, COPD, or a host o Big Pharma directed crap they can make money from the patient, half of which they generate from thin air…just don’t operate heavy equipment with all the modern medicine they throw at you.
Does anyone listen to those stupid pharma ads on TV? No. I didn’t think so. They’re paid for to ensure control over the media. We all get it. If there were actual journalists who reported on actual issues, the bandaid would be ripped off the Pharma scam. Some of it works. I get it. How much of it doesn’t or the side effects are worse than the treatment? There may not be solutions for everything under the Sun.
AI will provide solutions, powered by on site SMR’s.
I think the 80/20 rule applies with Pharma ads…while we thinking types don’t, and I have the added benefit of DrMrsPaulM to verify, I fear far too many people believe those ads hook, line, and sinker…like they did with Covid.
Some of those ads, particularly the recent cartoon style make you wonder what the drug is even about.
Yet people line up like mad to take anything Pharma peddles.
May have mentioned my own recent story of hyperdiagnosis phantasies: Cracked a bone in my arm and went in for x-rays. One x-ray showed a shadow on my humerus, so I was sent to a cancer specialist for testing. The blood test showed elevated protein levels, so I got a scan. The scan showed I was clean. I asked for a second blood test and went home to see what else could cause elevated protein levels. As it turned out, three of the top non-cancer causes were things I had done the day before the first blood test. For the second test I skipped doing all three for several days in advance (and I love bacon cheeseburgers, sigh). The second blood test came back with protein levels at a normal range. The cancer specialist STILL wanted to start cancer treatments on me, based on the first blood test. Nope, not happening.
Drones and weather.
—-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBoIW6XR21A
40 million pounds of water…
** Car shopping with WSF
Rudy Russo, “He doesn’t want a Vega, he wants a Buick Centurion convertible”. Used Cars, the movie.
…and really needs that Tru-Coat, eh.
“The Queen Family Truckster – if you think you hate it now, wait until you drive it.”
Just don’t tie the deeOgee to the bumper.
Just store Grandma on the roof after she passes on.
For those remaining in Democrat-controlled areas, your ultimate choice of transportation would be an Urban Assault Vehicle. Looks like a generic old RV you see parked a at the curb, but whoa-buddy, a little self-defense action is available on demand.
HT “Stripes”.
“That’s a fact, Jack!”
And the Scotch Guard! And we have a special deal this week on pinstriping!
Cicero Rufus Perry’s hands are huge. I am guessing that he worked extremely hard for everything he had and was used to pain and just plain enduring.
History always is the driver in an alt-history novel (at least if you want people to actually read it)… Agree with your ideas/description requirement.