Your present buying window is closing for Christmas 2025.
Bullet Points:
** Embracing toxic masculinity at Christmas. Yes. Men are simple.
** The gunners (right and below) understand noise, but not recoil from firing a six-pound ball. They shoot light powder charges.
** (Foreign Affairs) Latin America seems primed for a once-in-a-generation shift that would fundamentally change how countries deal with organized crime, economic policy, their strategic relationships with the United States and China, and more. In 2025, the conservative president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, was reelected, while Milei’s party won an unexpectedly significant victory in Argentina’s critical midterm legislative elections, adding even greater momentum to his agenda. Bolivia saw an end to almost 20 years of socialist rule with the election of Rodrigo Paz Pereira, a centrist reformer. Conservative presidential hopefuls are leading polls in Costa Rica and Peru, and are within striking distance in Brazil and Colombia, in elections due before the end of 2026. There is also the question of Venezuelan regime change and what that will mean not only for Venezuela but also for the region around it.
** Understanding what fascism is.
** It’s the NEWS!
** The reason for the Season (SNL). Another gentle act of kindness.
** It is the VM opinion that (Senator – D-AZ) Captain Mark Kelly USNR-R will be officially recalled to active duty to face allegations of seditious activity, in a general court-martial. Captain Kelly will have the right to defend himself, and he will retain counsel to aid in his defense. He may be offered a chance to plead guilty to seditious behavior and accept a dishonorable discharge. If he presses the matter, he’ll likely face trial, and if found guilty, he’ll spend twenty to life at Leavenworth.
** I have two daughters who teach junior high school. It’s more than a job. It’s a calling. It’s an older skit, but still funny.
** Anyone who thinks invading Venezuela will be easy is kidding themselves. Maduro will likely be easy to remove. His armed forces will easily be defeated. Insurgencies are notoriously difficult to put down. Those who say only a minority will support an insurgency the Day After should not forget that minorities support most insurgencies. And foreign invaders frequently face opponents with a rally around the flag mentality once the shooting starts. The Colombian ELN militia is vowing to fight and likely would be a core of an insurgency against the US or any government installed by the U.S.
** It’s popular in Austria at Oktoberfest. Only click if you want an ear worm boring into your brain. Drinking songs all have that somewhat addictive quality, like driving in a car and doing the bottle-of-beer countdown. This one (reprised later in the week in another blog) is more seasonally appropriate.
** (h/t Claudio) The Chinese marriage market. The same thing is happening in the US and the West in general, so it’s not only a Chinese thing.
** Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, vowed Friday she will “grab a pickax” and remove President Donald’s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the day he leaves office.
Are Traditions being Destroyed in the name of Woke?
Schwarze Pete (Zwarte Piet / Black Pete) refers to a historical, blackface-wearing companion to Saint Nicholas in Dutch and Belgian folklore, traditionally appearing during Sinterklaas celebrations to hand out gifts. Sinterklaas gives gifts to good children, and the negro beats them with a stick if they haven’t been good. If children are good, but somehow get into mischief, Black Pete sneaks into their bedrooms and steals the gifts that Sinterklaas gave them.
Some have criticized the characterization as a racist caricature rooted in colonialism. They want to replace the negro (or character in black face) with a “sooty white helper.” In the US, it’s a lot like taking the negro off the pancake syrup label or the Indian off the butter label. Many think that removing minorities from a place they’ve enjoyed for decades (or centuries) is an example of racism.
FF(X) Developments
The U.S. Navy announced Friday a strategic shift in its surface combatant procurement, unveiling plans for a new frigate class based on Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Legend-Class National Security Cutter design following the cancellation of four Constellation-class vessels.
Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan confirmed the service will acquire the FF(X) frigate using an accelerated approach designed to deliver combat power faster than traditional shipbuilding programs. “To deliver at speed and scale, I’ve directed the acquisition of a new frigate class based on HII’s Legend-Class National Security Cutter design: a proven, American-built ship that has been protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad,” Phelan said in the announcement. “President Trump and the Secretary of War have signed off on this as part of the Golden Fleet. Our goal is clear: launch the first hull in the water in 2028.”
Is it a return to LCS? The program has that sort of stench. Tell me that I’m wrong and that a Coast Guard Cutter is sufficient to bang it with the PLA(N) in the First Island Chain.
Painting a Coast Guard Cutter grey will not result in a frigate.
Let’s talk homicides in Chicago.
After all, the city has a reputation for a reason, right? We wanted to get to the truth about murders in the Windy City and wrote a report comparing it to other cities while also analyzing trends over the years.
Here are the highlights from our report:
- Chicago’s average homicide rate is 27.1 per 100,000 residents(excluding justifiable homicide and involuntary manslaughter).
- 64% of Chicago’s neighborhoods (49 of 77) had homicide rates above the national average between October 2024 and 2025.
- Chicago’s murder rate declined by 7.95% in 2024, but its peer cities had steeper declines.
We also compared Chicago to smaller cities and analyzed the most dangerous neighborhoods. Please read the report and share it with others who may be interested. You’ll find the link here:
https://ammo.com/research/chicago-homicide-rate
Identify the Musket (or at least the lock)
1
2
3
Identify the Aircraft
4
Santa’s Helpers
End
1 early precussion cap
2 Matchlock
3 Flintlock probably a British Brown Bess
Identify the Musket(s):
Nary a clue
Identify the Aircraft:
4. Bréguet 731
1 – Some kind of a tube lock – Know nothing past that
2 – Matchlock – Know nothing past that
3 – Flintlock – Know nothing past that
4 – French Bréguet 731
2- Firelock, It’s essentially a step between the matchlock and the later, more reliable flintlock.
I’ve been told it was serviceable for 400 years.
Comments on the Chinese Marriage Market video didn’t show much sympathy for all the unmarried gals, suspecting them of having too high a standard of what they wanted in a guy back when they were younger.
Chicago crime: I think it was in the 1990’s that a story came out saying cities got a bum rap for violence. It then cited the murder rates for London in the 1290’s and the Netherlands around the 1400’s. If my (now variable) memory is working correctly, those stats were – London with 129 per 100,000 and the Netherlands at around 90 per 100,000. Someone must have suggested that these stats showed guns were not a cause for high murder rates, as they quietly disappeared from public view.
>having too high a standard of what they wanted in a guy
—
Just goes to show things are the same the world over. The joke (which is not a joke, alas) is that modern women expect the “three sixes” (or 4 sixes, and not Taylor Sheridan’s ranch). He must be over 6-foot tall, he must make six figures (over $100k USD per annum), he must have a six-pack (be in shape). The hidden fourth six is an over 6-inch penis. How realistic? Let’s see, shall we?
—
At least 6-foot height: under 15% in the US (the girl in the video adjusted it to 175cm or 5’9″ in the Chinese population, which is reasonable)
At least $100k: somewhere in the low 20’s. Call it 25% to be generous.
Six-pack: dunno, but have you LOOKED AT the average young male these days? Let’s be generous and say 40% of men are in shape. (Actually, NHANES 2017-2018 data says that 77% of US adult males are overweight or obese, so only 23% have normal body-mass index. And normal BMI is not the same thing as fit. Damn it. I have normal BMI but am hardly fit.)
Endowed: Google says ~10%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdExsAQuCQA&t=15s
—
What are the odds that a random male has four sixes? (0.15)(0.25)(0.40)(0.10)x100% = 0.15%. That’s three in 2000 men. Yes, I know that these factors are not independent. Height is probably correlated with penis length, high socioeconomic status definitely is correlated with fitness (or at least non-obesity), and so forth, but we’re just talking ballpark figures here.
—
The next question is, what do YOU bring to the table, ladies? Are you 5’9″ or more? Is your body-mass index below 25.0? Do you have a body count lower than a dozen? And that’s leaving out morals, personality and disposition. (Because the four 6’s also don’t mention those — yet those are SUPER important for a successful lasting relationship; why, it’s as if these “want lists” are kind of stupid! Nah, couldn’t be.)
—
Not that these 0.15-percenter men aren’t out there. But why would a guy like THAT want YOU? The female cognates are out there too, but despite the pseudo-feminist claptrap that is “American” popular culture claiming that all men expect to date a Victoria’s Secret model who is a nymphomaniac [1], and whose daddy owns a brewery [2], men are probably generally more realistic than women these days in terms of the “want list”.
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[1] this is NOT a good thing, actually
[2] I’m not a sexist pig like that. I support strong, independent wimmenz: I expect my girl to own the brewery her own damn self.
👍😁
Remember the old seeking relationship, newspaper column?
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“Please send picture of your boat”
That is all baloney (from the “what ‘gals’ want in a man” standpoint)…6-packs are for guys who work out all the time and hang out on weekends with the boys playing video games, who also go to the gym 5 days a week for 2 hours a pop. Soon though, the aging process comes into affect, most of us can’t stop t-level reduction (unless you’re RFKjr). I was 185 and fit…until 40, and work my tail off most days, physically…but I like dessert too.
.
As for the other, income is simply a number, and like modern Snickers Bars, ‘shrinkflation’ can be in effect here as well – good packaging but less product for the money…or as we would say about a jacked-up car with a 6cyl, “All show and no go” (‘All hat, no cattle’ is similar). My dad made $82 a week when he married my [stay at home] mom…later, as a proper marital team, became ‘self made’, said he couldn’t have done it without mom. As for the other, well, unless you got the seriously low-end model, it’s not the…to be polite…tool in the drawer but how the mechanic uses it. Too much modern mentality.
.
MrsPaulM: “Real woman want a real man, not a guy…they want potential. If he wants to hang out with his buddies after marriage, or isn’t self-directed, motivated, and disciplined, plus a gentleman, he’s not marrying material.”
She also says woman may want a guy they can control…at first…but that wears off pretty quickly, then they realize they really wanted a man but now are stuck with a mamas boy (in a 3-day scruff that seems to be the norm nowadays).
“He” thought she’d always be the same…shape, personalty, ect. Two babies later, whoah! ” She” thought he’s workable material, I can train him. He’s pretty much the same dude, hopefully more mature and all the more loving and kind.
–
I think I’ve already shared my toilet lid training back when we had 2 teenage daughters. So I’ll stand down now.
X2
I love guy humor. Men may be “simple” but they’re awesome!
Chile just elected José Antonio Kast as their new President.
He’s a fan of Trump and his policies about the economy, crime and illegal immigration.
The left has already stirred up stories that he’s Pinochet reincarnated…. Free helicopter rides and such.
IDM-
1. Austrian M.1842 musket which uses a Augustin system percussion “tube lock” instead of the percussion cap.
2. A “Matchlock Rifle”. The mechanism uses an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, to hold a burning piece of cord or twine known as a “match”.
3. A British made “Brown Bess”. The gun, officially called Short Land Pattern Musket, was one of the most used firearms during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was a avant-charge carbine, long and heavy, with smooth bore and large caliber. It is notable for its robust construction and reliability of its flintlock mechanism.
4. Bréguet 731, a French flying boat designed for the French Navy.
-STA LETHAL
You really delivered the mail today, HogsbreathSS
I’ve never seen a Bess with an octagonal barrel.
Neither have I.
Invading Venezuela – I don’t think it’d be an especially great idea,
but we could make it relatively easy if we actually wanted to and
took it seriously. The Old British showed the way in Malaysia, it’s
fairly straightforward. However, I’m sure the Swamp would want
a long, drawn-out stalemate with our military forces handcuffed
by bullshit, to enhance the graft, instead.
*
Legend class – it depends. HII has some frigate designs based on
a high level of commonality with the NSC that would be adequate.
Especially decent are the ones with a hull plug raising the displacement
to 6000+ tons, which would make room for 32 VLS cells. If, however,
the DoD / Cabinet simpletons intend to just go with a same-displacement
variant, then we’re going to get an OPV instead of an actual warship,
which even upgunned will be of limited use. Very limited. We desperately
need more hulls, but building inadequate ones because they’re fast to
get isn’t really worthwhile. It isn’t as though they’re going to buy and
commission 200 of them, and make up for quality with volume, after all.
I’ve already given my list of what I consider minimum capability for a new FFG
for the USN here (for what it’s worth), and in short it comes down to we need
at least an OHP-equivalent, upgraded for the modern threat environment.
– Kle.
x2
If anything the pictured design you show has pretty clean lines, invoking something less hideous than some of these new ‘I just got my industrial design degree from Penn’ concepts. At least this one looks like it is going in the right direction.
I thought the same thing too but it looks to be lacking in firepower.
Hill’s original proposal was with an extension to give the 32 cell VLS and a few more things, but reasonable. And they were shocked when the USN selected the FREMM that turned out to not be very FREMMly at all.
–
So, yes, the lines are there. The possibilities are there. It was and is a good design if brought up to decent standards. With the current War Department, I see the chance to actually produce a clean useful design on time and on budget that actually performs to standards. Rather than not being a clean design, late, overbudget and having to fudge the standards in order to make the vessel fit, as was done with the very unFREMMLy class or the LCS classes.
–
Again, it’s all based on how the War Department smacks the Navy procurement department around and whether the
deep state gets its way or if the War Department, which wants functioning ships NOW, gets its way.
–
One can hope. If the War Department can give every servicemember $1,776.00 tax free before Christmas, a feat unimaginable under previous administrations (even Trump’s first term, where he was saddled with Deep State actors (looking at you, Mattis and especially at you, you fat copulation, Millie,) then the chance to actually acquire a functioning ship class pronto and right now is possible.
–
We’ll just have to hope, and see.
I can’t figure out Mark Kelly. There was nothing to gain by his behavior, and makes me wonder if a stray cosmic ray took out some important reasoning part of his brain. Then again, he may have climbed into bed with those that hate the United States, and for their silence, promote their agenda.
Military Industrial Complex got its hooks in him…money talks., BS walks. The guy is a nudge desperate to stay relevant.
Kelly has it in his head that he can be the next US President.
As long as he keeps it there.
He needs a glass belly button so he can see where he is going with his head……………..
😄
There’s a large need of retrofitted glass bellybuttons for the whole of government.
Schwarze Pete (Zwarte Piet / Black Pete):
He would take the bad children and put them in a sack to sell to the Muslim slave trade.
Dutch boys slept with a pocketknife to cut their way out.
Good idea – sleeping with a clasp knife.
The concept of Schwarze Pete and all the variations came about at a time when… Black muslims were raiding all the way up to Norway for slaves. So the justification is real. Sleeping with weapons available was a sensible idea. If you look at the rural building construction of the time all throughout coastal Europe, the trend was away from windows and back to defensible structures. Not because of the various religious wars, but because of piracy and slavery.
–
But I guess we’re not allowed to talk about it these days. Supposedly.
–
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the background developments behind Krampus in Germany was the slave raids by Muslims into middle Europe. Another thing not talked about much at all. Sure, everyone somewhat knows about the Siege of Vienna and why Vlad was into really realistic lawn ornaments for Halloween, well, year round really, but slave raids and minor clashes with muslims was a constant thing once Byzantium fell and the paynim got access to central Europe.
Schwarze Pete: “Some have criticized the characterization as a racist caricature rooted in colonialism. “…the same “liberal arts” graduates with way too much time on their bored hands, so – for reasons only known to their addled brains – they have to ruin all traditional fun in the world. Next it’ll be ‘White lighted Christmas trees are racist!’ (or has that already been said?)…to which I present the best ornament ever just to mess with the whiners: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1116827526/die-hard-vent-ornament
[Saw Ukraine sunk a Chinese oil tanker…first thought: “Where are all the environmentalists screaming for Zkyy’s head for killing fish and waterfowl?” Some guy accidentally spills oil in his driveway or levels a wet spot in his backyard and the Enviro-ninny’s come out of the woodwork with their ‘criminal act’ citation pad and pen at the ready. But this? Crickets…because, like those cited above, the Left are cowards.]
***
‘Men are Simple’: And the point is…what, exactly?
Wife: “How come you never tell me you love me?”
Hub: “I did.”
Wife: “When?”
Hub: “On our wedding day…told you ‘I love you’ and that hasn’t changed…will let you know if it does.”
—
New Girlfriend: “What a wonderful dinner…I think I’m falling in love. Maybe he’ll tell me he loves me.”
Him: [Being quiet, thinking…]
Her: Oh no! he’s being so quiet, hasn’t said a word, maybe he doesn’t like me anymore…I hope I didn’t upset him, maybe this is all a mistake…oh, this is terrible! I think I’m going to cry, my life is over!”
Him: [thinking to himself] “Pretty sure I forgot to change the oil in the tractor, really need to check that when I get home.”
[Looks over at her seeing her on the verge of tears] “You okay? Thinking we should go to a movie Saturday.”
IDM. On that topic, here’s an interesting channel.
—
https://www.youtube.com/@Everythingblackpowder
Battleships?
Well, gee, armored big gun ships with room for VLS and anti-air systems are not a bad idea. How resistant is battleship armor to anti-ship missiles? Yes, an Exocet took out the Sheffield, but that was a magnesium-aluminum superstructure on a more-aluminum hull and there’s not a lot of resistance to explosion with that type of hull construction. But steel-armored hulls resistant to 16″ artillery and torpedoes?
–
Everyone says, including Victor David Hanson, that Pearl Harbor showed that battleships were obsolete. I beg to differ. Battleships weren’t and aren’t obsolete. There were battleship to battleship battles after Pearl Harbor. And there are many beach landings and coastal battles from WWII to the Gulf War where having an armored fort firing big assed projectiles was effective. Decidedly so. Tell the Marines at Guadalcanal that battleships were obsolete. Tell the allied soldiers at Normandy that BBs were of no use. Same with any of the Pacific campaigns.
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Armor still works to this day. Yes, armor isn’t much against a nuke, except that the anchored nuke tests showed that direct hits only would kill an armored ship. Distance from the blast allowed the armored ships to survive both airblasts and underwater blasts. And still to this day not everyone has nukes.
The question is not the relative usefulness of floating missile and gun platforms because we have them and they are useful. The question is whether we can build more than two DESTROYERS per year in the USA. It it better to have a golden battleship or an aircraft carrier? Or three submarines? Are we going to build the new Columbia Class SSBNs? Is it either or for the battleships?
Yes, with current purchasing and procurement systems and the outright corruption in what’s left of the US shipbuilding industry, trying to build two… battlecruisers, which is what they are, battlecruisers sounds strange and stupid.
–
But it’s the basis of what the Zumwalts were supposed to do. Provide gunfire and missilefire for support of ground operations and sea operations. And of which the Zumwalts failed spectacularly because the USN built a gun too expensive to fire, rather than a navalized version of a 155mm autoloader (of which we had very nice versions… in the 1950s… on navy ships.) Same with the railgun that the USN was supposed to have on said Zumwalts. And it also replaces what the CGX failed to create.
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So, yes, I support BCs being built.
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I also support new destroyers and frigates. New amphibious assault ships. The Columbia class. Fix and make more Ford CVNs. Newer landing craft. Fix and replace the whole damned fleet that’s been left to rot for far too long.
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All of which will bring back the shipyards. And I don’t have a problem with the hulls of lighter combatants being built in South Korea and final fitted-out in the US. Or done completely by the RoKs. Because we need those hulls now.