Caption:
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women are merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts are seven ages.” (Shakespeare – As You Like It)
Meaning and Context: Shakespeare used an extended metaphor, comparing life to a play and people to actors, suggesting our lives are roles we play. The speech goes on to detail these seven ages: the infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon (old age), and finally, second childishness. The idea itself comes from a Latin phrase known in Shakespeare’s time, “totus mundus agit histrionem” (“all the world plays the actor”).
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2026 Begins – and how will it end for us?
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Historic Interlude:
The schiltron was Scotland’s answer to armored cavalry in the late 13th and early 14th centuries—a disciplined wall of infantry armed with long spears, packed so tightly that a charging horse faced a forest of points. To cavalry built on shock and speed, it was like crashing into a living barricade.
These formations could be circular for defense on all sides or rectangular to advance. Their strength wasn’t the weapon alone, but cohesion. If the line held, knights lost their advantage. If it broke, the result was disaster.
The Wars of Independence proved both sides of the lesson. At Falkirk in 1298, William Wallace’s schiltrons stood firm against cavalry but were shredded by English archers. Spears could stop horses—arrows could still break men.
At Bannockburn in 1314, Robert the Bruce refined the tactic. Using narrow ground and soft terrain, the Scots denied the English room to maneuver. The schiltrons advanced with control, turning cavalry into a trapped mass. The result was chaos—and victory.
The schiltron wasn’t invincible. It was effective because ordinary soldiers trusted one another enough to stand their ground together—and in doing so, proved infantry could defeat the elite if discipline held.
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Bullet Points:
** Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” -Oscar Wilde
**We’ve been conditioned to think that only politicians can solve our problems. But at some point, maybe we will wake up and recognize that it was politicians who created our problems.” – Ben Carson
** Yesterday – Somalia assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for January 2026, a significant diplomatic role that allows it to set the agenda, chair meetings, and represent the council, marking a significant milestone for the nation’s international presence after joining as a non-permanent member for the 2025-2026 term. Somalia’s Ambassador to the UN, Abukar Dahir Osman, is leading these efforts, focusing on peace, security, and global cooperation. If ever there was a reason to flush this organization, that’s it.
** (Spectator) If Secretary Hegseth thinks he will fix what’s wrong with our senior flag officers by making inspiring speeches and firing a few DEI hires, he is wrong. Without fundamental reform, the rot will continue. The careerists will wait him out, and business as usual will continue long after he is gone.
** (Usual Suspects) 22-year-old black man held on $1 million bail in Phoenix – 2022 – armed robbery; 2022 – human trafficking; 2025 – Currently on probation for discharging a firearm within city limits. Shoots 3 women and the man with them at a club. Claimed self-defense. I think this is called a pattern of behavior. Shame some people had to be shot before the justice system took him seriously. If you removed negroes from the statistics, the US would appear to be very safe.
** After 46 years of people predicting the fall of the Ayatollahs in Iran, I doubt that 92 million Iranians are about to topple their theocracy, considering 78 million of them were born after the ayatollah took over in 1979. This is the only life they have known. There is thin support for the beards in the cities, but in the vast swath of rural villages, the mullahs still have a grip on daily life.
** A Texas hamburger? Really? Is this cooking with LSP?
** You are only as safe as you are dangerous. Weakness is not a virtue. It’s a target. Stay dangerous.
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Lasers
CDRSAL discusses naval military lasers as defensive weapons. I have some operational familiarity with the development, and I will avoid potentially classified parts, but the physics of light-spectrum-based energy weapons in the boundary layer* (MBL) is very challenging. The MBL is not a fixed object or region, and it responds to a range of physical factors.
* The Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) is the crucial, turbulent region where the ocean and atmosphere directly interact, exchanging heat, moisture, and momentum, influencing weather, climate (like fog/clouds), and air quality, characterized by vertical mixing (cells/rolls) and varying depth (MBLH) depending on sea surface temps, wind, and latitude, acting as a key climate regulator.
Airborne and space-based Lasers are very different in their use and are less influenced, if at all, by water-induced distortions. While I believe that ground, airborne, and space-based laser weapons can be very effective, I question the practical use of such weapons against cruise missiles (and drone UAVs) approaching a ship or coastline in the boundary layer. The energy required to overcome the physical limitations imposed by the MBL on weapons systems is substantial. They could be of much greater use against ballistic missiles, which travel at far greater altitudes and avoid the MBL. That may be why the proposed Trump Class BBG(N?) is being designed with a defensive laser system. I’m more comfortable thinking of the proposed Trump Class as a CG(X)(N), but that’s me, and I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole here.
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Little Mogadishu
For many years, day care centers in Minnesota have been submitting claims to the government for reimbursement for care allegedly provided to children at their facilities. A considerable number of these claims have been fraudulent. In some cases, it appears that no children were ever at the facilities. In other cases, it seems the parents of real children were complicit. They showed up, signed documents saying they were leaving their children at the facilities, and then left without actually having the center do anything. The parents in question then received kickbacks from the daycare centers out of the government reimbursement.
The government funds in question are intended to cover the cost of child care for low-income families. Some of that comes from the state. The federal government provides a great deal of that money via block grants. That means the money being looted in Minnesota was coming from all across the United States.
Much of the money paid by the government ultimately left the country in cash. We may be talking about as much as $9 billion.
Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced Dec. 23 that the agency was freezing $5.5 million in funding to Minnesota pending further review. The SBA said it had identified 13,600 PPP loans in Minnesota totaling $430 million that were suspected of being fraudulent.
“Minnesota cannot be trusted to administer federal tax dollars,” Loeffler said. “Its socialist welfare system has enabled fraud on an industrial scale, at the expense of honest Americans.”
Everyone knew. None of this was a surprise. None of this was unknown. A massive number of people were “in on it”. They all understood the point. None of this was about providing services of any kind. It was about providing a mechanism for stealing massive amounts of money. It was about theft.
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Identify the Ship
1
Identify the Rifle
2
Identify the SMG
3
4
End
1 is Limnos is an Elli-class frigate of the Hellenic (Greek) Navy
Yes!
1 – Greek Navy HS Limnos Elli-class frigate
2 – Burnside carbine
3 – M3 submachine gun .45 caliber – Usually referred to as the Grease Gun
4 – Russian PPS-43
Excellent
M3 A1 note the lack of charging handle and larger ejection port &cover. Bolt had a depression to allow for your finger to pull the bolt back
This was the first full auto I ever fired, 51 years ago
I always thought that the charging handle/crank was odd.
It was awkward to use and seemed fragile to me
Deleting it reduced the parts count and cost
All the clown pics reminded me of a comment about the EU seen elsewhere saying it was a circus with no ringmaster, only a bunch of monkeys and clowns.
Most definitely not a Texas burger preparation technique.
Israel, in a semiarid / dry climate, is an excellent location for point defense laser systems. Marine environments are not.
Maybe in Austin. That’s kinda ground zero for deviant behavior in Texas.
😀
And for those that don’t believe you, take a stroll down 6th street after dark. It makes Bourbon Street look like a church picnic.
Root Cause (in all these cities): Liberal feel-good mentality.
How did the bun get unsoggyed?
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet…my thought as well.
We’ll have to wait for LSP.
X2 – and it’s very dry at altitude.
And C-sub-n-squared matters…
Will Ilhan Omar ever be investigated for immigration fraud and denaturalized/deported?
No. And Walz is tripling down like he’s an innocent Boy Scout. 100 years ago they’d both be hanged in an expedient manner, not these 4 year “investigations” that occur until people forget what happened and nothing comes of it. The dopes in NYC voted in a wealthy Middle East Manchurian, then yesterday cheered him on. Seattle voted for Wilson, a self-important nutjob Socialist who is telling grocery chains they are disallowed from leaving even if they lose money to theft and worse crime that the likes of her created. Can’t fix that level of delusional brain damage.
The communist playbook is one of creating class envy. People in NYC don’t like high prices – Zoltan promises everything will be free – because the government will loot the rich. When it’s no longer profitable, the rich will move. It takes 3 seconds to figure it out.
I doubt it. She’s part of a protected class.
Little Mogadishu is growing…
Seattle: https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2006327355166589007
Ohio: https://revolver.news/2025/12/are-the-massive-somali-scams-flowing-through-ohio-now/
With an average IQ of 68 – breeding is the one thing they seem to be able to manage.
Deport all of the ones (80%, 90%) who do not assimilate an become productive Americans…today…delayed and this will get further entrenched and WTP will get even more hosed.
I think the 10% envisioned as possibly being good citizens are too tainted. They need to have their refugee status revoked, and sent back to the primitive culture they embrace. Maybe in a few hundred years they will influence their own people to the point they refute their cultural thievery and demand integrity.
Good point…no quarter allowed considering in many cases when not obvious it is difficult to discern the good from the bad hombres. (my cultural appropriation word of the day).
Identify the Ship:
1. Greek frigate Limnos
Identify the Rifle:
2. Sharps
Identify the SMG:
3. M3
4. PPS-43
Well done
Reply to the Spectator-
Careerists who adapt to prevailing political winds can indeed outlast any single secretary, reverting to “business as usual” once the pressure eases. Active-duty personnel, contend they restore focus on lethality, merit, and cohesion—addressing the “rot” by forcing accountability at the top rather than waiting out reformers.
-STA LETHAL
Grease Gun. I was trained to repair those at Small Arms Repair School at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Minor tech note–the small “C” shaped bracket at the rear of the stock is a magazine loading tool. Shoulder stock can be completely removed, and can also be used as a wrench to unscrew the barrel. Arms of the stock are squeezed against two opposing flats on the rear of the barrel.
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While I was stationed in West Germany, we had an M3A1 (pictured above) come into the shop that was totaled. Don’t remember how just now, but the decision had been made to charge who ever was responsible with negligence and make them pay for it. So we initiated and E.C.O.D. (Estimated Cost of Damages). Total replacement cost: $24 and change (around 1975).
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There is a delightful video over on YouTube of the ever irrepressible Jerry Miculek firing a Grease Gun. Just be aware that YouTube has gone full Karen and you will have to sign in to verify that you won’t wet your pants watching full auto fire.
H/T for all the experiences being shared in the comments. Planes, ships, ect were foreign objects to me before receiving my free subscription to V.M. Even repair experiences RHT, or real life operations like Grant and L.L. shared yesterday keep me wanting to renew or at least tip a Krugerrand.
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Aircraft question; Relating to the A-10 trainer i.d. a few days ago. Eliminating the vertical stabilizer and angling the horizontal stabilizers. Without Google searching… can I ask what the advantages are or the reasons for the design being rare?
X1000!
>After 46 years of people predicting the fall of the Ayatollahs in Iran
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Why would the ayatollahs fall? Didn’t you tell us about the collusion between some self-proclaimed “Jewish” organization and some wannabe “Nazis” in Southern California? I forget the actual names, but basically it was Hermann Schweinschtupper’s goons providing security for Abe Weisenheimer while ol’ Abe went about giving speeches about how “his people” were at imminent threat of being rounded up, gassed and their corpses fed to bears — while Hermann was half a mile away holding some idiot white supremacy rally inveighing against something like “The Jews control the supply of fluoride!!!” Kayfabe and mutually beneficial theater. Hmmm.
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As Voltaire said on another topic: If the ayatollahs did not exist, “we” would have had to invent them. Wait, “we” kind of did.
Yes, collusion between Irv Rubin of the Jewish Defense League and Stan Widdick (American Nazi Party) & Tom Metzger (White Aryan Resistance). There was significant collaboration in fundraising. When the Jews stopped paying the JDL, the Nazis would paint swastikas on Jewish headstones or engage in some other obnoxious behavior. They’d hold a uniformed march next to a synagog on Shabbat. Likewise, if the take by the Nazis or WAR slacked off, Irv Rubin would appear on television threatening them. It played out on the Wally George Show, KDOC 28, Anaheim – The Hot Seat.
The Ayatollahs use periods like this to identify who the troublemakers are and eliminate them. The local uprisings become cullings.
I am happy enough that they are working on naval laser point defense.
There are certainly problems to overcome before (if) it becomes useful,
but plenty of stuff I wouldn’t have bet upon ever working has come true
during my life. I just don’t want some idiot to decide lasers are the only
possible fix, and drop all the other development.
*
Omar – well, we can always hope that she mis-steps one day, and can’t
bring in the graft for her constituents. At that point, I presume they will
treat her just like they have always treated failed hetmen, and drag her
corpse through the streets. Live by the 3rd World savage, die by the 3rd
World savage.
– Kle.
Do the Somalis play bozkashi with losers heads?
Oh boy! I used to watch his show. He had some wacked out guests. His daughter is the actress Rebecca De Mornay.
I remember Tom Metzger in the 1980s. He was always down on the border protesting against illegal immigration.
I was a little closer to the matter because of my job. Yes, Rebecca DeMornay (who was exceptionally hot) was Wally’s daughter. I could never figure that one out.
LL, I have never in my life seen such a thing, though it does remind me of Scotland where, as you know, they’ll fry a Mars bar and a pizza to boot. What does this mean?
Clearly a new and experimental series of Cooking With LSP posts.
Hmmmm.
I’m standing by for the new LSP boiled burger and bun.
Re the burger, HELL NO! Texas my ass… Re lasers, you are correct, boundary layer issues cause all kinds of problems, all of which are ‘variable’ depending on conditions, location, etc.
Being dangerous. Jordan Peterson is most eloquent.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwaLhSgi7q8
One of he better solutions to defeating the MBL or ground fog is height. Which is reflected in the Trump BC (they’re not BB’s, they’re battle cruisers – BCs.) Height for the lasers gets you further action distance and puts your emitters above most of the MBL schmutz. Same with mounting them on carriers, height matters so put them up on the top of the island. Lasers won’t be as effective on smaller ships because of lesser heights available for mounting the lasers.
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It’s also very much an issue with connectivity in the air-defense systems of all the combatants in the task force. AEGIS/whatever, powerful command and control tying in everything into a complete integrated air defense over the whole TF (with human oversight, of course.) Lasers, VLS missiles, autocannon of 5″ to 76mm to 57mm and all the chain guns, rolling frame missiles and gatling point defense systems. Key word is integrated. All the ships have to connect into one giant web of defense.
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The more powerful and efficient the lasers get, the faster the pulsing of the pulse lasers (allows for ‘clearing’ of the plasma at the recieving end) the more lasers will truly come into their own.
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Get them good enough and you could easily hard-kill fast moving surface targets. But you don’t even need to do that, for the most part, as you can just lase the crew of the small boats with a less powerful but still pretty damned powerful laser. Kinda hard to do pirate shit when your Mk1 eyeballs are burnt out. And… you can lase the cockpits of planes with ‘military strength’ lasers though I think that’s considered a war crime or something.
Maybe if lasers get good enough the Zumwalts will actually become an asset to the fleet.