Yes, it’s Sunday in some part of the world.

I’ve been very busy with several things in the life-changing department. Ok, not that life changing, but change and moving means that I couldn’t find the toothpaste. And the work schedule tilted this way and that irritating me as I tried to stuff 30 hours into 24.

“LL, I need to move the meeting on Friday to Monday (Friday morning), that won’t be a problem will it?”

“Not a problem at all, let me kidnap your children and hold them for ransom so the thing works out on Monday.”

I sat down to write a blog and it turned out to be mean and possibly a little unfair to a Fox News contributor who made his way into my crosshairs. Mind you, I have no problem sniping from the hills when it’s needed, but I always try and reflect on the fact that nobody (including me) likes a ‘keyboard commando’. 

There are some truly contemptible people out there. Hillary Clinton comes to mind as do a number of spineless politicians in both parties. They are always fair game. They deserve far more than my puny words of derision.
The swamp is exceptionally deep and America knows that, which is why the nation thrust President Trump into office – to try and bring about needed reform. The government’s gross and enduring dysfunction frustrates me and when that happens, I pull myself back from the edge and say “circle of influence, circle of concern“. That cuts some of the curmudgeonliness because I focus on things that I can do something about rather than the myriad of things that I can’t.
I’m trying to be nicer. Really, I am. Yes, it’s true that I made a telephone call and it resulted in a person being put on the NO-FLY-LIST. Shit still happens. I can’t go from jerk to saint in a single day.

(Saint) Augustine of Hippo is quoted as saying, “bring me purity, but not yet.” AND — That’s as close to a polemic as this sermonette is going to get. And I’m sorry all this can’t be more profound. At the same time, I’m trying to be more circumspect, more compassionate, and less critical. Is it working? 
Time will tell.

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24 COMMENTS

  1. "…I'm trying to be more circumspect, more compassionate, and less critical. Is it working? " Okay, who kidnapped LL and who is this impostor? You know what they say about dressing up a pig. After all the makeup and change, it is still a pit… not that I am calling you a pig. Until you can walk away from your day job, it would not benefit you to become too nice. Just stick to what you know and you will be alright. Now, tell us about the Fox dude.

  2. LTC Ralph Peters, Fox News contributor is right about half of the time, historically. That's not good enough. See, I didn't rip him, I just explained that he isn't right nearly often enough. Additionally, I recall guys just like Peters (former Army Intel Ofcr) giving briefings. They had a similar accuracy quotient to his. In one case a Peters clone tried to school me. I got up to leave the room and he began to chide me about not being as smart as he was. I told him, look at the name of the author of the book (me) that he was teaching from. That shut him up.

    I can't take their gas. I'm sure that LTC Peters is a nice guy – somebody loves him – but I think that he bloviates way too much.

  3. The African Doctor? Well done! I think he was responsible for bringing in the army to end the Circumcellion mutiny, so compassion has an edge?

    Of course we can always let hippies overrun the position whilst singing Imagine and Kumbayah. But that might be self-defeating.

    Congrats on the new WWM effort to put the Beatitudes into practical effect. Not always easy.

  4. Hang in there, LL. You're all stressed out about selling the house and getting WWM further down the road than it is.

    I know you can handle certain kinds of stress remarkably well….just look at the fact that you're still hear after the "interesting" career you've led!

    This whole selling-the-house-and-moving can, and will, stress out most anybody.

    I'm going bonkers over it!

    BTW…got our first offer today and our agent is going to do his best to get them to bump it up to waht we want.

    Time will tell….

  5. I'm heartbroken, what happened to our kick ass, tell it like it is, take no prisoners… LL? We love him just the way he is!

  9. No. It's just that every time I see LTC Peters on TV commenting on how we need to start a war with almost everyone that I want to reach through the screen, grab him by the stacking swivel, tear his arm off with the other hand and beat him with it. Which may sound a little violent, but that's war. He was one of those REMF types who never fought anyone – and always loved the idea of sending other people's kids in to get blown up.

  10. The First Crusade, led by Peter-the-Hermit, was actually one of the first hippy movements on record. It ended badly for Peter and the flower children – which led to the Second Crusade, then the third, etc.

    The Standing Rock protest in North Dakota in winter is emblematic of hippy action. They show up, to "save" Indian land, colonize the place, but because they're lazy bums, they don't work and the Indians have to feed them and their children to keep them from starving. Then the Indians have to keep them from freezing to death (a fitting Darwinian end – averted).

    In the end, the Indians fear that the camp – essentially an open sewer – will end in a cholera epidemic when spring floods come. The state then bails everyone out by hauling off the garbage and some carcasses buried in shallow graves, at a cost of a couple million dollars. The "eco-hippies" are thus revealed as regular scumbags.

    The Darwinian ending would have been more dramatic.

  11. It's a battlefield, DRJ.

    The sand people want to "renegotiate" at the 11th hour. The house went from pending sale to active and on the market again. I have other potential buyers coming through the now empty house today. The sand people may buy the place – or not. That's how the game is played. The problem that the sand people have is that if they default, I get their $20K down. I guess that they don't want that.

    Sand people are predictable.

  12. A Christian isn't supposed to go around shooting narcos in Mexico (for fun and profit) and so forth. I was just considering my options. Maybe I'll remain an AH. It's served me well for all these years.

  15. Why indeed. I believe you mentioned a key word recently–capacity. Outlast the bastards.

    Heh. Meanwhile, "Endeavor to perservere".

    youtube.com/watch?v=hRX6hSGeZs4

    Wife and I arrived here in the DFW area in November of 2015 from Kalifornia. I was a bit twitchy for a bit, but improved steadily when each morning I could think to myself "Hillary is not president, and we are citizens of Texas".

    Press on, sir. You will win, and in time to enjoy it.

  16. Granbury, Texas was very high on my list (it's south and west of Ft. Worth on the Brazos). I looked at some homes on the lake and on the river and some land where I could build but even livable, lovable Granbury was too much city for me. Which tells you how tired I am of the People's Republik of Kalifornia, its mosques and its politics. I need a place where I can ride a horse any direction on the compass rose for two or three days without encountering a fence. Thus the White Wolf Mine.

  18. Oh, shit…..

    Our agent talked to us about that, and told us the same thing. If they sign a contract and default, the down is ours to keep.

    We have two offers, one for the listing price, and one for $5k above the listing price. My wife wants $15k above the listing price, which is what the agent wants us to get.

    Listing it low and then having it bid up is a bit too "eBay" for me, but he knows his business and is very confident we'll get the price we want.

    Having another open house today, hopefully the last.

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