Prompt: an old woman baking bread in a rustic farmhouse kitchen while birds fly through open windows carrying tiny flowers, flour floating like stardust, impressionist painting, soft natural light, rich textures, whimsical countryside life –ar 3:4 –stylize 250 –hd –v 8.1
Caption: A neighbor brought me a loaf of freshly baked, hot bread yesterday, and I have enjoyed eating it with butter and honey slathered on it. I did the neighbor (who lives about 3 miles from me) a favor, and they reciprocated with bread. There are no preservatives, so I need to eat it before it goes bad. That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.
Bullet Points:
** (h/t Claudio & Washington Examiner) Hong Kong police just raided two bookstores and arrested five staff members — for selling books. The charge? “Seditious intent” — meaning the books made readers think critically about the government. A pro-Beijing newspaper explained it this way: books that provoke independent thought are “like poison that causes stomach cancer.” Fahrenheit 451 meets 1984. The mechanics of state control are summarized by the famous Party slogan: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” By changing what people believe about the past, the Party dictates their expectations for the future, thereby maintaining absolute power in the present.
** Beer run. With MRSBRM.
** Swine – Each dot marks a pig farm, and the clusters pick out the few areas doing most of Europe’s work, with Catalonia and Galicia in Spain, Brittany in France, the belt running from the Netherlands and Belgium into north-west Germany, and Denmark. Spain and Germany between them account for close to 40 percent of the EU’s pigs in Eurostat’s count, with 30.1 million and 27.6 million head against a union total of around 150 million. Denmark stands out for a different reason, as the only member state where pigs outnumber people, at 215 pigs for every 100 inhabitants. By comparison, at last count there were about 74.5 million farmed pigs in the U.S.A.
** The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have begun to ask humans to prove that they aren’t a robot. Soon we’ll need to show ID for that – not to vote – perish the thought.
** Flying with RHT447 – you never know when you’ll be mentioned in dispatches.
** Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) today announced a major victory against the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) in Jensen v. ATF, an FPC-backed lawsuit challenging the NFA’s regulation of now-untaxed firearms, such as suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns. U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled that “[b]y zeroing out the transfer and making taxes for most NFA firearms, Congress eliminated the constitutional basis for the regulations that formerly supported the taxes for those firearms.” The Court’s injunction applies to “the plaintiffs and, where applicable, the plaintiffs’ agencies, political subdivisions, members, and customers—both current and future,” but does not take effect for seven days “to allow the defendants to seek relief, if any, at the appellate level.” The opinion was issued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Congress eliminated the NFA’s making and transfer taxes for most regulated firearms in 2025; the Act’s remaining registration and recordkeeping mandates lack any valid constitutional foundation.
** For sale: a single ply toilet paper collection. Mostly new, some used.
** Monsoon is alive and well in Arizona.
Book Review
The Dog Stars – the movie version is coming out, here’s the trailer.
I don’t know if the movie will be any good, but I just finished the book. Here’s the blurb from Amazon.com:
Hig’s wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley. But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.
The book is one of those dystopian, end-of-the-world-by-global-warming-and-a-plague stories – by Peter Heller, who is an NPR contributor. It’s not a zombie story, not really, not in the book anyway. I related more to the old man, Bangley, than to the hero of the story, but both characters were compelling in the book. I think that Heller is a good writer (affinity for NPR notwithstanding) and recommend the book if you like the sort of survivalist, live in a compound at the end of the world sort of story. I think that the Kindle version was overpriced, but a writer has to eat. It’s difficult for me to beat up somebody on that account. From watching the trailer, the movie is far more dramatic than the book – no surprise there.
The New SSGNs
CDRSAL discussed it on his blog, but I wanted to throw my cracker in the soup too here on VM. The military exists for only one purpose: putting ordnance on target. Everything is constructed to that end.
The US Navy decided to scrap its four Ohio SSBN-to-SSGN conversion submarines – because they’re old and timing out. The SSGNs were also designated to support Naval Special Warfare operations. They may have plans to remedy that SpecWar shortfall in the future. But they don’t confide in me.
In a significant strategic shift, the United States Navy has announced that 19 of its future Virginia-class submarines will be officially reclassified as guided-missile submarines (SSGNs). The decision highlights the Navy’s growing emphasis on high-volume, long-range precision strike capabilities and operational flexibility in maritime domains across the globe.
The reclassification specifically applies to the upcoming Block V and Block VI Virginia-class submarines that will be equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM). The VPM is an innovative hull extension designed to vastly increase the submarine’s weapons capacity and provide greater payload versatility. Despite carrying the new SSGN designation to reflect their expanded strike roles, these vessels will remain a core component of the storied Virginia-class program.
According to the Navy, this designation change is a nod to the enhanced role these platforms will play in future Distributed Maritime Operations. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle emphasized the importance of the shift, stating, “Reclassifying Virginia Payload Module-equipped submarines as SSGNs accurately reflects the extraordinary strike capacity, operational flexibility, and global reach these platforms bring to the Fleet.”
The timing of the transition is particularly poignant. It arrives just as the USS Georgia—one of the Navy’s four legacy Ohio-class guided-missile submarines—begins its inactivation process after more than 40 years of exceptional service. The new Virginia-class SSGNs are poised to step up and fill this vital strategic role.
The first submarine to carry the new SSGN designation, SSGN 803, is projected to be delivered in Fiscal Year 2029. Successive deliveries of the remaining 18 submarines are scheduled to roll out through Fiscal Year 2038. Once operational, the Navy plans to dynamically deploy these highly survivable platforms across critical global theaters to maintain a persistent forward presence.
“The Submarine Force is defined by our ability to operate undetected and strike without warning,” said Vice Adm. Rick Seif, Commander of Submarine Forces. “By integrating high-volume precision strike capabilities into these stealth platforms, these SSGNs serve as the ultimate enabler for Distributed Maritime Operations, giving our warfighters the overwhelming, flexible firepower required to win decisively in any theater.”
Alongside their new guided-missile responsibilities, these future submarines will retain the versatile mission profiles that the Virginia class is known for. This includes capabilities in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, intelligence collection, irregular warfare, and mine warfare, ensuring the US Navy remains equipped for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral combat scenarios.
Bolt-Ons
The U.S. Air Force has committed $75 million to an initial production run of a jet-powered guided bomb that can fly more than 300 nautical miles, Boeing said Wednesday.
Boeing’s BSU-111/B Payload Delivery Unit is a wing-and-turbojet engine kit that converts a 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) into a long-range JDAM (JDAM LR) dubbed the GBU-75. The result is a gravity bomb with the reach of a cruise missile.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
Hint: Spanish Civil War
3
2 picts
Parting Shot
End
2 is Polikarpov I-16 (USSR)
Yes, it is. Well done.
Identify the Aircraft
1 – Heinkel He 51
2 – Polikarpov I-16 Type 10
3 – General Aircraft Monospar ST-10
Outstanding!
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Heinkel He 51
2. Polikarpov I-16
3. General Aircraft Monospar
Nailed them.
Love the parting shot!
I would stick to that story about the bread too, Larry! There’s nothing better than fresh cooked bread with thick butter and honey on. I’m salivating at the thought. Besides, fresh bread with no preservatives is very good for your gut. Eat it quickly before anyone else gets the medical benefits.
Fresh, hot, homemade bread with butter and honey is soul food of the very best kind. Lots of gluten!
What, no gluten free?! Gasp, gag, pfft. Bread was made this way for-basically-ever, and it is soul food, especially still warm from the oven. The neighbor you assisted just paid you back in spades…h/t.
I worked on a problem for him for five days (pretty much full days) without thought of repayment. The bread was a nice touch.
Who else but Josh Brolin could play the old guy.
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No, no. That was not a question.
The old guy is a man after my heart. Again, I don’t know how Ridley Scott will twist the movie adaptation. I particularly liked the part where Hig (bringing home two deer he killed) after his dog died of old age is being trailed by 9 bad guys. No spoilers, and the kid sends some of the bad guys to the happy hunting grounds, but the old guy has a surprise for all of them (and it’s not his Cheytac). No spoilers.
I read that book when it first came out and always envisioned JK Simmons as Bangley, and Bruce Dern as the other old soldier (no spoilers). Really liked the book and while there’s some decent action, the main character’s journey (physical and spiritual) kept me engaged. I can recommend the audiobook version, too. Very well done.
I hope Ridley Scott doesn’t try and turn this into Mad Max in an airplane.
The trailer has that Max Max thing going that the book did not. The book was more of an introspective journey.
The Jensen vs ATF case is a great win so far but now we have to wait until August 12th for the other shoe to drop.
On August 12, AG Todd Blance will announce if he’ll appeal it to the 5th Circuit.
Inside betting thinks he won’t appeal it because he didn’t in the concealed carry case involving the Post Office: FPC vs Bondi.
In this case, the Court declard that if an individual is or becomes a member of the Second Amendment Foundation or Firearms Policy Coalition, the individual can legally concealed carry in a Post Office. Without membership, an individual will be in violation of 18 USC 930a.
I joined FPC because neither my CCW or LEOSA allows me to.
I’m personally friends with some of the FPC leadership.
Sounds like a recruitment tool.
Didn’t something similar happen with bump stocks and GOA?
There’s nothing like fresh baked bread still warm from the oven slathered with real butter. No oleo please. In my squandered youth I was known to down an entire loaf in a sitting. Sure couldn’t now but I’d like to try.
Oleo-takes me back to the time of ration books/coupons of WWII and Mom putting the color into the Oleo to fool us into thinking it was “real” butter. As a kid, who knew there an alternative to Oleo.
Oh, that’s a beautiful driveway loop, so even if the tourists block you in on one side, you can still taxi out the other for takeoff after finishing your burger and pie!
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Speaking of lovely things to eat, you now have me plotting. Calmer Half took me to his new favourite gun store yesterday. (It really is a new store, and poached one of the best employees from a closing store whose owner finally retired.) After showing me a pre-1965 Winchester 70 in .375 H&H and then refusing to let me make it a birthday present for him, (This man is so hard to shop for!), he didn’t protest when a S&W Model 10 felt right in my hand and followed me home.
Obviously, I won’t carry a gun I haven’t shot first, so I need to grab one of my brilliant female friends who doesn’t get out to the range near as often as she should, and have her come play with me and the new gun. And it’s been a week since she last used the sourdough starter, so if I tell her that her range fee is one loaf of fresh-baked sourdough bread… it helps both of us!
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Thank you for the idea!
.375 H&H might be too much gun. I’d go for a .270 if I were you. Or, depending on the targets, maybe a .243
“Need to eat it before it goes bad”…have said that to MrsPaulM regarding certain dessert items, will have to include fresh baked bread now.
***
Funny how when Sen. Kennedy points out the ‘why and how’ of things it forces the truth front and center, whereas the Lefty Shills and Democrats work tirelessly to obscure the fact the world is much safer BECAUSE of what Israel and America has done and continues to manage. All we get though is ‘time to end this war!’ (conflict). Never listen to those who, as Reagan said, “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.”…yet they can’t understand the concept they are wrong on everything they espouse.
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Parting Shot: Took a creative writing course I see…until you find out that’s the proprietor’s real name. 🤣
PS. Your opening art draws one into the scene…that old country feel. You can smell the dough. Nicely done.
all i could think about was bird droppings in the dough. what does that say about me?
My first thought as well.
Showing the “prompt” is a good thing, thanks! I used AI to get a picture of Sasquash herding beefalo, took quite a few tries to get what I wanted, it was interesting, I like seeing what someone else did & how it was done. I’m guessing that the numbers at the end were about the picture size.
I make bread (flour, water, yeast, salt) as a hobby from time to time, it gets moldy after just a few days, I make it on Sunday and toss what’s left on Wednesday. My wife bought me a “bread bag” to keep homemade bread in, it works!
I love bread and could love it too much if I allowed myself. Thus, I don’t make it fresh. It was nice of the neighbor, who knows of my affinity to bring it over. He and his wife are getting ready to leave the mountain and move in with kids in Texas. I’ll miss him.
**I think that the Kindle version was overpriced, but a writer has to eat.**
That leads me to a good question…. Where does the money go when I buy a kindle book from Amazon?
Most of it goes to the author. Some authors complain about the split but I think it’s fair. If you buy a kindle book outright that’s one compensation. If you buy on Kindle Unlimited, we’re paid based on how many pages you read. If you think the book sucks and read ten pages, it’s like $.02 but I think that’s fair too.
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There are people in the book world who feel that Amazon is unfair because of their monopoly. Bezos built a better mousetrap and he’s living in one of his five houses or on one of his yachts, banging super models. Good for Bezos. It’s America. He started from zero just the way that Musk did.
Dog Stars: i wasnt impressed with it. If it had been written in the 1980s, maybe. But its been done to death since then.
?: If the ruling stands, and I join one of the winning orgs, does this mean I can legally build my own suppressor without paperwork?
I’d wait for it to be tested in court before getting enthusiastic about manufacturing without paperwork, but my sense is that it will be legal and proper to do so. Much depends on the state. In Arizona, you should be ok, other places, I’d be more cautious.
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I think that Dog Stars was a little sappy. As an author myself, I know how difficult it is to please everyone, so I tend to be on the + side with people’s writing. My expectations were low, but I saw the movie trailer and was looking for a book to read.
Flying with me. Cool animation, obviously not historically accurate. I wonder if it was in part inspired by the YB-40.
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I remember helping my mother make fresh bread. As you say, hot from the oven with butter and honey. Wife likes the opening picture, says it reminds her of a Dutch artist whose name she can’t recall. She also says you should keep your fresh bread in the refrigerator. I replied, “Yup”. (With apologies to skipper Bart Mancuso, the hard part of playing chicken is knowing when to shut up).
Built my own suppressor from JK Armament. EZ peasy. I do have documentation. BTW it took 120 days in Idaho. Brewed beer and distill my own spirits for the last 35 years. We flew a bush plane into the middle fork of the Salmon River. Raft guide said I was the first one to ever bring a keg of homebrew & CO2 tap on a raft trip. I only eat rye bread. Recently had some that was 28 days old. What kind of preservatives were in that?
I love rye bread…but 28 days old? Whatever preservative was in it would keep a mummy intact for 2000 years.
with caraway seeds (typical Brooklyn-Jewish rye), nigella seeds (common Russian-Jewish rye bread), or none?
I like the flavor of the seeds, Boron.
Hanau, Germany 1966 an aunt sent me a care package including bullberry jelly (a Northwest Colorado bush). My cook buddy made fresh bread and we ate like kings. In my younger years I kept sourdough starter and made fresh bread. My youngest sons made certain none spoiled.
Speaking of used toilet paper, when I was in Kosovo it was a mystery why all the toilet seats were broken in headquarters until I observed a Jordanian solder squatting
with his boots on the toilet seat taking a dump. He then proceeded to reach down into the toilet water with his fingers and splashed water up on his ass. Yikes
That happened here in our plant in Canton, near Dearborn.
Very Islamic behavior