MTG, Hanging it Up
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) (R-GA) announced yesterday that she will resign from the House of Representatives in January 2026. She posted a video on Twitter delineating the reasons for her decision, and the full text of her statement is available online. It is worth quoting here the portion of that statement in which she outlines her view of the country’s state at this time.
I always thought that she had a screw loose. She’s not leaving with honor, no matter how she characterizes her service or her resignation, IMHO. Feel free to disagree. She’s blaggarding everyone on her way out.
MTG, democracy is messy, and so is a Republic. Benjamin Franklin was doubtful that we could keep what he gave us, but we’ve managed so far. It sounds as if she’ll be stumping for democrats (for pay) now.
Singularities
(h/t Claudio)
A new simulation could help solve one of astronomy’s longstanding mysteries—how supermassive black holes formed so rapidly—along with a new one: What are the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) “little red dots?”
Invisible leviathans lurk at the cores of nearly all of the 2 trillion or so galaxies strewn throughout space-time. Monster black holes entered the cosmic scene soon after the Universe’s birth and grew rapidly, reaching millions or even billions of times the Sun’s mass in less than a billion years. Astronomers have long wondered how these supermassive black holes could have grown so hefty in such a short time.
The monster black hole mystery became even more perplexing in 2022 when “little red dots” were spotted at the far edges of space. When these tiny scarlet orbs began unexpectedly popping up in JWST images of the distant Universe, their nature was hotly debated. Now that scientists have amassed a sample of hundreds of them, many think the dots are growing supermassive black holes.
The problem is that they appear even earlier than astronomers thought possible, making it even harder to explain early supermassive black holes. Observations suggest that the little red dots mainly flickered on when the Universe was around 600 million years old and fizzled out within the next billion years (the supermassive black holes linger to the present time, but they no longer light up as little red dots).
A new study seeks to explain the early formation of these immense objects via the swelling of swarms of stars.
Many people thought it would violate the laws of physics for monster black holes to form so quickly. But a new study explains how colliding clusters of stars could have given rise to supermassive black holes within the Universe’s first several hundred million years—no new physics required.
“Right now, there are three main ideas for how supermassive black hole seeds form: direct collapse from gas clouds, remnants of the first stars, and dense star clusters,” said Fred Garcia, a graduate student at Columbia University who led the study. “Our work really supports the last case, where dense clusters evolve and their centers collapse to make intermediate-mass black hole seeds.”
The researchers used cosmological simulations to recreate the first 700 million years of cosmic history, focusing on the formation of a single dwarf galaxy. In their virtual galaxy, waves of stars were born in short, explosive bursts as cold gas clouds collapsed inside a dark matter halo. Instead of a single starburst episode followed by a steady drizzle of star formation as Garcia expected, there were two major rounds of stellar birth. Whole swarms of stars flared to life like Christmas tree lights.
“The early Universe was an incredibly crowded place,” Garcia said. “Gas clouds were denser, stars formed faster, and in those environments, it’s natural for gravity to gather stars into these tightly bound systems.”
Those clusters started scattered around the galaxy but fell in toward the center like water swirling down a drain. Once there, they merged to form a single megacluster, called a nuclear star cluster (so named because it lies at the galaxy’s center). The young galactic heart shone with the light of a million suns and may have set the stage for the formation of a supermassive black hole. (the article continues here)
Ammonite
Astronomers have discovered Ammonite — a distant, frozen world officially designated 2023 KQ₁₄ — orbiting far beyond Neptune. With a perihelion of 66 AU (twice Neptune’s distance) and a semi-major axis of 252 AU, Ammonite takes a staggering ~4,000 years to complete a single orbit around the Sun. This icy relic was spotted thanks to nearly 19 years of archival data from observatories like Subaru, CFHT, DECam, and Kitt Peak. Its orbit has remained remarkably stable for over 4.5 billion years, earning it the nickname “fossil of the ancient Solar System.”
Most known “sednoids” — like Sedna, 2012 VP113, and Leleākūhonua — follow similar orbital paths, hinting at a shared gravitational past. But Ammonite is different. Its orbit points in almost the opposite direction, filling a puzzling gap in our map of the outer Solar System. Ammonite may hold clues to ancient solar system dynamics — perhaps a close pass from a long-lost stellar sibling or stronger constraints on the mysterious Planet Nine. Simulations suggest it once orbited in sync with the other sednoids before diverging over the course of billions of years.
It almost certainly does not look like the artist’s conception (right). The “potato radius” is the point at which gravity is strong enough to overcome the object’s material strength and pull it into a spherical shape, a state called hydrostatic equilibrium. The primary factor is the body’s composition. A hotter interior makes a body more malleable and more likely to become spherical. The heat can come from radioactive decay or the energy from its formation. All objects rotate, causing a bulge around the equator. This means that no large object is a perfect sphere; rather, it is an oblate spheroid.
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- Icy bodies: These are less dense and can become round, with a diameter of around 400 km.
- Rocky bodies: These are denser and require a larger diameter, roughly 600 km, to become spherical.
With a diameter of 380 km, Ammonite is unlikely to be an oblate spheroid.
AOC Scamming Again
AOC is under fire after a holiday email asked supporters to ‘help feed families.’ Still, the donation button reportedly redirected to her campaign’s ActBlue fundraising page, where donors are prompted to make a one-time or recurring monthly donation.
Instead of having supporters send donations directly to community organizations organizing turkey drives like she did in 2021, when she reported raising $33,589.64 for three local charities, she’s having people send money to her campaign.
“A campaign is not supposed to be a pass-through for charitable work,” said former City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli. “What if she raised enough money for a million turkeys? Would she buy a million turkeys, or would she keep $990,000 for her campaign and then throw the rest of the turkeys out the back of a truck and take a photo-op?”
Bullet Points:
** July 3, 2026 – Young Washington. It’s a MUST SEE.
** Bull riding in the Mexican Interior – no AI
** The People’s Liberation Army has been unusually emphatic about the importance of loyalty to CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping in recent days.
** (Right) Battle of Culloden, by David Rowlands. Commissioned by the Lancaster Regiment, this depicts their forbears in the 4th King’s Own facing the Highland Charge at Culloden. Pro Tip. Charging a square of musket-armed infantry with bayonets when you have a sword is not a winning strategy.
** U.S. Vice President JD Vance says Canada’s collapsing living standards are “not America’s fault” but the product of failed Canadian leadership. Alberta’s best chance to escape Canada’s downward spiral is complete independence and control over its own future.
** War Horse – cover him with armor and put an aggressive warrior on his back. Here’s another. War horses were trained to act aggressively, biting, kicking, and trampling adversaries. Warhorses in a melee with heavy steel shoes could trample almost anyone, and inflicting mortal damage on them as they moved was not easy. It was never just one horse. And when they charged, their riders rode knee to knee, lances down. Lose the lance, you go to your battle axe or chain flail. One blow from a chain flail, delivered almost anywhere, was fatal.
** In ‘Memoirs of a Junior Officer’ (1951), M.C.A. Henniker, whose company was engaged in building a blockhouse or a miniature fort on a hill-top overlooking the Khyber Pass, writes: “A curious thing was the water supply for the Block Houses. This came by a pipeline laid over the hills from the pumping station below. The Pathans could have easily cut the pipe, but they never did. They considered rules as necessary in warfare as we did. Cutting the water pipes of the Raj would be as immoral as the use by us of poison gas.”
** Coming soon! The Real Housewives of Hamas.
** Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has opened an exploration fund for a run for the governorship of California. I don’t know how many Californians would want him, but you know he could count on support from the People’s Republic of China. Fang (x2) could return as the first lady of California. Question: Who would make a better first lady, Big Mike Obama or Fang (x2)? Swalwell might see this as a springboard to the U.S. presidency. Does this mean that the donkeys are no longer considering Kamala Harris?
** I saw this headline and said to myself – Theft Ring – I wonder if it’s the same racist demographic we see over and over and over again. It is. “Investigators later received probable cause that 35-year-old Quandrickus Dominique Major, a driver for a third-party logistics subcontractor employed by FedEx Ground, had the stolen package and sold it to another person in March, according to officials.”
** It’s not a police officer’s job to risk bodily injury so that you can safely resist arrest.
** WSF reminds us that there is a difference between the oath of enlistment and the oath of office. (more here)
** LSP has reminded me of this more than once. The question is: why are Episcopalians liberals?
** Is it wrong to like shooting an M3A1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System (MAAWS)? The more ammosexual you are, the more you like it. Just the tube weighs 15 lbs. Nobody wants to hump the launcher or the ammunition until it’s time to fire it. Then, the Gustav is popular. I like the Area Defence Munition, designed as a close-range anti-personnel round. It fires 1100 flechettes over a wide area. It’s not your grandpa’s bazooka.
** Are they free?
** No, it’s not flying with MRSBRM – but would MRSBRM give it a go? I guess you could call it “gliding” – with MRSBRM.
** Bicycle riding, with EdB.
** More bull riding in Mexico. Medicos? ¡No necesitamos ningún maldito médico! ¡No necesitamos ningún maldito equipo de seguridad! If you survive, it has to hurt. Then there is amateur bull baiting. I don’t see any Chinese guys doing that, Mike_C. So much for safety equipment. I know why they don’t bother.
** WSF and DRJIM like trains. I don’t know if they like riding them or just watching them. Should there be some minimum hygiene standard? Maybe there is? (scary)
** Proper planning, with Al Kirk.
** She has an issue with the UK government policy.
** Breaking the shield wall with Lord High Executioner Beans. She knows what Beans wants.
Identify the Ship
1
2
They had a short operational lifespan.
3
Yes, it was a commissioned US Warship
Identify the Historic Rifle
4
Parting Shot
VM Blast from the Past
End
(1) Prairial, MN Floreal class frigate. Awkward looking things, like a warship crashed into a trawler.
(2) USS Bauer, a Dealey class destroyer escort.
(3) USS Franklin IV, an accomodation hulk. IDK what the tender is.
(4) Girardoni air rifle, probably the Austrian service one.
– Kle.
Well done.
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The Girardoni pictured is the same one that went with Lewis and Clark to the Pacific.
Back in the 80’s I was in charge of battalion anti-armour for a while. Primarily the 84 mm Carl Gustav with a few land rover mounted 106 mm (with .50 spotting round).
It was fun using the .50 to snipe targets when we didn’t have enough 106 for practice. Used to borrow it from the M113 carriers or visiting US army. My nominal boss was usually smart enough to look the other way.
Smart bosses let the boys play with the toys (so long as the horse play doesn’t get out of hand).
I was ok at acquiring stuff (occasional M60, ammunition, Land Rovers, almost a Black Hawk until some annoying captain came past) but one of my forward scouts seemed to be a magnet for all sorts of things.
Finding a good scrounger is essential to a better life in the military.
Almost a Blackhawk……That’s gotta be a good story.
Did they almost get a crew for it?
Ed
Yes we were negotiating for crew and chopper for a very unauthorised fishing trip to the Great Barrier Reef until some idiot officer stuck his head in.
Did you INVITE the officer to go along?
LL
Only as shark bait.
He was and admin / liason of some variety who was not in my chain of command. One of lifes jerks.
1 – French Floréal-class surveillance frigate Prairial
2 – USS Fiske Gearing-class destroyer
3 – USS Franklin
4 – Girardoni air rifle – One of these was carried on the Lewis & Clark Expedition
Exactly
Real Housewives of Hamas – I thought we already had that show, starring Congress.
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Not flying, not w/MRSBRM – does anyone know what the crazy bird people are doing
with the Maypole, or are they just extremely chemically altered?
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Trains – you can always tell the countries w/o a lot of rail tunnels.
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I like that ninja bull, sneaking up like that while his pal provides distraction.
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Shield wall – where the hell are both sides’ spearmen? Also, the shield wall needs to rush,
their job is not just to stand around and let people beat on them.
– Kle.
WOW – harsh words for your betters in the legislature. A lot is coming out about Ilhan Omar and her husband/brother. Apparently, their Mom came into the US illegally, making their immigration illegal, not to mention the marriage to her brother. How she arrived in the Halls of Congress mystifies me. I guess that’s all cool in Somalia. Not here, though, unless you’re woke.
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The flying pole has (obv) something to do with Aztec/Toltec/Mayan culture but I’m not dialed in enough to know. If MRSBRM decided to wear an eagle costume and go for it, I’d drive to wherever, stand next to Peter, and we could both eat Indian Street Corn while she soars or something. I don’t think I’d do it. But I’m not as big of an aviation enthusiast.
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As to the shield wall and the SCA, I’m not qualified to comment beyond attributing it to Beans, who is an expert at it. I’ve attended SCA events as a guest observer. I didn’t wear period clothing. A very good friend I’m having lunch with next week was very involved with SCA and reenacting. He invited me to join a Russian Front reenactment group. I explained the PTSD problem. You put me in a uniform with a knife and a gun to start hunting people…not a great idea. Would I go Rambo? I’d hope not, but no guarantees. Not even now. It’s challenging to pretend…safely.
Voladores – Dance of the Flyers. We can think of a lot better things to in Veracruz than risk life and limb while getting a migraine from that flute…
MTG, Hanging it Up – Notice she is staying just long enough to get her vested into the pension grift.
Young Washington – I haven’t been to a movie theater in many years. This may change next summer.
Bull riding – WOW. Just WOW I don’t like to get around our Angus bull and he’s dam near as gentle as a Labrador. Sometimes. Have yo ever seen the inmates poker game at the Angola Prison Rodeo? Not even for a get out of jail free card.
I think I will see Alberta leave Canada in my lifetime, I am not Yong.
MTG made herself millions in “investments” while in Congress for 2.5 terms, and yes, there is the pension thing. I have no problem with a pension after 20 if you last that long in Congress. Not 5 years. But they vote themselves what they vote.
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The Young Washington might be available to view on-line PPV. As I understand it, they’ve paid close attention to history. They don’t have a popular rapper portraying George Washington.
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Bovine bulls, bull elk, grizzly bears, moose, and megafauna of any sort are not something to trifle with. Some of the contestants in those videos died.
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Alberta leaving would be the smart move. They can work out a defense arrangement with the USA without becoming legally bound. There is a lot of trade, and it’s in everyone’s best interest – except for the rest of Canada. They’re screwed anyway. When Alberta leaves (taking other provinces with it), they’ll circle the drain faster.
New homestead will have a larger flatscreen, no need to go to the movies once Young Washington comes to streaming…altho properly done movie popcorn with extra butter, and recliner seating, might get me back into a theater for this one.
Alberta and Sasquatcheon both need to leave. Others? Well, we’ll see.
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Any provinces need at least a 5 year ‘territory’ transitional period. Once we get Alberta, can we finally cut Puerto Rico loose? Please?
As has been discussed here more than a few times, PARTS of BC could be acceptable, and PARTS would not be.
One of my firefighters was clipped by a pickup at an early morning dark rainy crash scene. He did a couple of bullriding flips and landed hard on the shoulder of the highway. Insisted that I call his wife as the ambulance transported him to the hospital. I assured her that he seemed fine and didn’t appear to have anymore brain damage than he had when he crawled out of bed that morning. Life is dangerous enough without crawling on the back of a bad tempered bull or taunting one with a coat. Maybe my recovery time is longer these days.
It hurts to watch them – I emote a little. Not a lot, but enough.
Yeah, sorry… but no way Jose’ did I ever want to watch what passes for western states NASCAR, basically everyone waiting for the wreck. Same with bronc riding (h/t Chris Ledoux, RIP)…never looked smart to do, PBRA level or not…in what started out as a ‘stupid young male’ cowboy dare.
And didn’t know bulls hunted in packs, good to note as I drive by the bull pasture with three bulls, because, as MrsPaulM reminded me, “one can’t get the job done, two fight, but three leave each other alone.” Besides, at this point in my more seasoned life, no way can I outrun a peeved bull after invading his side of the fence.
It’s also like walking through the forest where I live and discovering that you are between a large, protective cow elk and her calf, or a doe and her fawn. They’ll attack and kill you. Usually, the young don’t stray too far, and they run before you are close (unlike a bovine bull). People are killed every year here by elk. It’s not even worth a headline, and that’s why.
The difference between locals and tourists, in a nutshell.
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Tourists: *pulls out cellphone* “Awwww! What a cute baby animal!”
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Local: *looks around in a panic* “WHERE’S MOMMA?!?!”
Off Topic – Anyone interested in owning Lucas McCain’s Winchester? Up for action at Rock Island Auction Company are 2 Winchester rifles. A model 92 and a model 94 that belonged to Chuck Connors. https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4096/58/two-chuck-connors-winchester-lever-action-carbines
Also in this auction are guns from Norman Schwarzkopf’s personal collection.
My pick would be the Colt SAA that was gifted to Roy Rodgers from Audie Murphy. 2 of my favorite cowboy’s.
There are more than 1,400 lots in the auction. More than enough to go around for all of us.
I’ve bought from RIA before. And, would not do so again without personally inspecting the weapon for condition and being assured that they would ship quickly, with the acceptable time period specified IN WRITING. Also, their comm skilz and buyer’s commission schedule suck. You have been warned.
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Speaking of sucking, my assessment of MTG is that she’s world class at it. Stand between her and a gig on PMS-NBC and you’ll get a fair appreciation of what those bull riders were experiencing, I betcha.
I don’t find much appealing in MTG’s skillsets.
ML
Thanks for the heads up!
I will definitely check it!
Juan
Mr LL,
Any prospects of you writing on Lewis/Clark expedition
nd/or Mountain Men?
I am eager for the time of troubles (1860s version).
Juan
btw- sympathies/empathies/prayers to John D’s loved ones.
Having been in healthcare over 40 years, we are in the initial stages of mental crises manifesting, often w/out warning.
Let us all be a bit more pro-active in outreach. Perhaps especially to the stoics.
my humble nickle’s worth.
I haven’t thought about a book on a Mountain Man/Mountain Men. That period in American history came and went very quickly – like the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression – the Old West and big cattle towns – and so forth. I’ve attended Rendezvous before for a competition shoot with black powder, but the modern spin isn’t my thing. The series I’m writing now (if there is interest) will take the main character to Arizona for the Apache wars (which is the area where I now live).
I appreciate your reply, and understand.
I was unaware of the Arizona that is on the way.
I shall obtain a copy at that time.
Again, your site is, to borrow a phrase,
a many splendored thing.
Juan
Quitters! I think these congressmen and women need to think about their constituents and the oath they took before quitting when things get tough. Look how much the screws up everything by them leaving early instead of finishing out their term.
-STA LETHAL
MTG made her millions, and she has her pension. That’s what matters to her.
Excellent fodder this morning LL…
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MTG: Yes, while elected to a specific office term length…and short of an emergency… bailing on Constituents is seriously bad form. But hubris knows no bounds with this group, hence her bloviation to deflect her bail-age once the heat got turned up a little. Maybe it’s time to make these people no longer newsworthy and relegate them to the back of the classroom where they belong, stop giving them airtime…but still keep them on a short observable leash as The Founders intended. Congress Critters are not celebrities despite their belief they have risen above, as it were…and WTP need to heed their spoutage. Sandy Cortez’ latest cheatery proves the point, another brainless DemoSoc who somehow amassed a large bank account in short order once she gave up bartending for tips (now not taxed by PDJT, something you’d think she’d be all for considering her espoused “humble” upbringing in a fine neighborhood outside NYC).
***
EdB…a man’s gotta expand his horizons, especially after perfecting the racing boat flip, everything else is just…passe’.
And yet I read a number of supporters of hers (morons) siding with her and attacking Trump.
These are huge Massey/Rand supporters and “pure” Constitutionalists.
“pure” Constitutionalists: Similar to “pure/purist” Christians who believe all manner of extra-Biblical baloney then chide (aka judge) you for not thinking the same.
I was reading a discussion today where a Lutheran pastor I know was chastised for hosting Dinesh D’Souza since he was a heretic (not Lutheran?).
Who chastened him? A bigger Lutheran?
**Astronomers have long wondered how these supermassive black holes could have grown so hefty in such a short time.**
They suck & they do it really well!
If they ever get to look inside the closest one to Earth, I think they will find all the missing socks from the Earth’s clothes dryers… they suck that well!
~~
” Young Washington”, bullet proof… I guess God had more things for him to do, kind of like Donald Trump in Butler, PA.
I think that some pocket combs and pens have ended up in that dimensional shift too. It goes well beyond socks – ok, one sock.
X2..God did (have other plans for PresElect DJT). Thank you Lord!
G-d protects fools, drunkards, and the United States of America…
And Praise the Lord for that!
Wonder Project-Watched their series to date regarding King David. Every episode has a disclaimer near the opening, “… creative liberties have been taken for storytelling purposes.”
So the question is, will Young Washington be as historically accurate as “House of David”?
‘
The “historical David” and the Legend of David are two different things, with some commonality. There is information about King David outside of the Bible, but not much, and the Bible (Samuel 16 and 17) contradicts itself, making a historical decision different. Yes, I know David killed Goliath, as described in 1 Samuel 17. In contrast, Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, Lahmi, as described in 2 Samuel 21:19 and 1 Chronicles 20:5. The apparent contradiction between the two passages is resolved by recognizing that they refer to two separate events involving two different people, David and Elhanan, who defeated different men. BUT the details of all that are at best ‘muddy’ if you’re going to write ‘history’ that holds up.
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We know a lot about Historical Washington because we have documents, and Washington himself was a prolific letter writer. Because he was George Washington, many of those letters were preserved. The same is true of the British and French in British North America during the Young Washington period. For example, Washington didn’t kill Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, but his troops ambushed Jumonville’s party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in 1754. Jumonville was ultimately killed by a Mingo leader, Tanacharison (AKA The Half King), who was allied with Washington’s forces. Jumonville was carrying letters of political immunity that the British (for whom Washington worked) were bound to respect. It was a major flap, and much was written about it.
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The book series I’m writing now features fictional characters interacting with historical figures during the 1857-1885 period (potentially, depending on how many books). Is it historically accurate? Yes, sort of. It’s as precise as I can make it while telling a fictional STORY. Hard-core historians may disagree with my characterizations of Joseph Hooker or U. S. Grant. Well, it’s a story, did you enjoy reading it? You’re in the same boat writing about David. We don’t know about the many characters who surrounded him, so we make them up. In Washington’s case, you don’t have to do that to tell a most interesing story.
> fictional characters interacting with historical figures
In that vein, recently read Tom Kratman’s “For the Eternal Glory of Rome”
[minor spoilers]
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FtEGoR is essentially a Alt History based around “What if Legio XIIX (sic) had survived the Battle of the Tuetoburg Forest?” A deus ex machina is required to make the story happen, and Kratman basically says “Screw it” and just invokes some goofy space aliens. But the main characters are named after, and hold the ranks of, men who we know to have been active members of the 18th Legion, and yes, they do interact with major historical figures. An enjoyable read. Kratman is on a roll with AltHistory. Two novels so far in the “What if the Romanovs were rescued?” series. (And for those of you — you know who you are — cracking your fingers in anticipation of banging out “But the Romanovs were cruel oppressors!!!” Maybe so, but consider what replaced them.)
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On the topic of Rome, SM Stirling also has a couple (so far, I think) of “time travel” novels wherein a handful of modern Americans are sent back to the time of Marcus Aurelius; and of course become the Emperor’s confidants and advisors. The things I like about Stirling are present in the writing, but there was such rabid hatred of the Germanics I could barely finish the first book. Plus at least two of the five Americans are intensely annoying. That said, given that they’re grad students from a Big Name University, maybe it’s just good characterization by Stirling. Any road, not motivated to pick up the second.
It’s not so much “the Romanovs were cruel” (yes, the Soviets were worse) as “really,
this is the historical turning point that you want to fantasize about?”. Seems like
alt-history could be written about changing things for the actual better, as opposed
to changing them for the very slightly less bad.
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The extinguishing of a royal line of hereditary tyrants was the only good thing to come
out of the Russian revolution. If only it could happen to more of them.
– Kle.
I recently did a presentation on Jamestown and Henricus. I tried to correlate accounts and recounted an “average” of them.
“The question is: why are Episcopalians liberals?”: The same can be asked as to why the NYC Jewish community continue to vote for their soft tyranny oppressors despite a decade of glaring info to – especially this time – vote the opposite.
It is a head scratcher.
@Paul M: Lock that down NOW, Mister! Who do you think you are? Me?!!
;-)
So you’re saying I have achieved ‘comment greatness’ then? Maybe I shoulda used Swedes in the example to really emulate the Grand PooBah of The Epic Commentariat”.
Rules aside, ya snooze ya lose (heheh)…and you’re 2 hours ahead — assuming you’re actually in the greater Boston regime and not traveling to a foreign medical conference for brilliant doctors…say, in Dubai (with seriously amazing accommodations and food items)…all designed so we – The VM’er Hoard – can partake adjacent yet another epic anecdote (or is that ‘antidote’?).
However, I will take the admonition under advisement…after this comment of course.
😄 That’s telling him!
Had a nanosecond moment of all-cylinder operational clarity…the days remainder will be like that fast developing supermassive black hole LL speaks of above, resulting in seeing nothing but ‘little red dots’ after staring at my AutoCAD screen for hours trying to figure out our next house design..within a $200/sqft budget and not the current asinine $400/sqft (hahahah).
34% of NYfC Jews voted for Mandami. They have chosen the form of their destructor.
Some of them chose the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man.
Michael Moore?
– Kle.
Oh, Gross!!!!
Oath of office and oath of enlistment is a timely topic. One perhaps the news media and certain politicians need to better understand.
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Proper planning … Only part missing was the medical folks would have rushed to check on the bull’s welfare.
Goodbye Greene. She does have a screw loose.
Have a fabulous day and week. Happy Thanksgiving. :)
She’s crazy enough that she might be fun in bed. But long-term relationship? Nope?
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Just goes to show that there are grifters on the Right just like on the Left. But generally ours are better looking (and, no, AOC is not hot looking to me. She’s the epitome of psycho-latino. Salma Hayak is HOT, and AOC is NOT!)
Excellent video on Black Holes: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XodLOK9qsgU
Thanks Eric!
“** She has an issue with the UK government policy.”
And they let there guns be taken away. At gunpoint, of course.
True Tyrannical Fascism despite what they project onto PDJT. Result? The masses look around like a newbie in Home Depot, wondering what universe they now find themselves.
(ProTip: Wear your – preferably beat up – tape measure on the coin pocket to ‘look more legit’. Next-level credibility is to tie an old tablesaw in the pickup bed using some bailing twine. Adding some splashed mud on the new F150 Laramie or King Ranch model grocery-getter really helps to masks the suburban dweebishness).
MAAWS
Long after my time but it looks like a bunch of fun. 1966 we turned in our 3.5 Rocket Launchers for the one shot P.O.S. 2.75. Several of our NCO’s were WWII and Korea vets. None of them were happy. We had white phosphorous rounds for the 3.5. With over 100 vehicles to disburse against air attacks and maybe 130 personnel, the NCO’s trained us to use WP down approaches to stop enemy advances. One Sargent’s opinion of the 2.75 was, “About a useless as a LT with the shits”.
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Trains
I see opportunity for homicides.
Whoa, a BLACK HOLE post, with a mysterious planet to boot. Nice.
Then there’s the Episcopal Church. I’d say your man pretty much covers it. Same applies in, ahem, spades to the COE.
MTG becomes eligible for a “pension” when she turns 62 years old. Under FERS she qualifies for “career conditional status”.
Since she is resigning and not retiring, she will receive 5% of her “high 3” salary at 62.
It’s not a new thing that Congressman do. Gabby Giffords did it, too.
I’m not a fan of Giffords but after one of her own democrats shot her in the head, she retired medically.
MTG is no great loss…just sayin
She considers herself a brain trust – sort of the right-wing version of The Squad.
“Young Washington” looks rather excellent. Yet there are issues. Specifically with the explosions. At least they look like black-powder explosions (black and grey, not red and orange from typical Hollyweird explosions) but for the most part solid shot was used and that doesn’t explode. Solids were mostly used in guns. Shells were used in mortars and stub-howitzers, but guns fired case (musket-sized balls in a bag,) grapeshot or solid. Excellent representative of grape shot in the movie “The Decemberists” about a revolt in the 1800s in Moscow.
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Other than that, looks damn good.
Warhorses. Sigh. That’s a farm horse. A cold-blood. They are not war-horses per se. They can be trained as warhorses, but, dammit, they aren’t. They’re built for pulling stuff, not jumping and running and charging, though they can do that to an extent.
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A real warhorse should only be as tall as the rider’s shoulders at the most. Why? Because you have to be able to mount and dismount easily while in armor. Some Orders had a requirement that the knight had to be able to harness without help and mount and charge and dismount and fight on foot and then get back on and go back to camp and dismount and unharness. Yes, squires and pages and passing men-at-arms could help, but fundamentally you had to get your own stuff on, harness your horse, fight and undo everything. Because sometimes there aren’t people around to help you.
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There is a story of a French knight, during the 100 Years War, who felt personally insulted by an English knight. So Frenchie rode into the English camp, jumped off his horse and did a somersault to in front of the Englisher, took off his gauntlet and tossed it on the ground, announcing a duel. Lept, in full armor, onto his horse and rode off.
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Andalusians and like breeds, and varying mixtures of Arabians and Europeans are the real warhorses. Think the American Quarter Horse. Strong, exceeds at sprinting and charging and forcing through and over obstacles. Able to jump, stand, run, walk, charge, canter (though a tad bit uncomfortable at walking and cantering, more on that later.) And, of course, not too tall. And mostly males or fixed-males, stronger in the charge than mares.
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As to training, just go watch something about the Lipizzaners. Walt Disney Studios did an excellent movie about rescuing them from the Soviets, called “Miracle of the White Stallion” that is, well, excellent. Shows the training and the maneuvers and moves the horses were trained to do. A good warhorse could and did fight, especially against footmen but also against other horses (male horses not from the same herd usually consider each other as enemies. And, yes, getting male horses to accept each other as herd-members was and is an issue…) and knights on foot.
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I was in a ‘persona’ discussion in the SCA about fighting and some dumb idiot asked why the French were known for shodding their warhorses before battle. My answer? “It makes it better and easier to ride over English foot to get to English knights if our horses are shod.” Which made many people aghast because they couldn’t get their modern heads around medieval thinking. Seriously, footmen only have spears, polearms and shields to hold horses back.
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Training a warhorse sometimes took years. You have to train the horse to work with others, in a charge like LL said, and in the open. Train them to accept foot, knee and vocal commands as your hands are full of weapons and shields. Train them to ignore pain, to keep going even when tired. And to bite, kick, stomp, crush and run over whatever they’re aimed at. They are a weapons system by themselves. A good warhorse will help defend the knight. A great warhorse will fight side-by-side with the knight on foot, or over him if he’s fallen. And to recognize the warhorse’s own people and horses over an enemy or enemy horses. Very important to do that.
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As to actual horses, well, a heavy warhorse is also called a Charger. Because he’s designed and bred for charging and crushing. Bit of a bad gait for long journeys, and walking with a weight on is tiring, many knights had a mount for the boring part, the walking part, known as a Destrier (walker.) Better walking or cantering gait. Still trained somewhat to warhorse standards because you never know when you need to fight. A much nicer, sweeter disposition than a Charger. And a knight’s lady would ride a Palfrey, a sweet, gentle horse, for the most part. If she’s going hunting she might ride a Destrier or a more aggressive Palfrey.
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Fun historical fact: Norwegian horses during the Viking Age and Early Medieval Age were shorter than their southern cousins. So much so that Rollo/Rolf, ex-Norwegian and First Duke of Normandy, was known as Rollo/Rolf the Granger, the Walker because he was so tall his feet almost touched the ground when he was riding.
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And for warhorses, by the way, most stirrups were set so that the rider was almost standing, not with their knees bent like with modern saddles. A ‘standing’ stance allows the rider to shift his center-of-gravity more forward which allows him to lean slightly forward when charging which allows the force of contact from a charge to transfer the force better to the horse.
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X2…comprehensive and terrific. (Note: MrsPaulM was/is an upper level dressage rider, also was the Executioner at Medieval Times (because woman…so had the full face helmet)…all stallions, trained for airs above the ground and fighting maneuvers. Amazing. She also worked a stint as a temp fill in rider for the White Stallion Lippizaner traveling show (the American one, not the Vienna Riding School)…getting eight stallions to work together on the quadrille takes a lot of training and exceptional riding skills.)
Mrs. PaulM, what hasn’t she done? Such a cool lady, so cool, darned cool.
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One of the SCA ‘knights’ I knew used to be a full-contact professional jouster. He trained his horses for all potential types of combat and for most or all inevitable oopsies. So one time, while in full armor, the other jouster messed up and hit his horse in the chest (armored) and the horse stumbled and he basically walked out of the saddle, over the horse’s head while yanking the other rider out of his saddle. Horse was okay, just very grumbly and my friend had to get between his horse and the idiot and the idiot’s horse.
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The American show is something to see, for anyone who can make it. Not quite as good as the VRS, supposedly, but a helluva lot more accessible and who cares, anyways, they’re Lippizaners, dammit. And, yes, exceptional riding skills to stay so still while controlling the horse with knee and foot movements.
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The base horse for the Lippizaner breed is the Andalusian, which was William the Conqueror’s preferred breed.
Though I only offered brief comments to bait you into your excellent discussion, Lord High Executioner Beans, the truth about horses was that knights would bring several on campaign (however many obligated days had been negotiated with the next higher feudal level. As you point out, not all horses were used for the same thing, and you’d lose them in a fight (or in a tournament where the point was taking the opponent’s arms, armor, and mount if they lost). It was an expensive business, but the production of the peasants and land (herds, quarries, woodland, etc) was supposed to match the need (in theory) to the liege lord.
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I know that Beans understands the feudal issue, but many do not. The fief you were given came at a price, and that price was specified and well understood. How many knights, how many men-at-arms, sergeants, etc., and for how long each year? At a time when there were no national standing armies, the king (or whoever) had feudal expectations, and if you didn’t meet that, you could be disowned. The king didn’t license a fair in your town so that you could live better from the taxes. They were kicked up to the next feudal level and so forth in addition to an expectation that you’d equip your men better and provide a larger force for the specified period each year.
In France and England (when they spoke French) the land was called a ‘feif du hauberk’, literally the land to pay for a suit of armor (hauberk is a long maille shirt.)
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Lucky/Good knights had a land that would support his arms and armor, his mounts, some unlanded knights or squires and a passel of men-at-arms, all to fulfill the knight’s feudal obligations up the chain of command.
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Unlucky/ungood knights would have lands that either couldn’t support or were poorly managed and thus made it very difficult to fulfill his obligations, which as LL says, is a very ungood thing. Great way to end up landless and have to be hired by some landed knight to serve as a titled squire or something.
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A fortunate knight could climb the chain of command, expanding his power as he was elevated to bigger and better things, all gaining the whole tree of fealty obligations from those now under him. And one could fall down the tree of obligations. Really quick falls usually were done by a headsman’s axe if one really screwed up the fealty chain-of-command.
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The Cowboy Remuda, that would be a cowboy’s assigned pool of horses, comes from the string of horses a Spanish knight brought to the New World. And the classic Spanish style cowboy saddle also comes from a Spanish knight’s saddle. Ain’t facts fun? Learned that from Holling-Clancy-Holling’s excellent work, “The Cowboys.”
Any training of warhorses, from Mongolian to Persian to Amerindian to US Cavalry is all about getting the horses to accept their 2-legged and 4-legged herd, which is a pain in the arse from what I’ve been told by professionals who do it for a living. Used to know someone who made their living training police horses and police to ride said horses and that’s a pain I don’t even want to be involved with as the horses and riders are trained to de-escalate situations rather than running over the crunchies and making the blood flow and… huh-huh…
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No, I have never dreamt or fantasized about forming a charge (on foot or mounted) against (p)Antifa and BLM (both, the knuckleheads and the bureau of land management) and getting it stuck in and making the blood flow. There are days… It is good to be so civilized else I’d be in prison or dead by now.
Shieldwall Cracking? They’re doing it wrong. The polearms on the ‘attacking side’ should have shield support. Why? Because if you’re dumb enough to get in front of your own shields then you deserve to suck a quarrel or bolt in the chest. Because the enemy should have crossbows.
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Otherwise the defenders should just play nasty. Like have their billhooks or halberds or polearms go under their own shields and snag, hack, poke, stab, push the exposed polearmers on the attackers side, in their friggin EXPOSED LEGS!!!
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Or have a shieldman barge forward with his head couched under his shield and just wail the living dogshit out of those exposed legs. Beat those friggin legs like there’s no tomorrow. Make the bastard fall and open up his line. Then fall back into his own line, which the shieldwall should be able to accept without breaking cohesion.
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Stand in front of your own line without shield support? I was watching that video and my hands were sweating, just wanting to get-it-on with some puke doing that. Drive a fucking spear into his gut. Shoot him in the chest or leg. Yank him off his feet with the back of the spear blade. Or just catch his billhook with the top of my shield and pull him into my sword range and chop him the fuck up. I’ve done this, as a spearman, as a sword and shielder. Ah, man, flashbacks, good flashbacks.
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Polearms should never be in front of their shieldmen. The only time something like that works is if the polearmer is working with pikes and then the pikes act like shields so the polearmer (or greatsworder) shouldn’t be past the pikes.
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In the SCA, they have basically 3 styles of battles.
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Field. An Open Field or some place like the Ravine at Gulf Wars, which is unsurprisingly an actual ravine. You line up your shields, polearms behind the shields, and maneuver small and large units. When the lines meet, there’s generally a dead space of 6-7 feet between the lines that’s controlled by the length of the spears stabbing back and forth. Archers and crossbows, if allowed, run behind the 2-3 ranks and pick out other archers and crossbowmen, enemy commanders, anyone not paying attention, and, especially, stupid f’ing polearms and spearmen who jump out in front of their own shieldwall. For the most part. Stay behind or beside the shields and let them protect you. There are instances, like when an opening at an end appears and the spearman can ‘run’ a shieldwall by stabbing a guy, stabbing the guy past him, walk forward and stab that spear guy, stab the next guy, stab the next guy and go until you’re shot, stabbed or you run out of enemy to gack. (My personal total, running a spear was 4 spearmen and 10 shieldmen before I got back into my side and then did it again, 2 more times before finally getting killed. Eh, it was a resurrection-style battle so all I had to do was walk back to resurrection point and resurrect and walk back and do it all over again. Good times, good times.)
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Bridge battle: Literally a fixed width field battle where archers can shoot you over the sides of the bridge, if allowed. Easiest way to fight this one is charge forward and plant your shieldwall somewhere within the middle 3rd of the bridge and have your shield wall kneel (using bigger shields than tourney shields) and then have your spears and polearms fight over the kneeling shieldwall. It’s a war of attrition. As a shielder falls, you move the shielders to the right of your shieldwall and fill in new shieldmen from the left. Replace tired or dead spear and polearms the same way. Eventually one side, hopefully yours, attrits enough enemy that you can stand up your shield wall, or open your shield wall, and charge the enemy and crush them, drive them before you and hear the lamentations of their women. I’ve been on shieldwalls, kneelng from the beginning and being the only original shielder to be ‘alive’ at the end of the battle many times. I’ve even been able to stand up and join in the charge a couple times (seriously, be on your knees getting your shield pummeled while you’re being jostled by your fellow shielders (you have to keep a tight shieldwall, no openings else the enemy will exploit it) and your own spears and polearms, for up to an hour, and see how well you jump up and run. Especially if you’re 15-20 years older than your surrounding shieldmen. Yeah, it hurts, Advil take me away… And I miss it soooo much.
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Building/Fortification: It’s like a combo between open field and bridge. You have ‘buildings,’ usually stacks of haybales marking out the floorplan of a town or such, or an actual wooden fort with windows and doors to fight from/into. There’s usually some rule about breaking down the main door (using siege engines or battering rams or something. I was there when the mighty Ansteorran War Armadillo (a wheeled armored building, painted grey, with a huge armadillo head on it) tried to break in our Trimarian door and we dropped a (styrofoam) harpsicord on it and the whole thing collapsed, really collapsed like fell over collapsed. Ahhh, good times.) When the main door opens, it turns into a bridge battle at the main door. Open field combat tactics as the outside unit moves to exploit openings, by opening the main door, going into open postern gates on the side or using siege ramps and ladders to go through open and secured windows. (And I was there when Bytor and Gregory made two wheeled ‘war elephants’ and used them as archery platforms for our turn at assaulting the fort. But when we were defending, Bytor moved one elephant in front of the main gate and ‘shot’ it with a ballista, so effectively blocking our side of the gate with a dead elephant. Next year rule was ‘No killing siege animals to block the door,’ which put the cabosh on Bytor and Gregory killing their modified golf-cart warhorses in front of the door, so we moved all our siege ramps and ladders and steps and other stuff we used to get in on our attack phase to block the door on our defense phage, which, of course, got the rule the following year of ‘No blocking the gate with stuff,’ which we got around the next year by using all the ramps and dunnage to make a very long funnel from the gate which forced them into a very bad bridge battle-style fight, getting attacked from 3 sides, which got the rule following the next year of ‘No stacking stuff anywhere near the gate’ which got us stacking our stuff randomly around the inside of the fort as fortifications and such which worked so well the rule the following year was ‘No siege ramps or stuff stacked around the inside of the fort except when being used at ramps’ so we used them to siege out of the fort and the following year the rule was, yep, ‘No using siege ramps or stacking siege ramps to be used for sieging inside the fort, at all, nope, we’re done making rules because you idiot Trimarians are a bunch of whack-job rules lawyers.’ Needless to say, the year Bytor and Gregory made a Flinstone’s powered Longship out of a Chevy S-10, well, that year didn’t matter because it rained so hard they called the war, dammit.)
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And another thing, when shieldwalling, you shieldwall with a medium (shoulder to knees) or bigger (above shoulder, below knees) sized shield, which is at least as wide as one’s shoulders if not more. This allows good (for medium) to great (for bigger) shields to overlap and provide coverage from side to side. And, you guessed it, in a shieldwall, bigger is better. Whether the shieldwall is standing, like at Hastings Field in 1066, or kneeling like in the bridge battle I described above. Though some ‘households’ and kingdoms ascribe to the 2-warshield theory, Medium for field battles and Bridge (large) for, yep, bridge battles. The wankers in the above video are mostly small tourney shields, better used for open melee (no fixed lines) or individual combat, and suck at being used in a shield wall.
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Historically knights and heavy cavalry used bigger shields in combat while the shields got smaller and smaller in tournaments, which is why small shields are oftentimes called tourney shields. (In Trimaris, which is most of Florida,) the first ‘king’ set the size of tourney shields used in crown tourney (the tournament that determines who is the next king) as 19″ x 32″, coincidentally his measurements from shoulder-to-shoulder and shoulder-to-crotch, which was the ‘official’ tourney shield size in Trimaris for decades and things have changed in these fallen times….)(This was done to encourage weapon-play and not hiding behind a friggin barn door and waiting for your opponent to tire himself out, supposedly. It worked, actually, because Trimarians were famous for their swordwork for a long time.)
Long Story Short: Don’t get in front of your protection. If the other side gets in front of their protection, kill them, make them question their very births. Hit their exposed spots, like all those exposed legs under the shield edges, or any fool who sticks out in front. That’s how you do a standing attack against a shieldwall.
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But… there is a better way. The Charge. Which is exactly what it sounds like. The Charging Side charges and breaks or monkey-humps (climbs up and over) the enemy’s shieldwall. Variations are the ‘V’ where the Charge is in a V formation and the point of the V is where the charging people push through the shieldwall, and the ‘Wedge’ where the Charge is in a half-v formation and the point of the Wedge is aimed at either end of the shieldwall (on a bridge, yes, it’s the ‘wall’ of the bridge, usually denoted by the ubiquitous haybales that serve for bridge walls or buildings or places to sit after you’ve been on your knees for an hour…)
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Defending against a charge is easy. The defending commander spots where the charge is coming and calls out a variation of ‘prepare to recieve charge’ which means everyone gets in a box stance (can be done on your knees, too) and leans forward and prepares to be hit like a tackling dummy. And if it’s a V charge, he assigns reserve units to stiffen the contact point or even create a cup or funnel behind the shieldwall composed of more shields and polearms and the defenders smack the ever-living poop out of anyone who makes it through the shieldwall (and shield wallers can whack the backs of anyone stupid enough to get past the wall.) If it’s an end charge, commander sends reserves to form up a blocking shieldwall covering the end.
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And, of course, the ever-classic counter charge. SCA field battles generally end up in a weird cyclone of people, as each side’s right flank charges while the left sets to receive. Why right charge left receives? Most fighters are right-handed, so sword in right hand, shield in left… Yes, it’s that simple of an explanation. Even in a Roman formation, the lefthand cohort was the shield of all the other cohorts and often took heavier casualties than the center or right formations.
Suit of medieval armor? Hell yeah. Though I’d prefer a hauberk (long tunic) of maille (chain mail,) half sleeves with attached coif (hood) and ventail (maille flap that goes from left to right over the face and hooks behind the right ear into the maille coif, circa 1060’s, and maille leggings and arms, over 2-3 layers of linen with maybe a thin padded linen tunic. Conical helm. Maybe a set of Byzantine ‘D’ style lamellar armor (armor made of small pieces of metal laced to each other and the klybaton (padded jacket with hood) and a conical helm with attached camaille (hanging panel of maille (or maybe smaller lames.)
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Though a 14th or 15th Century harness would be nice. Some of the 16th Century outfits are cool, too…
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Dammit, hate being short of funds AND space…