How Very Awesome

 

Right on. Let's see more of this, far more, until at last the world can breathe free of rainbow poison and degeneracy. And Georgia Meloni is awesome. At least that's what we think at the Compound, you may not, no rule.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Well Shoot

 

"Dad, let's go for a shoot." I thought about this, "What kind of shoot?" The once and maybe future Cadet replied, "A pistol shoot, my pal's never shot one because Canada and needs to get on it." I reflected on this, "D'ye know what .45 ACP costs, son?" and long story short, loaded up some guns in the rig and headed for the range.

First up, a no name Italian O/U 12 and a CZ 20 SxS, would the skeet survive the flak barrage? At first they did but we warmed up, smoking those clays like orange Focke Wulf's going down over France. Nice, good work, if remedial for me.

Then we moved on to .45 and I was genuinely impressed by the kids, really good shooting. Well done boys, and especially Canadian pal, right on in there without any prior experience, a natural. Hey, shoot on, and so we did, finishing up with a Ruger American .22 against random clays, shotgun shells, and assorted steel at 50 and 100 yards. Big fun.

Mission accomplished, we headed back to base and ordered pizza, cleaned weapons and all was well. What a great afternoon in the field.

#2A,

LSP

Italy

 

Go figure, everyone's in Italy, living large and escaping the beautiful strip malls and flyovers of our cultural ascendancy for something else, and who can blame them? 

I texted an old music buddy, who's set up in an Italian castle, "Maybe they need to turn that town square into a parking lot. Ffs, get onnit." He clicked between contracts and replied, "Look. Castle ceiling. Standard." Have a look:

Huh. But that's not all. Ma LSP and several sisters are in Italy, living it up on the Adriatic. I guess Texas wasn't good enough, they just had to go one better:

Feeling badly left out, I drove through Italy but didn't stop. Let the reader understand.

Italy Texas, a fine place to be. Then there's this town, where the kids are staying:

So unattractively awful, why hasn't this been torn down and turned into a strip mall? I mean to say, what's wrong with these people? As we reflect on that, here's a castle garden.

Soothing, don't you think?

LSP

Back To Popski

We've all heard of fabled desert raiders like the Special Air Service and the Long Range Desert Group, not so much the smaller and perhaps more eccentric Popski's Private Army (PPA). 

Popski or Vladimir Peniakoff was a Belgian of Russian descent who emigrated to Egypt between the wars, where he worked as an engineer as well as learning Arabic and desert navigation in a Ford he called "the pisspot."

When war broke out in 1939 Peniakoff, in his early 40s, tried to join the British Navy and Airforce but was turned down. Eventually he was awarded a commission in the British Army and served in  the Libyan Arab Force (LAF). 

LAF bored the adventurous Belgian, so he applied to set up a small, highly mobile commando to operate behind enemy lines, the Libyan Arab Force Commando, LAFC. The unit was approved and off it went, blowing things up and providing reconnaissance in conjunction with the LRDG for some 5 months.

On return to Cairo, Peniakoff was less than happy to discover the LAFC had been disbanded and he'd been without pay for 4 months. Colonel Shan Hackett, who controlled British special forces in the Middle East, told him had only himself to blame and sent the restless Belgian off to the LRDG for a raid on an airfield, Barce.

Back from the raid, Peniakoff was given the green light to set up his own unit, the 1st Demolition Squadron, which when pressed for something more catchy by Hackett became Popski's Private Army, "Popski" being Peniakoff's LRDG call sign.

The rest is history. PPA went on to do significant work in the western desert and from there moved on to Italy, where the tiny Jeep-mounted commando expanded to around 100 men. And Popski, who spoke Italian as well as Arabic, was notorious for gathering intel in Italy by phoning up German garrisons while pretending to be "friendly forces." Not dissimilar, when you think about it, to those Russians who call up Democrat leaders pretending to be Greta Thurnberg.

Regardless, PPA suffered very few casualties (12 KIA?) in years of fighting, a testament to Popski himself and the quality of the men under his command. He celebrated victory in 1945 by driving around St. Mark's square in Venice seven times, the first and maybe last motorised event of its kind.

So there you have it. I hesitate to post all this because I know some of the few people who read this inconsequential mind blog know far more about these kinds of things than I do. But still, Popski stands out as a remarkable man, a hero to me in my youth and also now.

Let's see more of the same and let's be honest, who doesn't want a Jeep with mounted .50s?

Cheers,

LSP

*******

Popski's DSO Citation

The area between Route 16 and Adriatic, from the SAVIO to the UNITI canal presented a problem to Porterforce. The area was intersected by canals, in some places densely wooded, and for the rest a flooded marsh. Major Peniakoff during the first fortnight in November with three patrols has liquidated all enemy opposition in this area. Every operation was planned by him, and in the majority of cases he actually led the patrols which have resulted in 31 PW and many enemy cas, and a retreat by the enemy from the SAVIO to the UNITI.

His own personal courage and drive have been the dominant factors in a notable achievement. When the floods made operations seemingly impossible Major Peniakoff personally led a Duck assault patrol, and supervised the building of a most unorthodox bridge over the GHIAIA canal in face of enemy Spandau fire. This bridge enabled a joint 27 L and PPA raid to surprise and capture 14 enemy in the village of GHIAIA.

This officer's consummate coolness and gallantry has not only made it possible to clean up a wide area of country which should easily have been held by the enemy, but his own personality has so impressed itself upon the Partisans in the coastal sector that their activities under his guidance have proved quite exceptional.

A Holy Priest

Priests have had a lot of bad press, to put it mildly, and much it self-inflicted and deserved. But don't forget the many holy men who lay down their lives for the flock, true shepherds. 72 year old Father Giuseppe Berardelli who gave his ventilator to a younger patient, was one of them.

Via Breitbart:

"Father Giuseppe Berardelli died as a priest,” said one of the healthcare workers in the Saint Joseph retirement home where the priest lived. “I am profoundly moved by the fact that he, as archpriest of Casnigo, freely renounced his respirator to give it to someone younger than him.”

The priest died during the night of March 15 in the hospital of Lovere, in Bergamo, but his story only began to circulate on Italian media on Monday. Like many others who have succumbed to the disease, Father Berardelli already suffered from severe health complications.

According to Breitbart, some 50 priests have died in Italy and while you may be baffled, confused and shocked that I make no claims to sanctity, I'm inspired and humbled by the example of Fr. Berardelli. Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory,

LSP

Pandemic

The Stranglers' cheery Don't Bring Harry has no sooner finished playing than boom, WHO Chief Tedros tells us that Kung Flu's a pandemic.

"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction"-@DrTedros #COVID19

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 11, 2020

Day late and a dollar short? Perhaps, but let's pray Italy's not the canary in the viral coalmine. Closer to home,  6 people in the DFW metrosprawl have caught the virus, including an Episcopalian priest figure, Dr. Robert Pace, who caught the ChiCom superbug at a conference in Kentucky for wealthy churches. 

That in mind, how long before the Wuhan Virus barrels down I35 to Hill County, Waco and beyond? Hopefully never, but I'd give it about a week. In the meanwhile, there's been a run on bleach and "loo roll" at the local Walmart. Should've bought shares but didn't, foolishly.

You can catch up on the latest Kung Flu news over at Zero, if you're in the mood.

Cheers,

LSP