Just Strolling In The Rain

Most Anglican priests in North America typically stay in their parish or mission for about five years before moving on to moar cash greater and higher things. At least that's what the stats said a few years ago, and I reflected on that as I strolled through the sylvan boulevards of Olde Texas in the gentle rain. How can you possibly, as a clergyman, get to know the people and place of your cure in just five years?

Well you can't, not to any great extent, and there's a virtue in staying in one place for a length of time. Of course it helps if the place in question is congenial and involves riding, shooting, fishing and, today, gentle, soothing rain. Enjoy it while you can, fellow citizens of this bucolic rural haven in North Central Texas.

Weather reverie over, I strolled past a sign for the impending eclipse and into the food bank, which does a brisk business because no one can afford to buy food at the supermarkets, and talked to their leaderene who has to be pushing 90 but doesn't look a day younger or older than she did 15 years ago.

What a good woman and tough as nails, I used to shoot pistols with her husband, RIP, back in the day using pictures of Episcopal Church bishop figures as targets. Fun. Then it was a short saunter over to the Square, complete with its Confederate war memorial. No, no-one's even thought of taking that down, and from there to a shop I've never been in.

To be fair, it's changed hands a few times since I've been here and now advertises "alterations." Interesting, and I went inside to investigate. Sure enough, it's definitely an alterations shop and I visited with the owner who was inundated with work. Yes, she could create a suit, but didn't have the time. You see, what happens is that people, typically women, buy stuff online which doesn't fit them and then take it to be fixed. So she has a roaring trade and fair play to her, I'll go there in the future instead of driving to Dallas.

Speaking of which, Janey Tailor on the corner of Greenville and Mockingbird did a stand-up job fixing not one but four old but nice suits, DB, 3B, 2B. "You are wizards!" I exclaimed to the excellent Korean sewing crew at Janey Tailor, and they are, but now I want to shop local. I like the vibe of this shop. Next stop?

Gold Nugget Pawn. I bought my first Lee Enfield there back in the far-off mists of time and used to bring great containers of Holy Water for the staff. They said they needed it, which they doubtless did. Then the owner Miss Dale died, I buried her, and Cindy took over the operation only to sell the shop off. Now it's under new management who are staunch #2A, so we get on well. I'll offer to bless the place, maybe an exorcism'd be in order.

On the way back to the Compound, I passed by the Pick 'n Steal, still going strong after all these years, though I miss the Nepalese who used to run it, and swung 'round the corner past what used to be the Meth Shack. That's no more and's being fixed up by Jose who, is, I think, from El Salvador. A good man and maybe he'll go to Mission #1's new Spanish Mass.

Regardless, back at the front porch of the Compound I looked out on the rain of a Texan morning and thanked God for bringing me here. So much better than, say, Baltimore, Philly or the suburban ghetto Maryland suburbs of DC. 

You see, gentle readers, I've pretty much been a slum priest for much of my time, so this is most congenial, in a semi-abandoned railway town kinda way. You'll note, in passing, that priests tend to stay two years in this position before moving on, and I've stayed over fifteen, this is a record. No inclination to move either, and there you have it, and Devil take the hindmost.

In other news, my eldest texted me yesterday as I was collecting clothes from the Dallas Koreans, "Dad, they've promoted me to Sergeant." And so they had, right there in the field. I texted back, "WELL DONE. GOOD WORK." We must take our victories as we find 'em.

Stand Strong,

LSP

Stardust

 

Take it easy, kids.

Sleep tight,

LSP

SCOTUS Sides With Texas

 

The Supreme Court's sided with Texas by a slim 4-3 majority, lib justices dissenting, allowing the state to arrest and deport illegals. About time too. Here's a helpful infovideo:

WATCH: The Democrat Open Borders Plan to Entrench Single-Party Rule | Explained in Under Two Minutes pic.twitter.com/uWJxBiKive

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 19, 2024

 

The Biden admin's let in what, 10 million illegals? What a gang of criminal traitors. On topic, I always enjoy the blank, slack-jawed look leftists give when you ask them, "What will all this immigration do to workers' wages, will it make wages rise or fall?" They recover after a bit and ramble rainbow incoherently about the Statue of Liberty.

Go Texas,

LSP

Maybe You Scorn My Suits

 

Then again, maybe you don't.

All for the Cause,

LSP

Question - Two or Three Button?

 

OK, it's Lent here in the North Central Texas Exclusion Zone and everywhere else, so we're jousting with Gospel imperatives. Viz. Should a suit be two button or 3 button? Dege & Skinner, notables of the Row, seem to opt for two button, see above.

Nice, to put it mildly, no doubt about it, but perhaps three button gives that SuperTrad, strolling down St. James and Devil takes the hindmost look? I used to think so, back in the mists of time, but now? Maybe two button befits seniority. Whatever, here's cut-price Cordings by way of reference:

As you can see, gentlemen and women, we're talking salvation issues here, but hey, it's Monday and the Compound's taking a "day-off." Quite unlike Satan. Soteriology aside, what's your take on suits, two or three button? And let's not forget DB.

I say all means all, but your call,

LSP

PS. Aide Memoire, Prince Philip favored TWO BUTTON. And long cut KENT HASTE. So, there is that.

St. Patrick's Day

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, you lot, and you'll note the Rainbow Uniparty which rules formerly Great Britain hasn't dared, yet, to disband the Brigade of Guards. But I won't bang on. Happy St. Patrick's Day. And if Kate's still alive, and all the world hopes she is, let's give her Canada. Like... yesterday.

By the Left,

LSP

Juke Box Saturday

 

Juke Box Saturday's back by popular demand and what a line up we've got. Pat kicks off with the awesome Band Maid, hard rockers outta Japan:

 

Great result and Wild hits it outta the park with the Vapors, "Pat has me thinking I'm turning Japanese." Rock on:

What. A. Tune. And here's some superlative awesomeness via Jim. Check it out, Tiny Moore & Jimmy Gimble:

Man, that was good, Here's RHT's selection and it ain't shabby, a right toe-tapper:

And what about you, so-called LSP? Let's change it up with Lully, complete with trumpets. Keen-eyed viewers will note LL at the top of the stairwell. Enjoy Lully:

Keep 'em coming,

LSP

Yes We Do Requests

 

Sure thing. Here at the Compound we're pretty much always ready to fire up the juke box and play requests. This one's from Wild, and what a one it is.

Good call. And Wild, I see your BST with BOC. Turn it up:

Oh yes indeed. 

So don't be shy, send in your tunes,

LSP 

Boots On The Ground

 

A rambunctious young soldier walked through the door, "Hi Dad, what's up?" I took a pause from selling AI inventory (What?? Yes, it's true) and said, "Here, look at this," and showed off the new CZ 20, "Let's go for a shoot." Smiles all 'round. But first things first, clean up those dusty old boots.

That's right, a pair of Ariat Heritage which have been  all over the shop, from Africa to Canada and in between. Good boots, but here's the thing, if you don't look after 'em they fall apart, not unlike guns, when you think about it. So I gave the things a good going over with mink oil. This helps waterproof the leather and keeps it supple. It's not even hard to do, just put some mink oil magic on your mink oil brush and give the boots a sturdy scrub.

Well done, boots ready to go, you're ready to go, pre-mission objective accomplished, but then disaster struck. That's right, the climate changed. It does that, you see, and it did it again today, with thunder starting to rumble like opening salvos in the battle of Kursk, followed by rain which spat against the wooden walls of this old house.

We watched the storm from the shelter of the front porch, "I guess we're not going shooting, eh?" No, we weren't, so we talked Army.

Now, all the world knows that the US Army has a grievous recruitment problem, to the tune of a 40k+ shortfall. Not good, especially when our beloved rulers are baying for moar war. Solution? My eldest told me, "What they're doing is getting all these new E5s to become recruiters. Doesn't matter if they're unfit or whatever, make Sergeant and off you go. That's what I was told."

"Huh," I replied, staring out at a tumultuous Texan sky, "That's no good," and the kid agreed. "Did you know recruiters have the highest suicide level rate in the Army?" I didn't, and he continued, "But here's the thing, if I turn down Recruiter I can put in a Drill Packet."

"Now that, old chap, makes a lot of sense in your case, you'd be good at it," and he would, his face fits. Not only that, it's a two year thing and he'd have time to finish off a degree and then move on to OCS. That's his plan, and it's a good plan. But back to the recruitment crisis.

"You know, Dad, I was talking with our First Sergeant and he told me, 'How are we going to fix recruitment, by taking on a lot of recruiters or by paying our soldiers more than three bucks an hour?' Yeah, and I said hey, you're preaching to the converted."

Like really. Maybe, just maybe, we'd get more recruits if we actually paid our soldiers more than junior burger flippers, to say nothing of all the risible rainbow garbage and the fact that patriots, young men and women who want to serve their country, aren't too keen on signing up to fight for the Demented Old Crook and associates. The very people who actively hate them and everything they stand for.

We talked about all this, there on the porch as the rain crashed down, and have rescheduled our shoot till after the boy gets back from a mission in California. I look forward to that. Semper.

Your Old Friend,

LSP

Oh Canada

 

Don't you even think about wrongthought much less dare to speak it in Canada. Because if you do you might end up in gaol, for life. Via Zerohedge:

We have previously discussed the unrelenting attacks by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his allies on free speech. There has been a steady criminalization of speech, including even jokes and religious speech, in Canada. Now, the Canadian parliament is moving toward a new change that would allow the imposition of life imprisonment on those who post views deemed supportive of genocide. With a growing movement calling Israel’s war in Gaza “genocide,” the potential scope of such a law is readily apparent. That appears to be its very draw for anti-free speech advocates in the country.

The Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63 increases the potential penalties from five years to life imprisonment. It also increases the penalty for the willful promotion of hatred (a dangerously ill-defined crime) from two years to five years. The proposed changes constitute a doubling down on Canada’s commitment to reducing free speech for citizens despite criticism from many in the civil liberties community.

There is also a chilling option for house arrest if a judge believes a defendant “will commit” an offense. In other words, if a judge thinks that a citizen will be undeterred and try to speak freely again.

Justice Minister Arif Virani employed the same hysteria to convince citizens to surrender their freedoms to the government. He expressed how terrified he was with the potential of free speech, stating that he is “terrified of the dangers that lurk on the internet for our children.”

It is not likely to end there.

Today the rationale is genocide. However, once the new penalties are in place, a host of other groups will demand similar treatment for those with opposing views on their own causes. 

This law already increased the penalties for anything deemed hateful speech.

The law comes after Canada blocked a Russian dissident from becoming a citizen because of her violation of Russian anti-free speech laws.

In a telling act, the government said that the same conduct (i.e., free speech) could be a crime in Canada. 

Indeed, it may now be punished even more harshly.

I have family over there, in Alberta, maybe they need to get out.

LSP 

This And That

 

Nasty, Isn't It

Look what happens. You take a few days off in the DFW Metrosprawl to take care of business and Haiti falls apart. I'll just leave this timeline out there, via Bad Hombre:

Haiti is in the news, so here's a quick timeline of Haiti since 2009. Notice Hillary Clinton is featured prominently: 

- 2009: Secretary of State Clinton makes Haiti a top diplomatic priority. 

- Jan. 2010: A devastating earthquake that claims 220,000 lives decimates Haiti. The Clinton Foundation raises $30 million for Haiti relief that goes largely unaccounted for. 

- Nov 2010: Hillary Clinton endorses Michel Martelly, but he comes in third place and does NOT qualify for the runoff election scheduled for March 2011.

- January 2011: Hillary Clinton travels to Haiti, meets with President Preval, and threatens to cut off aid if Martelly is not on the ballot. Celestin is dropped from the ballot, and Martelly is placed on the ballot. 

- March 2011: Martelly "wins" an election marred by voter fraud where 650,000 "ghost ballots" were counted, including many who died in the earthquake.

- 2011-2016: Martelly administration is plagued with corruption scandals mainly centered around accepting bribes in exchange for construction project deals that never materialized and working with criminal gangs to commit human rights violations.

- 2016: Martelly resigns and flees to Florida a week before his term is set to expire.

- June 2016: The results of a special election are annulled after an audit found extensive voter fraud. 

- November 2016-2020: Jovenel Moise wins new elections. He begins enacting agrarian reforms, establishing free trade zones, fighting corruption, and arresting narcotics and human traffickers.

 - July 7th, 2021: 6 months after Joe Biden takes office, 28 foreign (mostly Colombian) mercenaries storm the presidential palace and assassinate President Moise. 

- July 7th–21st, 2021: departing PM Claude Joseph takes over as president for 14 days, but stands down in favor of Ariel Henry, who was supported by the United States. Two days before his murder, Moise had chosen Henry to be Prime Minister.

- 2021: Gangs begin carving out the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. 

- February 2024: Claude Joseph and Moise's widow are indicted for plotting Moise's assassination. 

- March 2024: Henry travels to Kenya to sign an agreement for 1,000 troops to help restore order in the Haitian capital but is unable to return home due to security concerns. Henry remains stranded in Puerto Rico as warring gangs wrestle for control of the government with human flesh-eating gang leader "Barbecue" poised to take over.

Cheers,

LSP 

It's All Go

It's all go here, I tell you. Monday meant a trip to the 'burbs to meet with lawyers and it went pretty well, in an all day kind of way. Before that I stopped at a Starbucks by the highway for coffee. 

Sinister

Lo and behold, there was an indigent POC crashed out on a sofa, perhaps he'd been done in by a deliciously lush Oleata, whatever that is.

Magicians? Let's See

So that was Monday, Tuesday was different again and involved driving to the corner of Greenville and Mockingbird from Dallas HQ to see Janey Tailor. Janey Tailor promises to work Korean magic on some old suits, let's see how that goes.

Look, a Drake

And today? A trip to Ray's gun shop, it's an institution, and a strangely cheap CZ Drake O/U 20. We'll see how it shoots. Back in the country now, where the air is clean.

Your Pal,

LSP