Saturday, November 7, 2026

Post-op and Prognosis

The Blue Wave (AI-image)

Sarge's latest batch of fiction has really intrigued me. I love the spy, thriller, action-adventure genre as a lot of people do, and to me, this latest creation of his fits that perfectly.  In the comments on a recent post we briefly chatted about Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn novels, and how those two are probably the best in the biz.  Unfortunately both have passed away and the mantles of their books have been taken up by others.  Some of those are decent, but all are somewhat lacking.  The many books in the Jack Ryan universe are very much hit or miss, often formulaic at times and unremarkable.  The authors who took on writing about Mitch Rapp and his CIA exploits do a good job, but again not really scratching the itch that I am looking for with that character.  There seemed to be an arc for Mitch Rapp that was carefully crafted by Vince Flynn, but are now we just get one-off books with a standalone crisis that Mitch solves, and nothing is tied to some advancing storyline. 

"Oh dear, Mr. Wolf, not at all. We don't want you to intimidate them, we want you to kill them."  

Where Sarge might be going in with this work, using a lethal team to permanently deal with a problem, is probably going to be a bit more popular as a theme in movies and fiction due to the changing demographics of Europe and the United States. There's a movie on Amazon Prime called Citizen Vigilante.  It was good but not great, though it does relate to current events.  The main character was fed up about unchecked behaviors by newcomers to his country.  Actually he wasn't just fed up, he was angry and disgusted by the gut-wrenching crime that was committed and the inaction by the legal system.  That led him to take matters into his own hands since the government was either unwilling or afraid to have justice served. 

AI Image

Those October riots in Paris were terrible, but not all that shocking. What started as supposed protests about school cuts quickly filled with people who weren’t students at all. A lot of them were wearing keffiyehs and waving flags that were not the French tricolor.  In the end the damages reached nearly 2 billion Euros, around 500 to 600 police injured officers, gendarmes, and firefighters, and over 3,000 shops were looted, damaged, or destroyed.  How is looting related to school cuts?

Europe has had its hands full with this for over a decade now. Paris, parts of Italy, and to a lesser extent the UK and Germany have basically been overrun by a combination of heavy immigration, high crime in some communities, and much higher fertility rates. Some of these people came looking for a better life or as refugees from war-torn countries. But once they became firmly entrenched in society, it became clear that many of their values simply don’t mesh with Western culture and attitudes. Couple that with large families at younger ages (25% of births in France are from foreign-born mothers), plus 10% unemployment in these communities, and you get a lot of disaffected young men turning to crime.

In the UK, this problem exploded into the grooming gang scandals. For years, organized groups of mostly Pakistani men systematically raped and trafficked thousands of young British girls in places like Rotherham, Rochdale, and others. Authorities knew what was happening but deliberately downplayed it, ignored victims, and covered it up for fear of being called racist. The 2014 Jay Report revealed that at least 1,400 girls were abused in Rotherham alone. Police and social services were terrified of "racism" accusations, so they sacrificed the children to protect political correctness.

This isn’t about every single immigrant. But the pattern is clear, and as our President warned them, Europe needs to wake up before it’s too late.  When is it too late?  Maybe that point was passed last month.

Meanwhile, to ensure representation, some aspire to and achieve political office. We’ve now seen this play out in Minnesota, and with Zohran Mamdani winning the NYC Mayor race in 2025 — he’s a democratic socialist, the first Muslim mayor of the city, born to immigrants.  And in Michigan, the new Senator also comes from an immigrant Muslim background with fanatical ties that have raised a lot of eyebrows.

This can be problematic due to the concept of taqiyya, an Islamic concept of concealing one’s true beliefs or intentions when living as a minority under non-Muslim rule, particularly if it serves the advancement of Islam.  Because of that, I'm not sure if we can trust these politicians to uphold the Western values they claim to support when they’re campaigning.  Yet some are bold enough to spout anti-American values, but they're still elected.  Are they truly committed to our way of life, or are they working to change the system from the inside?

I don't think we'll have that type of crime or a push to embrace their culture happening here.  Not that we're immune to riots, ones planned and executed by power brokers on the left, but not by disaffected minorities for the most part.  We also wouldn't stand for such crimes without either official justice, or more home-grown versions supported by our 2A freedoms.  Those freedoms will also keep both unchecked governments and specific demographics from becoming unruly.  I'm talking about deterrence, not actual violence.

Why does this seem to be increasing?  Partially due to demographics, fertility, and concentrated voting blocs that where their voting power is enough to win major offices.  Add in guilt-driven “diversity” politics and some disaffected youth, and we get candidates who check multiple identity boxes to get a massive boost.

As for the youth embracing socialism (or at least far-left policies), it seems to come from a mix of things.  Many young people, like my daughter, have grown up in a time of sky-high housing costs, student debt (not for her fortunately), stagnant wages for average workers, and endless social media telling them that capitalism is the root of all evil.  They may not have been taught about, nor did they live through the Cold War.  They haven't seen what real socialism does to a country, so the word “socialist” doesn’t scare them.  They hear promises of free college, free healthcare, and “equity,” and it sounds like justice instead of what it actually is — government control over more and more of their lives.

The combination is dangerous. You have immigrant communities that haven’t fully adopted Western values (and in some cases actively reject them), paired with a large chunk of young native-born voters who think socialism sounds like a good idea. Together they create a voting coalition that is pushing hard-left policies and putting people with questionable loyalties into positions of real power.

Now here in the US, there are hints of the same growing concerns.  After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we graciously allowed many refugees to come here.  Some have recently been elected to some of the highest positions in our country, tapping into the youth vote and conning the Democratic Party to bring them under the tent.  Did the USA suddenly embrace socialism?  No, but the media still dominate discourse.  Did all the things we voted for in 2024 suddenly collapse?  No, the border is still closed and crime is way down.  Is DEI and the trans movement still dominating govt and academic institutions?  No again.  Wages are up, inflation is down, unemployment is down and the GDP is growing.  Is Iran capable of building a nuclear weapon?  No to that too.  Wars around the world have also been turned off.  All of this is true, although you wouldn't know it without digging into the corners of the interwebs to find the reports.  All of these are good news stories that would shower accolades on the sitting President in times past, but again- the media decides what you know and how you think about these.  Even more so in an election year.

I get it- our international policy has dramatically affected our energy policy, and oil runs everything- literally and figuratively.  The high diesel¹  and fuel prices hurt everyone and raise the price of everything.  That's an easy message for the media to pound, and the GOP suffered because of it.  Does that mean Trump was wrong to do what so many other politicians have given lip service to?  No, he's just the one to have the balls to do it.  Some think we should have never gone in, but many of them would have also agreed that something had to be done and that we can't allow a nuclear Iran.

I'm sure no one anticipated that Iran wouldn't have some moderate faction that could step forward to lead in the wake of the clerics.  Nor that there would still be a faction of IRGC fanatics that would continue their attacks.  This has kept the prices at the pump high while the war continues, angering the voting public info a repudiation of the GOP.  Remember "It's the economy stupid" from 1992?  That was true on Tuesday as well, despite us seeing the successes that were promised before we elected him 2 years ago.



What's going to happen now?  Well, it'll be Biden-era angry revenge politics 5.0.  There will likely be an end to the filibuster, impeachment attempts at Hegseth¹¹   for sure, and Trump probably.  We'll see endless hearings for much of the cabinet and the Trump family, trying to nail them for unethical or supposedly illegal activities.  They'll try to push legislation to end ICE and the war.  However, they don't have a super-majority and Trump is still President, so little will come of it.  They'll also spend all their time on Trump that they'll do nothing to lower the cost of living.  Therefore, more ineffective politics and we'll get nothing done.  There was a repudiation of Biden-era politics in 2024, and we got the policies we wanted.  However, the economy rules out and we have a short attention span, so repudiation 2.0. The war was just a wildcard thrown in the mix that is taking too long.  



Will the war be over by Nov 2028?  I would expect so.  Will our country still be secure with locked-down borders?  For sure.  Will the economy, specifically gas prices come down? I expect that to.  Will Vance run?  Probably.  Would we have a better chance with Rubio?  Probably that too, but I don't think he will.  My only real concern is Senate confirmation votes for a couple of aging conservative Supreme Court Justices, if it comes to it.  

Well, that's how I see it- what happened and what's next.  Hold on tight.




¹  The price of oil is way down, below $85 a barrel, but the gas prices are really lagging that.  Almost like it was planned.
¹ ¹ SecWar Hegseth may be a sacrificial lamb.

Friday, November 6, 2026

George D. Keathley Medal of Honor

 Ok folks, this is the last one of my posts on Medal of Honor recipients who attended Texas A&M University.  As I've mentioned before in the lead in to these posts, I didn't attend Texas A&M, but my Son and Daughter and their Spouses did.  So, I have a bit of a affection to that University.  

 

 

 I've been impressed with the Medal of Honor Citations I've read about the Recipients from Texas A&M University and brought to all y'all's attention, but I think this one takes the cake.  I'm not going to summarize it as I couldn't do as good a job as the person that wrote the official Citation.  So...Here it is.

Staff Sergeant George D. Keathly's Medal of Honor Citation:


For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, in action on the western ridge of Mount Altuzzo, Italy. After bitter fighting his company had advanced to within 50 yards of the objective, where it was held up due to intense enemy sniper, automatic, small arms, and mortar fire. The enemy launched 3 desperate counterattacks in an effort to regain their former positions, but all 3 were repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. All officers and noncommissioned officers of the 2d and 3d platoons of Company B had become casualties, and S/Sgt. Keathley, guide of the 1st platoon, moved up and assumed command of both the 2d and 3d platoons, reduced to 20 men. The remnants of the 2 platoons were dangerously low on ammunition, so S/Sgt. Keathley, under deadly small arms and mortar fire, crawled from 1 casualty to another, collecting their ammunition and administering first aid. He then visited each man of his 2 platoons, issuing the precious ammunition he had collected from the dead and wounded, and giving them words of encouragement. The enemy now delivered their fourth counterattack, which was approximately 2 companies in strength. In a furious charge they attacked from the front and both flanks, throwing hand grenades, firing automatic weapons, and assisted by a terrific mortar barrage. So strong was the enemy counterattack that the company was given up for lost. The remnants of the 2d and 3d platoons of Company B were now looking to S/Sgt. Keathley for leadership. He shouted his orders precisely and with determination and the men responded with all that was in them. Time after time the enemy tried to drive a wedge into S/Sgt. Keathley's position and each time they were driven back, suffering huge casualties. Suddenly an enemy hand grenade hit and exploded near S/Sgt. Keathley, inflicting a mortal wound in his left side. However, hurling defiance at the enemy, he rose to his feet. Taking his left hand away from his wound and using it to steady his rifle, he fired and killed an attacking enemy soldier, and continued shouting orders to his men. His heroic and intrepid action so inspired his men that they fought with incomparable determination and viciousness. For 15 minutes S/Sgt. Keathley continued leading his men and effectively firing his rifle. He could have sought a sheltered spot and perhaps saved his life, but instead he elected to set an example for his men and make every possible effort to hold his position. Finally, friendly artillery fire helped to force the enemy to withdraw, leaving behind many of their number either dead or seriously wounded. S/Sgt. Keathley died a few moments later. Had it not been for his indomitable courage and incomparable heroism, the remnants of 3 rifle platoons of Company B might well have been annihilated by the overwhelming enemy attacking force. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.

My eyes got a little damp on reading that. As President Reagan said "Where did we find such Men?"  Thankfully we did!

Peace out y'all! 

Thursday, November 5, 2026

Some things went well. Some things didn't!

 Well, apparently, Sarge and I are singing the same song.  You know which one . Skip the commercial at the beginning if you wish to watch.  Otherwise skip the whole thing.

 

I'm glad that Sarge's procedure went well, albeit he looks more pirate-like than usual.

See what I mean?

My visit to the Medicos went well.  As I mentioned earlier this week, I was in for what I thought would be a loud ride.  A lot of things were the same as the last PET Scan (Positron Emission Tomography Scan) I'd had a few years ago with one exception.  This Scanner was almost completely silent. I darn near took a nap.  The only discomfort, and it was mild, in the process occurred because they were scanning my head and chest, I had to have my arms out of the way.  That meant they had to be above my head and about shoulder width, any wider and I'd be touching the machine.  Not sure what would happen, but the guy running the exam said that's a very big no-no.  I took his word for it.

As soon (40 minutes later) as he got me out of the tube, I learned that he's a baseball fan.  When I asked how the scan went.  He said "No hits, no runs, no men left on base." I asked if that meant "No bad things found?"  

He said that was the case.  I was happy as was Mrs J when I conveyed the news to her. In plain English!

So, this medical adventure seems to be coming to a positive ending.  Got a follow up with my GP next week.  I should get good news as I have not received any bad news from the multiple Doctors I've seen lately so I'm expecting that will be the case.  With that and the paperwork being processed through the DMV and I should be a fully free driver.  I can even go to Lowes by myself if I want.  Mrs J said so!

Hallelujah!

Thanks to all y'all for the words of encouragement.  If you have been through a similar process, you know what I mean.  If you haven't, count your blessings, and hope that streak continues.

So I've said "Thank You" to the Big Guy quite a few times lately as he's always came through for us.  He did it again this time.  So...Thank you, Lord!

May similar results be upon y'all if the circumstances require.  I'll return the favor and keep you in our prayers.

As to the second half of the title of this post.

Awww Fecal Matter!!!! 

Source 

 

Peace out, Y'all, and Heaven Help Us!

juvat 

 


 

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Ow

OAFS Photo
No new fiction today.

Had a glaucoma shunt installed in the left eye on Tuesday. While not really painful, the procedure was tedious.

It's only afterwards that it began to sting, just a bit. (And it's the annoying, niggling sort of pain.)

As I suck at typing to begin with, and suck worse with only one eye in battery, I've decided to wait until tomorrow to pick up our tale of skullduggery and nastiness in Scotland.

Stay tuned ...



Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Visit to Glasgow

Source
"You should have seen it two days ago," MacDonald had trouble keeping his anger down. The rioters had trashed the square around the Cenotaph, Glasgow's memorial to her war dead. Protest signs, trash, why was the so-called Left, so allegedly concerned about the environment, such pigs when they gathered in crowds?

Wolf looked the scene over, the rain continued to fall, as if the very heavens wept for the times they were facing. Then he spoke in a low tone to the man paying the bills.

"Pro-immigration? Open borders?"

MacDonald turned and looked at Wolf, "Yes, I'm sure you've seen this before."

"Yes, people who mean well but with little common sense. Manipulated by those who seek power by any means necessary. I suppose it's always been this way."

"Yes, I suppose it has." MacDonald hesitated for a moment, then asked a question that had been on his mind for some time.

"Where are your people from? Originally, I mean."

Wolf grinned, "Originally? Well, one school of thought suggests we all started in Africa, but I'm assuming you want to know my family's more recent origins."

MacDonald looked uncomfortable for a moment, "I don't mean to pry Mr. Wolf, it's just that you don't look ..."

"White, Mr. MacDonald? Is that what you're driving at?"

"Well ..." MacDonald was starting to regret asking the question.

"I suppose you could say that some of my ancestors came from the Mediterranean, we're not really sure where, perhaps north Africa, maybe Italy, which might explain my dark eyes and complexion. Eventually they wound up in North America, somewhat south of the Rio Grande. The beauty of that is that I can blend in almost anywhere. Except sub-Saharan Africa and much of East Asia. But at a distance? Put a keffiyeh on me and I can pass for the average Arab, grow my beard out and slap a pakol¹ on my head and I can pass as an Afghan."

"I suppose that must be useful in your line of work." MacDonald started walking, they needed to get out of the rain and back to the safehouse.

"Oh indeed, it is."


Wolf had spent the day with MacDonald down in Glasgow, now he was back with the rest of his team on a farm outside Falkirk. It was big enough for them to be comfortable and was isolated enough for them not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. It also provided easy access to both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

"Have you got our comms established yet, Charlie?" Wolf asked.

The man called Charlie, which wasn't his name, he'd picked up the nickname due to his uncanny resemblance to the late Charles Bronson, answered. "Up and running, boss. I made contact with the sub about an hour ago. They'll be raising their mast every two hours on the hour if we wish to talk to them. If they want to talk to us, they can do that anytime, we'll be monitoring the comms around the clock."

"Good, we all squared away?"

One of the men, they called him Fuji, again not his real name, asked, "So what's the job, boss? Are we here to provide security for someone or are we here to make trouble?"

"From the briefing I got before we left the States, our mission is kind of open ended. The man who gave us the contract said, 'Do whatever they ask, as long as it's in reason and won't drag the United States into war.' So yeah, that's a pretty broad tasking."

"And pretty f**king vague as well," the man who spoke stood up, he had to stoop over as the ceilings in this old house were very low. Not really designed for someone well over six and a half feet tall.

Wolf turned to look at Max, "It is. We might wind up doing nothing, we might wind up going after the people in country who are behind all this recent rioting. The guy paying us doesn't want the UK to go under, but some of it may slide into chaos, much like France and Greece and to some extent, Poland. But he wants to keep Scotland in the game."

Max pointed out that he'd seen news reports that a lot of immigrants, legal and otherwise, were heading south, into England proper. "I guess the Scots would rather they were elsewhere," he said.

Wolf added, "Yup, their benefits are drying up, seems the Scots are tired of paying for their uninvited guests. As one of their MPs said the other day, if London wants them, London can pay for them."

Fuji spoke up again, "You didn't answer my question, boss. What's our role here?"

"MacDonald and the President are old friends apparently. The big bossman told me that MacDonald could be trusted. If he asks us to do something, then it's something that absolutely needs doing."

Max nodded, "Got that Fuji? Sounds like a 'blow shit up and kill people' sort of mission."

Charlie looked up from his comm gear, "My favorite kind."


Gordon was looking over MacDonald's shoulder, "Are we absolutely sure about this?"

MacDonald stepped back from the maps on the table, "Yes, my source in Whitehall say that these bastards are paying for all of this unrest. And they're in this house in Glasgow, sitting pretty and feeling rather untouchable. They can see the Chinese Consulate from their bedroom windows!"

"And?" Gordon looked worried.

"I think we should ask Mr. Wolf and his lads to pay those chaps a visit."

"Won't that raise a stink?"

"Rather what we want, isn't it? Let the other side know that we're not playing."

Gordon nodded, he almost felt sorry for the people MacDonald was going to target.

Almost.



¹ A soft, round woolen hat with a rolled brim that can be pulled down over the ears in cold weather. Originally from the Hindu Kush region, it is widely worn by Tajiks, Pashtuns, and Nuristanis.

Monday, November 2, 2026

Borrowing from the Bangles



Okay folks! It's been another exciting week so far!  So,  "Off we go into the wild blue..." You know the rest, in fact you're probably humming the tune right now as you read this.  

So, juvat, what's going on for you to be so excited this week? Well...Tuesday I get a PET scan. One's gotta look forward to that!

No Beans, I'm not taking the dogs to the vet.  No, Mrs J is taking me to the Doc.  A PET scan is a Positron Emission Tomography.  

 Biograph PET/CT family for radiation therapy planning - Siemens ...

So, you lay down on the two bars and stick your head into the toilet bowl.  They flush it and it takes pictures of the inner working of your noggin. 

That clears things up a lot doesn't it?  Just kidding of course.  It detects early signs of cancer, heart disease and brain conditions.  In my situation those conditions are ordered in increasing likelihood.  My short term memory is horrible since the accident and my heart caused the accident so...

We've also had a bit of a vehicle problem.  Our only vehicle, Mrs J’s car, ran over a nail and we didn't notice it until the next morning when the tire was flat as a pancake.  Got out the spare and the jack and never having had to use it on this car, found out that the wrench head didn't fit the nuts on the wheel.  Since we bought the car used, we think the prior owner just went to WalMart and bought a tire iron.  Hadn't needed it until we did!

Well...Fecal matter!

So, finally gave up and called a service to come and change the tire.  The service guy showed up 15 minutes later and I hear his power tool turning lug nuts.  15 minutes after that, he drove off.  

Mission complete!  We're taking the flat tire to Costco to replace along with the other 3 that are approaching end life.  So be it.

 That's the highlights for this week. (I hope and pray!)  We shall see what will be.  In the meantime, I think I'll go back in time to a song I kinda like.  Hope you do also.

 

 

Peace out y'all! 

Sunday, November 1, 2026

Ashore

U.S. Army Photo
It had been a rough ride in, but the entire team made it, along with all of their equipment. Wolf was nervous, nothing had gone wrong yet. He always expected something to go wrong, when it didn't it felt like the pending catastrophe had just been pushed down the line a bit. Something always went wrong, at least that was his experience and he had a lot of that.

He had left the Army when the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had wound down, garrison life wasn't for him, too much chickenshit to be honest. He was a soldier, he wanted to be in the fight, not languishing at some Stateside base under some career lunatic who only cared about his next promotion.

So he'd got out, the existing security companies didn't suit his style, so he started his own outfit. It wasn't long before he'd secured a number of contracts and a reputation for getting things done.

Security for senior businessmen and politicians traveling to dangerous areas of the world was one thing, this mission was something else altogether.


"They move well, don't they?"

Alistair Stewart handed the night vision set to his colleague, Seamus MacDuff, who surveyed the area of the beach below their position atop the bluff.

"Indeed, they have excellent noise discipline and it's bloody obvious that this is not the first time they've done this. Shall we make contact?"

"Paddy Riley's down there. Wolf is expecting someone to meet him on the beach, Paddy is there for just that purpose."

MacDuff was surprised to see the boats the men had come in on head back out to sea after unloading. Certainly saved them the trouble of hiding the small craft. That had been one aspect of the plan that had worried him. The beach was very open, almost no vegetation to be seen. They would have had to haul the boats off somewhere or leave them to be found by some beachcomber. Seemed that Wolf had really thought this through.


Wolf saw the winking light through his NVGs, he readied his weapon as he walked toward the light.

"Albatross," he hissed into the night.

"Ancient mariner," came the proper reply.

In the dim starlight Wolf could see that the man who stood up to greet him was a rather large fellow. Had to be at least six foot five or more.

"You Wolf?" the man's voice rumbled from his chest.

"The same, you are ...?"

"Paddy Riley, I'm the welcoming committee, my boss and his 2IC are up on the bluff."

Wolf heard "two aye see" and realized that the man meant the second in command, what he'd call the XO, that whole 'separated by a common language' theme seemed to be in force.

"Transport?"

"Yes, couple of lorries stashed nearby."

Wolf nodded, fortunately he'd worked with the Brits in the past so he knew what a lorry was. Why couldn't they just call it a truck?


Wolf's team of fifteen men were riding in the two trucks, heading for Edinburgh. He was sitting in the cab of one vehicle with the man who was his employer's liaison with Wolf's team. Guy's name was Stewart and Wolf looked at him expectantly.

"I suppose you want the details of why you're here, Mr. Wolf."

"That would be nice, fifteen men isn't enough to overthrow a government but it's enough to make a lot of trouble in a country where everyone has been disarmed."

"Well, not everyone, but yes, your average citizen is not going to take up arms. Can't even own a bloody kitchen knife without the proper sort of license. You're not here to overthrow a government, you're here to help establish a new country. Well, to assist in the rebirth of an old country to be exact."

Wolf shook his head, "Scottish independence? Is that why we're here?"

"In a nutshell, yes. But the government in London isn't the only obstacle to that."

"Your rather large population of 'refugees' is another I take it." Wolf had practically spit the word refugee out of his mouth.

"Indeed. They are why Scotland wishes to break away, there's a reason why London is now known as Londonistan. The mob rules down there and in many of the major cities. We have the problem in Glasgow but the further north you go the fewer of that lot are about. The United Kingdom is turning into a third world country and we, in Scotland, want no part of that."

Wolf nodded, "So we're hired guns, muscle you can use to intimidate the bolder of those who might oppose you?"

"Oh dear, Mr. Wolf, not at all. We don't want you to intimidate them, we want you to kill them."