I have a blowout kit (IFAK) in my car, another in my wife’s car, and an a third in my range bag.  I have surgical shears, nitrile gloves, several Israeli bandages, tourniquets, and Z-Pack dressing.  I am in no way a medical professional, I did some  basic combat lifesaving training with the Guard in college and have watched a number of YouTube videos on how to use the stuff I have.

I’m just an amateur, but the range I shoot at is 30 miles from the nearest hospital, and has bad cellphone reception.  If someone has an AD, my fucking about with a tourniquet may be the different between life and death when getting to an ER is going to take half and hour.  I am willing to take that risk.

Carrying medical equipment like that is a lot like concealed carry in general.  I’m not a professional gun fighter, but I’d rather do my best as an amateur than die with my thumb up my ass waiting for the professionals to show up.

So…

I’m reading a segment from a news article when I come across this quote from a medical doctor.

“They would be something you could have in your closet in a small bag that you could pull out and go.”

Oh, like a blow out kit for MDs.  Maybe a little more advanced than what I have.

We’ve seen a couple of attempted terrorist acts in the US in the last few days, and a car attack in Australia.  Having some doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals carry some emergency trauma supplies as part of their EDC will only help save lives in these types of situations.

BUT…

That’s not what The Guardian is talking about.  Nope.

Mangold was at a special workshop organized by a not-for-profit group whose mission is to make up for the lack of instruction on contraception and abortion at many US medical programs. But it doubled as a lesson in using a no-frills kit of basic instruments that, in the event of the practice becoming illegal in the US, could be stashed and carried discreetly, to perform covert abortions safely.

Yep, it’s a training program to teach medical students to do covert field abortions because TRUMP!!!

Khan wants to offer family planning “especially in underserved areas”. But he added: “I don’t know if I would still provide abortion if it was illegal, which is maybe in our very near future.”

Because that would take a Constitutional Amendment or the Supreme Court reversing Roe v. Wade, neither of which is going to happen in my lifetime, but why not use that as an excuse to have a fun and exciting day practicing abortions on fruit.  (Seriously, go to the article and look at the pictures, those are some happy, smiling faces practicing abortions.)

I warms the cockles of my heart to know that in a world where a Christmas market or marathon finish line, or anywhere else that people gather could be attacked at any time; we have medical professionals who are ready to rush in with portable field kids to stop bleeding and save lives murder the unborn babies.

Including oldies…

Puerco Asado / Lechon Asado  is a Cuban tradition. While Latinos in general love the pork, the Cubans enjoy doing the whole hog for the Christmas Eve supper. Lots of people are coming, covered dishes will be brought and a hog will provide meat for everybody. They get roasted in the traditional Caja China or if they cannot afford one or live in an apartment, local bakeries will roast the piggy in their ovens for a modest fee (no bread on Christmas Eve.) Obviously, the cheapest and freshest way to get your whole pork is to go to a slaughterhouse and buy it freshly executed.

But leave it to our friends in PETA to give you a small dose of Useless Florida Activist for the festivities. They were trying to save LIVES! Oh the Humanity!

Hispanics are very not buying this kind of crap from PETA. I still remember the debacle about a decade ago when they were allowed in local area elementary schools with anti milk propaganda and tried to be cute with a slogan in Spanish that went “Tira la Leche.”

It was supposed to mean to throw away the milk of dump the milk.

It turned out that in slang/gutter Spanish it meant “Go ejaculate.”

Parents were a bit upset when the kiddies got home and showed them what the nice weirdos visiting school gave them.

There were a lot of long comments on my last post about Star Wars.

Rather than respond to them individually, I thought I’d just do one more post on the subject.

It seems to me that Rey’s backstory was an attempt to stop her from being a Mary Sue, and as much as Forbes tries to make the case that Rey is not a Mary Sue, they end end up defining her perfectly as one.

There are two tropes that writers follow in these types of stories and Rey and her ilk, as well as most of the wizarding world of Harry Potter, and the X-Men universe (most superhero universes for that matter), follow one if not both.

One: The Chosen One.

Two: It is the idea that you are born with “it” or not.  You have a high midichlorian count, or you don’t.  You are born a wizard or you are a muggle.  You are a mutant with powers or not.

Once you have A Chosen One, nobody else’s contribution towards the action really matters unless they are directly enabling The Chosen One.  If The Chosen One is key to defeating the bad guy, why die in an X-Wing far from The Chosen?  Why take on Death Eaters anywhere else in the world?  Every good person should just relegate themselves to being a human shield for The Chosen One.

Beyond that, there is just the improbability of events that surround the Chosen One.  Everything t Hogwarts revolved around Harry Potter, to the detriment and death of other students.

The nuke the fridge moment for me in The Phantom Menace was when Anakin built C3PO.  What did that add to the story except being so entirely improbable in the whole wide galaxy far away, that I couldn’t get over it.  In a whole galaxy, the same dozen characters do everything and keep running into each other.

Being “born with IT” is just as bad.  Effort really doesn’t matter if you are lucky enough to have IT.  Rey doesn’t need a lifetime of training because she has IT.   The entire wizarding world is predicated on those with IT are special.  X-Men are heroes because they are born with IT.

This is in direct contrast with actual life.  Sure, you can tell me it’s fantasy, but that detracts from the story, not adds to it.  Natural talent or skill is a good start, but effort makes the man.

Batman is great because he trained and trained and designed all his gadgets.

I think the born special trope is loved by kids because they all think they are special.  Reality is they are not and a magic owl is not going to show up with a letter to change their lives.

Incidentally, this is why I don’t like the Harry Potter universe as a whole.  Kids identify with the wizards.  I identify with the muggles.  Once you realize that the wizards think of themselves as Ubermensch, and Voldamort’s motivations seem perfectly in line with history, the muggle persecution of wizards makes sense.  When one wizard could subjugate whole nations of muggles, freedom loving muggles have every right to burn a wizard at the stake.

The anti-mutant humans in the X-Men universe are equally justified.  When you can control people’s minds or blow up a building by looking at it, what stops a person like that from trying to appoint themselves a god-king?  Every mutant would be more like Apocalypse than not.

I much prefer the magical universe of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians (the show is hot garbage, read the books).  Sure, natural talent is a good start, but to become a magician takes work (the name of the wizarding school is Brakebills, but the students call it ‘Break-balls’ because of how hard it is).  One of the most powerful magicians in that universe was rejected from Brakebills and learned magic on the street.  Dedication and work is what did it.  In Harry Potter, no muggle, no matter how hard they worked could out magic a Hogwarts graduate.

I’d much rather see training and dedication than “*POOF* your mystical heritage grants you world changing powers because plot.”

Then again, I’m an adult that has to work for things.

And he is being polite:

Get it out of your head and heart that you will ever see a bill through Congress that cannot be twisted or misused.

You will never see one.  Ever.

If you can’t get that notion out of your head, you’re never going to see any advancement to your rights, ever.

Don’t like it?  Tough shit.

Don’t like me saying it?  Tough shit.

Shit canning every attempt to make things even a little better makes you look like inflexible fanatics.

Inflexible fanatics who only a couple short years ago were demanding compromise in our direction instead of it being all one sided.

We got that, but it wasn’t perfect (because it cannot be) and you would not hear of it being passed.

So we get nothing, because it was all or nothing with you and you sure were louder than the more reasonable voices.

All or nothing means NOTHING.  Every time.  Without exception.

So now I know when you say no compromise, you mean, “I’m anti rights and anti-gun!” and I know I can ignore you from now on.  Traitors.

Dissuade Yourself Of The Notion – The Abode of McThag

Dear Jews of Texas,

I just saw this though it is a couple of days old.

Texas Imam: Judgment Day Won’t Start ‘Until Muslims Fight the Jews in Palestine.’

The Clarion Project report on this Houston based Imam contains a video with English translations.

What we have seen throughout Europe is ISIS inspired Islamic terrorism, fomented by radical European Imams.  The attitude is “if [a Muslim] can’t go to the Middle East and fight for ISIS, it acceptable for him to fight on ISIS’ behalf at home.”

While this Imam in Texas may be calling for Muslims to fight Jews in Palestine, but based on the way other Islamist terror groups have behaved, attacking Jews who support Israel locally would be an acceptable proxy target.

Here is the website of the Texas Department of Public Safety section on a Licence to Carry (LTC) a handgun.

Here is a list of ranges and instructors for LTC training in the Houston, TX area.

I suggest you follow these links and gets yourself a handgun, apply for your LTC, and start practicing with it as quickly as possible.

Right now there are a lot of pre-Christmas deals on guns out there, including some serious manufacturers rebates.  Now is the time to arm up, if you haven’t already.

Shit might be getting very real for you very soon.

God bless.

There are no coincidences.

Item one:

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Police have killed the suspect in a series of three shootings that occurred throughout downtown Harrisburg and Allison Hill on Friday afternoon.Police identified the suspect late Friday as 51-year-old Ahmed Amin El-Mofty, a man who has ties to the area.Around 4 p.m. on Friday, in the area of 3rd and State Streets, multiple shots were fired at an occupied Capitol Police car. The window of the car was broken, and the officer inside was not harmed.About twenty minutes later, El-Mofty opened fire on a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle. A female trooper was wounded, but is expected to be okay, according to Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico.Around 6 p.m. Friday evening, police found El-Mofty near 17th and Mulberry on Allison Hill. After an exchange of gunfire between the police and the suspect, the suspect was killed.

Source: Authorities identify suspect in Harrisburg shootings | WPMT FOX43

Item 2:

Officials have stopped a man who they say was plotting a terror attack in San Francisco over the holidays. The 26-year-old reportedly stated that “Christmas was the perfect day” for a terror attack in San Francisco and “did not need an escape plan because he was ready to die.” The FBI arrested Everitt Aaron Jameson, who is a tow truck driver and lives in Modesto. According to a handwritten letter obtained by the FBI, Jameson also referred to himself as Abdallah adu Everitt ibn Gordon.

Source: FBI: Man planned Christmas terror attack for SF’s Pier 39 | abc7news.com

You may want to upgrade from mid to full size sidearm and go with at least two spare mags during the upcoming holy days.

Don’t forget your trauma kit.