You Can't Silence Us

The First Week

This is installment two of my three week vacation. The first day is found here. If you aren’t interested in my travels, you are free to skip this one, I won’t be offended. Once I am done with this post, I need to finish my taxes up, so the next post might be later in the afternoon or evening.

Having spent the night at a Marriott hotel in Jersey City, we got up early the next morning and went to breakfast at a Krispy Kreme that was a block over. Went back to the hotel, showered, and headed out to the port in an Uber.

The ship was the Odyssey of the Seas. After checking in to our Junior Suite, 200 square feet of living space. The room has a queen bed, plenty of cabinet space, one and a half baths, a desk, and a small 80 square foot balcony. The best benefits are access to the suite restaurant and the double points you get. A 15 night cruise gets you 30 points. Since we have over 400 points, we get 5 free drinks anywhere on the ship, and as frequent gamblers, we also drink free in the casino.

I am going to just compress the first six days of the cruise into one post. We didn’t stop anywhere since we were crossing the Atlantic, so all of the days were pretty much alike. Being that we were sailing on the North Atlantic in the spring, the weather was a bit rough. Since this was the North Atlantic in the Spring, we were in some rough seas for the crossing. I’m talking 40-50 knot winds and 15-20 foot seas. That means the outside decks were closed. I wouldn’t want to be in the pool anyhow, because temperatures were in the mid-50s. Here is a video I shot from a lounge that was on the 4th deck, meaning we were about 40 feet above the ocean. Due to a lack of scale, those waves look smaller than they were, but you get the idea.

The meals were great. I ate things like duck confit, filet mignon, veal pasta, sea bass, onion soup (my favorite soup), and other gourmet dishes for dinner. The best soup of the cruise was seafood volute, and it was a very silky soup with a distinct lobster flavor, almost like lobster bisque. We rarely had lunch, but on those days we did, we had sushi, a nice surf and turf, and hibachi. Breakfast was usually just something small like a donut or something. Here is a picture of the second course of day three’s lunch.

I had forgotten to take a picture until I had eaten some, but you can see that the food is fairly good. I can’t believe that neither of us gained any weight, eating like this.

During the day, we did things like ride bumper cars, play laser tag, or sit in the sports bar playing games like Jenga and connect four. There was also a British pub onboard, as well as plenty of activities like bar trivia and the like. The laser tag was great. I think we played 4 or 5 times, and it is great practice for clearing rooms and moving around corners.

In the evening, we spent time in the casino but these first few days was rough. I had one night where I was ahead by $400, and 4 or 5 nights when I lost my ass. All in all, the casino was rough. By the end of the six days, I was down about $2000. We also had time to see a number of shows. The entertainment was pretty good. A few nights we sat in the music hall and listened to the band- called the “High C’s Horns.” The band was pretty good. I thought I had video of them, but can’t find it. Instead, here is video of the entrance to the casino:

The crossing ended on day 7 with our first port visit, which I will cover tomorrow.

People who have read this post: 124
By Divemedic, ago

Building a Tiered Carry System: Matching the Gun to the Day

We carry a pistol just in case we find ourselves in a gun fight. If we know we will be in a gunfight, the best option is to not be there. Failing that, we should bring the most gun we can, along with a lot of friends who also bring the most gun they can. Still, that’s inconvenient to do 24/7. My friends and I can’t live our lives as if we were a Marine platoon about to be ambushed.

So we carry a pistol. Most people spend a lot of time trying to find the one perfect carry pistol.
Experienced shooters eventually realize something different:

There is no perfect gun—only the best gun for today’s constraints.

What I’ve built is a four-tier carry system that scales with clothing, concealment, and performance needs. It’s not just practical—it’s exactly how I maximize capability without sacrificing consistency.

Smith & Wesson Model 642 Airweight (Pocket Carry)

This is the “always gun.” It has some advantages:
Extremely light (~18 oz loaded)
Minimal grip height → very low printing
Works in gym shorts, light clothing, or no-belt situations. I can drop it in my shorts pocket as I head out the door, and now I am armed for a quick run to the store. In Florida’s heat and humidity, this is far more important than you realize. It’s rounded profile hides well in pockets, it’s highly reliable regardless of grip or draw angle.

The disadvantages are low capacity, and they are nearly impossible to reload. This revolver doesn’t deal with speed strips or speedloaders very well, so this pistol is 5 shots and done. Not only that, but with this extremely short barrel, high pressure loads aren’t possible, meaning the bullets are just not great performers.

This relegates the J frame to a niche role: The gun you carry when carrying anything else is difficult or unlikely. The reality is this is not my most capable gun, but it’s the one that ensures I’m never unarmed, not even for a quick run to the store. It’s my “get off of me” gun that I will push into an attacker’s midsection and pull the trigger 5 quick times, an “oh shit” gun.

Concealable IWB Upgrade: Smith & Wesson M&P Shield Plus (10-round)

This is where you step into a true fighting handgun while staying highly concealable. The advantages here are the Shield has a thin, flat profile, which makes for excellent IWB concealment. The ten round magazine capacity is double that of the 642. The 9mm has better terminal performance than the J frame, the reloads are faster and more easily accomplished, the handgun is more controllable than a snub revolver, and the XS DXT sights on mine are exponentially better than the sights on that pocket pistol.

I carry my 9mm with 124gr +P gold dots. That bullet is a proven performer, and in the +P loading, it is a superior performer. I will admit that I own compact automatic pistols in 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP, .357Sig, and .380ACP. Bullet design has come a long way, and in a sub-4 inch barrel and limited magazine size, 9mm is equal in performance to any of the others.

That places this pistol in the role of best balance of concealability and capability when I can wear a belt and holster. Still, it’s the pistol I carry least often, as it is only marginally more concealable than my tier 3 gun:

Smith & Wesson M&P Shield Plus Performance Center (Ported + Microdot, 13-round)

The most useful carry gun I have. It’s an optimized defensive system. The advantages here over the stock shield plus are faster follow-up shots and target reacquisition due to the compensated porting and the microdot sight. A thirteen round magazine gives me enough firepower to face multiple attackers without reloading. This is, in my opinion, the best EDC pistol that I own. It’s my primary carry gun when concealment allows slightly more size and weight.

Some time has passed since I bought this pistol in 2021. I bought it with the intention of volunteering for the Guardian program that turned out to be a farce. The only thing that was wrong with it is the Crimson Trace microdot failed and I replaced it with a Holosun about two years ago.

Tier 4: Smith & Wesson M&P 10mm M2.0

  • This is my no-compromise option. Advantages:
  • Full-power 10mm performance
  • Superior penetration and energy
  • Larger grip and sight radius
  • Maximum capability in worst-case scenarios

I carry this one when clothing allows full concealment (jackets, winter wear) and want full power available. That doesn’t happen often here in Florida. Maybe 30 or 40 days out of the year. This is not about convenience, it’s about maximum capability when concealment constraints disappear. Loaded with full power Underwood 180 grain XTP, which gives me 1300 fps and 676 foot pounds. This is great for delivering a lot of energy into a target wearing heavy clothes or behind a barrier like a car door. The only real disadvantage here is the size of the handgun and the risk of overpenetration. When I can carry a large boat anchor of a handgun, this is my go-to.

Summing It Up

What makes this system effective isn’t just the guns—it’s the decision-making framework behind it. I’m doing something most people don’t: Adapting my carry gun to the environment instead of forcing one gun into every situation.

When concealment is hardest → I still carry (642)
When possible → I upgrade capability (Shield)
When conditions allow → I maximize performance (PC Shield / 10mm)

Are any of my readers doing anything like this? Let me know in the comments.

People who have read this post: 287
By Divemedic, ago

Well That Didn’t Work

Alternate title: Where I was.

This absence was two years in the making. My wife spent countless hours planning this, and forcing me to go to stupid timeshare sales pitches. So where was I? I was in Europe for the past three weeks. I will spend a few bytes over a few posts detailing my trip. The reason for the lack of posting? We all know how the EU feels about freedom of speech, so I wasn’t about to access this blog, lest I find myself in some European prison because some Islamist or Eurofag took offense at something I once said on here. I had originally scheduled a bunch of posts to cover things during my absence. I usually do when I am travelling. In this case, my scheduled posts sat there and didn’t post, showing a “failed scheduled” status. WordPress glitch, I suppose. For that reason, the posting on this blog didn’t happen as it was supposed to. The “OPSEC” post was scheduled for the last day in March. It didn’t post until nearly a week later. I didn’t know that until I was airborne over the Atlantic on my way home.

The planning for this trip began two years ago. The time share pitches were through Hilton. It seems that you get a lot of Hilton Honors points if you sit through sales pitches for their timeshare product. My wife would use those points to get us all sorts of things- more on that later, but it turns out those pitches (5 of them in total) wound up saving us about $8 thousand, and we didn’t even have to spend any money on a time share. I guess it was time well spent. My wife is good about finding deals like this.

The time for the trip began with a flight to New Jersey. We left the house and our cats in the possession of our trusted house sitters and headed off to the Orlando airport. As usual, air travel was horrific. We were supposed to land in Newark, but we were stuck orbiting in the area due to unfavorable winds for about 15 minutes. Then it seems the pilot must have only put five bucks’ worth of gas in the plane, because we had to divert to New York’s JFK to get fuel. We were informed the fueling would take about 3 hours, and we were free to leave the plane and drive to Newark, but our checked bags would have to stay on the plane to be retrieved later. We decided to stay.

After fueling, the plane took off and spent an hour flying the eighteen miles to Newark. In all, our original plan to arrive in the hotel in Jersey City by 6pm was thwarted- we didn’t get to the hotel until nearly 1am. I will continue the story tomorrow-

People who have read this post: 283
By Divemedic, ago

OPSEC

For reasons I can’t yet discuss, I won’t be able to access the blog or its website for the next several days. All will be explained then, but no comment approval or posting until at least April 6.

I have a couple of pre-made filler posts scheduled for the next week, but that’s it. See you all on the other side of the hiatus.

People who have read this post: 354
By Divemedic, ago

We Forgot

Remember 9/11, we won’t forget?

Until NYC elected a Muslim mayor. Now the Muslims put prayer rugs right on top of the list of firefighters killed on 9/11.

and don’t tell me bullshit about inside jobs. I have friends who were there that day, some died, most didn’t. I won’t permit such half baked comments.

I was on shift that day, friends died. So keep that shit on your own blog.

People who have read this post: 339
By Divemedic, ago

Chess, Police, Cutting Ties

Donald Trump has garnered a reputation for being a fool that doesn’t understand politics. I think that opinion is accurate, as it pertained to his first term. He was too trusting and took people at their word. That doesn’t work in DC. Out politicians are simply not moral or ethical people- and I’m talking about BOTH parties here.

However, I think that has changed. He is giving people what they expect to see and is playing them for the self interested crooks that they are.

He wanted NATO to pay for their own defense. There was no way to get that to happen while being nice. For too long, the US has been buying quasi-friendship by throwing barrels of money around. This is how Europe could afford free heathcare and other social programs (well, that and gas costing more than $20 per gallon, thanks to taxation).

Instead of the status quo of, “Won’t you please stop taking our money?” he threatened to invade Greenland. He clearly never intended to do so, or it would have happened. Ask Venezuela how that works. Now, though, NATO is so worried about Trump’s invasion, they are once again providing for their own protection.

Case in point: the USA doesn’t use or need oil from the Persian Gulf. Now that Venezuela and the USA can work together to produce oil, the nations of the EU, China, and India can figure out how to secure their own oil without having to rely on using the USA as their worldwide police force and sugar daddy.

And it looks like that is exactly what is happening.

People who have read this post: 632
By Divemedic, ago

Felons and Guns

The left is all in a lather because the DOJ under Trump has restored the gun rights of 22 people who were convicted of felonies- including one they call a “fake elector.” The so-called “fake elector” was pardoned by Trump, so I don’t see how he can be a prohibited person in the first place.

The entire issue is the law allows for people who have been made into prohibited persons being able to apply to have their rights restored.  Congress blocked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from using federal funds to review individual applications, citing the fact that the program was expensive and took dozens of staff to run. Since when do we judge how expensive it is to seek justice? One could easily make the case that supplying lawyers free of charge is too expensive and only serves to let criminals go free, but that isn’t how we operate as a nation.

This blog has long been opposed to the whole “prohibited person” category because we have redefined “felony” to mean some pretty silly things. For example:

  • In Texas, it is a felony to own more than 4 sex toys (chapter 43). 11 of the 2,324 acts that the Texas Legislature thinks are worthy of being called felonies, making you so dangerous as to prohibit your ownership of firearms, have to do with acts that you can commit with or to an oyster. Here is the entire list of felonies for Texas.
  • In Utah, it is a felony to go whale hunting in a rented boat.
  • In Colorado, incest is a class 4 felony, punishable at the maximum by life in prison. If either participant is under 21, it becomes a class 3 felony. What does that have to do with gun ownership?
  • In Montana, it is a felony for a wife to open her husband’s mail.
  • In Florida, it is a felony to access WiFi without permission. There was a man who was convicted in 2005 of using a man’s WiFi without permission. It’s also a felony to sell oranges on the street near the beach.
  • In Alaska, it is a felony to wake a bear for a picture
  • In Georgia, it is a felony to allow your chickens to cross the street.
  • In California, it is a felony to set a mousetrap without a hunting license.
  • in Tennessee, it is felonious to share your Netflix password.

The reason that the left is pissed is because Trump is using the rules to his advantage. Pam Bondi is claiming that the underlying power to grant relief now rests with Attorney General Pam Bondi, not with the ATF, which neatly sidesteps the Congressional rule against Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) using federal funds to review individual applications.

Dru Stevenson, a law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston who has written about gun rights restoration, said, “The budget rider doesn’t say the federal government can’t do this. It only says ATF can’t. So this is a very lawyerly, splitting-hairs workaround.”

A law resulting from the Enron accounting scandal criminalizes the destruction or concealment of “any record, document, or tangible object” to obstruct a federal investigation. Prosecutors actually brought a federal criminal case against a fisherman under this law when he threw back 72 grouper to supposedly avoid being caught with undersized fish. Prosecutors were trying to convince the Supreme Court that a grouper is a “tangible object” under this law. This crime has a 20-year maximum sentence. In the highlight of the oral argument Justice Scalia noted the potential for 20 years and asked “what kind of mad prosecutor” would use that law in a case like this one? The government lawyer weakly responded that the prosecutors had not asked for a twenty-year sentence against the fisherman. The Court ruled for the fisherman, but the lesson remains: stupid laws and barely restrained federal prosecutors remain a danger to all who love liberty. So if you catch a fish that is too small, Federal prosecutors would allege that you did so to obstruct a Federal investigation, and you are therefore subject to up to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of being denied a key Constitutional right.

Two 16 year old children from North Carolina were facing a total of 14 years in prison for taking nude pictures of themselves and sending them to each other. They were charged with producing child pornography, transmitting child pornography, and possession of child pornography- of themselves. Each of these crimes is a felony, and would earn the children a lifetime label of “sex offender,” meaning that they would not be permitted to be near children, and could only live in communities that are filled with sex offenders. That is how we are protecting children, by convicting them of the crime of looking at themselves while nude, and then forcibly placing them in communities where they will live with actual sexual predators.

The most egregious part of this whole thing is that the law charged them as adults for taking pornographic pictures of themselves, who are legally considered to be children. This means that they are considered to be both adults and children simultaneously. We will call this Schrodinger’s pornography.

That’s why I remain opposed to prohibited person laws. If a person can’t be trusted with their rights, they can’t be trusted to live among the rest of us. I hardly view a person who took a nude picture of themselves being handed a lifetime ban of their rights as being justice, nor is it protecting anyone beyind the paychecks of overzealous prosecutors.

People who have read this post: 526
By Divemedic, ago