Waiting For Godot A Title

Or, let's talk more about this premise.

What I have is, a "Mexican-American drug lord" who needs to find a place for his money that he can't get into Mexico (or his foreign bank accounts) any more.  I have "Our Hero" who pitches him the idea of funding a series of Krav Maga schools around the state of Texas which are intended to serve as the basis for his personal intelligence gathering and political action arm within the state and country.  Each school will have a specific group attached who are all students and have semi-legitimate jobs to satisfy public and official appearances.  The group members real job will be to identify all law enforcement and political office holders within a specified region, with the intended purpose of coercing or killing them "come the day".

I've settled on the group size as being: a buddy (comprised of two individuals working as a dedicated pair), who are members of a (fire)team of two buddies (four individuals, working in dedicated pairs), who in turn make up a class (two teams who attend KM class as a unit), who together with five other classes comprise a school (and are the basic operational unit formation for each intelligence gathering effort - several more are implied to be in operation throughout the state).  School members have strict rules; no gang signifiers in their personal lives (no tattoos or distinct social or other behavior that LE identifies as being gang associated), no direct action of an illegal nature (they don't deal or transport drugs or commit other crimes, but are familiar with those who do and report on them to the drug lord - act as his criminal QA inspectors as it were), work to achieve accentless language skills, work to acquire KM and other professional qualifications and certifications, acquire quality firearms and other weapons and become accredited as instructors/educators in their use.  There will be others, and every team will consist of a buddy of two females (paired together).  School members all have a business or self-employment job that serves as a means to wash drug money as well as provide the individual members with social and legal legitimacy, bicycle repair and sales, automotive maintenance and customization, almost anything IT, car wash, self storage, and maker-type manufacturing businesses (indeed, all of them will have some capability and professional capacity for doing so).

Our Hero is probably going to be more of an anti-hero in nature (and certainly in behavior) and is the KM school founder (not sure yet how the drug money gets legitimized - may resort to handwavium as needed) and is completely in the know; he proposes this concept initially as a means to a socio-political end as a result of his personal conviction that "anarchy approaches" or some such schiesse.  The KM school legitimately teaches firearms use and defense as part of the curriculum for "more advanced" students (which is an effective means of access to the regional law enforcement community) as well as offering CHL training.

While not all members of the School are Hispanic (Our Hero isn't for one), most are and there will be a good deal of blatant racism displayed, not to mention sexism and all the rest of the PC cant (which sums up the basic attitude toward such belief within the School).  School members learn/display respect for each other (if in a quite disturbing fashion), but this is based upon either a personal relationship or an "us vs them" context.

I want to make the initial meeting between Our Hero and the drug lord believable, but I'm not writing a "how to .." manual here.  I'm attracted to them knowing (or at least knowing of) each other many years prior when both were either members of the US .mil or, and I like this better, both were employed as contractors working out of the US following their separate stints in the service (again, many years earlier - both are older men).  In late-summer 2009, Our Hero discovers the whereabouts and legal circumstances of the drug lord from online news sources and gets in touch with him, again online.  At the subsequent meeting, the initial proposition was presented and developed over the succeeding moths and years.  That's the opening, I think, and events resume in the summer of 2015.  I need to start building bios for both men (names would certainly be less ungainly) and what was Google Maps/ Earth like in early summer 2009?

That's the start of a workable outline I think.

And Now For Something Completely Different ...

... and maybe even original.

I've decided to try an experiment on this blog.  Before we get to all that, first some back story.

In the last couple months (since my return from Oregon in October), I was invited by Amazon.com to become one of the reviewers of stories under development by them. 

Frankly I have no real idea why they did such a thing.

The barely-restrained conspiracy theorist in me is certain it all has to do with the frequency with which I take Jeff Bezos' name in vain here and elsewhere around the web.  And, while there may actually be something to that, my somewhat more firmly grounded suspicion is that someone at Amazon decided there just might be something to the proposition that the amateur opinion is the audience and figured anyone who buys as many books and DVD's - and presumably reads/watches them - as I do, probably has an arguably informed opinion to offer there-on. 

In any event, I accepted and thereby discovered Amazon Studios, which is their in-house effort to create original content for them to produce and sell.  I should note that the two Amazon-related activities aren't directly linked to each other, in that you don't have to be an aspiring story teller to talk trash offer an opinion about anyone else's story.   Or, at least, I didn't; I was offered the review thing before signing up to have my own efforts put to the question. 

Someday.

Whereby we close the bloggish circle.  I'm having difficulty getting started with the story I want to tell first, so I'm going to try telling (at least a good portion of) a different story here on the blog.  To that end I've created a new label, "my original fiction", which I will be using exclusively for this project.  My hope is to use the Blogger format I'm reasonably familiar with to develop the basic writers habit of writing something every day.  Yes, I know, how is that different from ordinary blogging?  Well, aside from the obvious distinction that this will be deliberate fiction, as inflammatory as what will appear is going to be, I hope to avoid at least some of the sillier accusations and suspicions that might otherwise arise if it wasn't labeled as explicit fiction.

I expect to write as much about my experience of the process of writing a story as I do actually telling a story.  [It's my blog; go write your own if you want it done differently.]   As introductory, what follows is my not-too-terribly-original premise:

At some undeclared point in the near future, there will be an explicit effort made to take advantage of the current societal discontent within the United States.  This effort will comprise an organized group of criminals funding the creation of a "resistance" (based rather loosely on my understanding of the experience of the French efforts during WW II) aimed at continuing their (probably drug related - at least in part) criminal enterprise, whatever the political climate within the US.

All details subject to authorial whim and inspiration, but I intend to use real people's names in a "ripped from the headlines" style of story context.  If you are also a blogger and wouldcare to risk your reputation'nt mind having your name taken in vain also, please let me know; one of the many problems I'm experiencing is coming up with character names (the bios are actually much less trouble - more on that anon).

Topics I hope to excite discussion on will include: story formatting, character development and presentation, quirks and idiosyncrasies of some specific aspect of life (law, motorcycle mechanics, welding, what-have-you, etc, etc, etc.), proper grammar ... well, you get the idea.  As to the story itself, it is what it will be; I kinda don't care if you care for it or not, and I'm quite confident you can write a better one, but I want to tell this one so as to get good enough to tell the one that's sloshing around inside my head and won't come out yet.  If I offend you (as seems likely) I'm not all that sorry.  Its not that I want to especially, it's just in the nature of this particular story, that's all.

More tomorrow ...

Yes, and ...?

Following the links at Tams (query; since she quit smoking, does she still blog from the porch?) always leads to good reads; in this case by extension.  One Jason Diaz manages to shat his Pampers all over the digital pages of  Gizmodo.  Leaving for a separate discussion Jason's astoundingly naive assumptions ("China unilaterally declared the area as "restricted space" last Saturday, following a long territorial dispute over its islands, now administered by Japan."  my bold), I turned to the BBC for an adult viewpoint on the story.

It seems the US saw no reason to alter what can be reasonably assumed to have been a long planned (and unarmed) aircrew training flight that included a stint over the disputed oceanic area between Japan, Taiwan and the PRC.  The fact that the USAF doesn't see any reason to bend over for comply with some other countries last minute diplomatic minuet is hardly one for dismay or actual concern.  Should others wish to characterize this activity as "taunting" won't bother the Air Scouts too terribly much, I'm sure.  And, should the PRC send up some of its air assets the next time, we can all find out just how much of US stealth technology got sold to them by US contractors nearly two decades ago (that being a frequently chosen method to give international notice of your side having quietly deployed a technology advancement, after all).  Two things seem a given after all this; one is that you do not send up a BUFF if you intend to display even the least bit of stealth to your activities.  Two, Gizmodo needs to hire a writer with more than loose stool in his trousers.

While some adult staff member at Gizmodo changes Jason's nappy, one hopes there will be a stern talking to administered regarding the consequences of his continuing with his unthinking assertions of others agitprop.  Like, maybe, having to find some other organization to assign a staff member to wipe him after he presses "publish" on his computer.  Possibly to include introduction to the concept of including just a bit of historical background as part of his story "blog" submissions in future.

Open Forum On Open Carry

BobS has a long and detailed post about Open Carry efforts (and gun owner response to that and other issues recently).  Go and read it - seriously, it's way too long for any sort of excerpt to do it justice.

For once, I got first reply (one of the occasional benefits of working nights - you're still active when an early post goes up):

In all three of your main points I think the single greatest objection I can offer is that so many Open Carry activism efforts don’t come off as appearing especially inviting to the uninvolved (who have to be considered the primary audience for such demonstrations). Especially when the activists taking part in the event know that the opposition is going to do their best to misconstrue things, doing an event without making your message the lead story reported simply ends up not making your effort (and more importantly, your message) inviting to the uncommitted – and easy meat for the actively opposed.

If an Open Carry political activism event isn’t structured such that the casual observer can’t immediately tell that a political rally of some description is taking place, then you’re doing it wrong. And, in my opinion (and apparently many others), the Starbucks and Blue Mesa Grill efforts are both prime examples of that obvious message failure. This was not the intent, of course, but political activism is the second most common situation where the adage about making a first impression once is really important. Having the women and children direct their message (about gun safety and fun perhaps) directly to the Mothers Demand Action group would have been much more difficult for opposition efforts to disparage, particularly if an active on-line media feed was being transmitted live (or in predetermined segments via You Tube for example) while the event was happening. If your message is out first, opposition media efforts take on a less appealing appearance to the non-involved than otherwise.

Speaking for myself, the simple fact that firearms have been successfully stigmatized is simply a reality that must be directly countered for any political activism in favor of firearms ownership/use to succeed with the general (presumably non-firearms owning) public. Added to that, a political rally must look like a political rally to even the most casual observer. Unfortunately, Open Carry Texas hasn’t much succeeded in those two aspects yet, and certainly not in the two instances you cite in this post. Finally, pointing out that past efforts haven’t driven people into active opposition to your cause isn’t the objective – adding them to your belief is, and the data you present doesn’t show that to have happened at all. Sorry to be such a downer Bob, but not driving away your customers isn’t the same as winning them over (which is what activism is all about).

If you’re still open to suggestion after all that, consider having your members contact every politician of any description in Texas and invite them (and their family members) to participate in a gun safety and shooting outing, and offer them both limited editorial input to the resulting video content and use of the final recording for their future campaigning purposes if they wish. Open Carry Texas can be the low key sponsor for the event (and retain direct control of the message being presented) and the politician gets unique campaign material for the next election cycle. Win/win that the political opposition has a much more difficult time misconstruing to the general public (they are the political opposition, of course they think it all sucks – absolutely no one expects otherwise ). Politicians discussing gun safety (and seen on camera practicing same) along with specific aspects of Texas law regarding gun carry and ownership would seem a natural subject as part of any political campaign, so attracting volunteers shouldn’t be all that difficult (especially if you can show an example video – so make one of your members playing all the roles). Do make sure the pols understand that first showing of the video will be on Open Carry Texas’ You Tube channel (which already exists, right?).

 Social media is certainly a double edged implement, but using it to your advantage allows you both the direct use of the video as well as making "free" content for others to use in their media efforts (to their own purposes, so recognize who you're dealing with when you hand out your stuff).  Being politically active requires a level of vigilance at a degree of detail that most people (including me) aren't willing to exert ordinarily.  I wish Open Carry political advocates every success and sincerely hope my suggestions and criticisms are taken in that spirit (and even prove helpful).  I would very much like to see the day when people openly wearing a firearm is simply ordinary behavior indulged in by some people - and nothing more noteworthy than that.

Crown Him!

Went to the dentist again today.  Went very well procedurally, but one of the hygienists was still relating the story of how one of the partners live-trapped a marauding raccoon and took it "to the woods" recently (the treatment suites all overlook a wooded area with stuff and feeders for the local squirrel population).  So I mentioned to my guy, "Yeah, and Those Woods are where he introduced Rocky Raccoon to Mr. 22".

We thought this was giggle worthy, but the assistant (who is really good at her job BTW and takes my calling her a "professional caulking gunner" with more restraint than that deserves) got all outraged we would even think that of the other man.  Who can be heard snorting with laughter in the next suite all the while.  :)

It's going to the dentist, but I'm going to miss all this once Obamacare kicks in here in Texas.  My guys don't pump-up the prices to milk the insurance cow, so once my health insurance gets "improved" for me this hilarity will be entirely out of my own pocket I expect.  I'm gonna hafta work on my stand-up ... maybe we can work out an exchange of services deal for part of the work.

Why Is The BATFE Still Denying NFA Transfers?

Just back from my local friendly merchant of death (and the only local NFA Class III dealer) who informs me my two suppressors are still being held hostage because the BATFE refuses to issue transfer authorizations - between manufacturers-to-dealers as well as dealers-to-private-parties.

The "government shutdown" is over, what's the justification now (other than because we can)?

Cheated Death Again

Flew back home from my vacation to Oregon this evening - right in front of the thunderstorms and inches of rain.

No problems from TSA or the airlines, despite my carrying several firearms along with my other baggage. It is important to allow sufficient time for the system that has grown into place at airports to function. If you do then you'll spend an hour or so cooling your heels 'till your flight departure more than likely, but have the time to deal with unexpected delays should they occur. Having the capability to research airline and regulatory requirements beforehand in such an easy and extensive fashion sure does make traveling a less stressful and more enjoyable experience, even on an economy (well, sort of ...) budget.

Had a great visit with my son and his family and am already beginning thinking about a more elaborate visit next year - perhaps I can convince my daughter and S-i-L to take part too, even if only for a few days. I'd like to see the cousins together, not to mention my children.

Laundry tomorrow, then back to work on Monday. Such is life here in "the future".

In Commemoration - Again

Upon the occasion of my 60th birthday - This.

Horizons are just the boundaries of your existential context; stretch them or pursue the alternative.

Connect The Dots

Dot

Dot

American all the way, baby!

Despicable He

Via R. S. McMain I learn the basic details of how President Obama has decided to treat American armed service personnel.

In a word: despicably.

First off, Pentagon ordered to freeze death benefits:

"Unfortunately, as a result of the shutdown, we do not have the legal authority to make death gratuity payments at this time," said Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Defense Department spokesman. "However, we are keeping a close eye on those survivors who have lost loved ones serving in the Department of Defense."

House lawmakers, though, are planning to vote Wednesday on a bill to restore funding for the payments. And Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday accused the Obama administration of needlessly withholding the money.

Boehner claimed a bill passed by Congress and signed by the president last week to pay America's troops should have given the Pentagon the latitude "to pay all kinds of bills, including this."

 Followed by this:

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is spelling out some of the dire consequences for veterans of a long-term government shutdown, with about 3.8 million veterans not getting a disability check next month if the shutdown continues into late October.

Shinseki says some 315,000 veterans and 202,000 surviving spouses and dependents would also see pension payments stopped ...

In some areas, like health care delivery, there are fewer adverse effects. Congress provided funding for VA's health services a year in advance, so veterans can continue getting care at hospitals and clinics.

As Commander-in-Chief, President Obama has direct and undeniable responsibility for these decisions being taken and implemented in this manner.

I remember some of my colleagues declaring "We won!" last November; I ask them now, is this what you thought we won?  And, we have over three more years in which to look forward to celebrating the further antics of Despicable He.

Would they were only coming to an actual theater rather than played out in the streets near us instead.