BOYS IN HATS WITH DOGS

 

Yes please!  I'll take both or either.

BOYS IN HATS

 The eyes have it!

CASTLE DOCTRINE APPLIES TO COPS TOO

Unbelievable! The federal judge in the Louisville Metro PD murder of Breonna Taylor has decided it was her boyfriend's fault that she got killed because he opened fire on the cops.

Of course, that ignores the fact that the cops kicked in the door....THE WRONG DOOR....without announcing themselves and may actually have opened fire first. Which, given the level of abject incompetence and stupidity by the LMPD, I would not ever be so bold as to say "no way Jose!" And in case you've forgotten -- the LMPD cops involved did this after lying on the original no knock warrant application before they murdered Breonna.

But this is Kentucky and a Reagan appointed judge who's old and been sitting on his lifetime sinecure for what?.....36 years now, at least? So there's that.

I have a no trespassing no proselytizing sign in plain view on my front and back doors. At the bottom of the sign in larger font and in red it says ARMED RESPONSE BY HOMEOWNER.

It's been there ever since the LMPD murdered Breonna after lying on their warrant and then going to the wrong apartment. Let me write that again....THE COPS LIED ON THEIR WARRANT (A CRIME!) AND THEN WENT TO THE WRONG APARTMENT.

And then they lied on their post shooting sworn statements (also a crime!) to try to cover up their idiotic fuckery and criminality. And yet this judge blames Breonna's boyfriend for her death....a death that the sole cause of which was the criminality of the cops when they lied on the original warrant!

Po-lice or no po-lice....you kick in my front door without announcing yourself and you're gonna get a little Sig Sauer sumpthin' sumpthin' from me in response for your trouble.

FROM A PIG TO A HOG

Part of the program for becoming a United States Marine Scout Sniper was "The Stalk."  It's just one of a number of phases of the Scout Sniper program that a candidate needed to pass in order to become a Marine Scout Sniper.

If you failed the Stalk you failed the entire 13 week course.

Below is the official breakdown for what needed to happen in the Stalk, how it was scored, and how many times a Scout Sniper candidate (known as a PIG -- for Professionally Instructed Gunman) had to complete the Stalk before he could become a Marine Scout Sniper, or HOG (Hunter of Gunmen).

After graduating from USMC Scout Sniper School a newly minted HOG gets awarded a HOG's Tooth to wear. It's a 7.62mm bullet on a necklace.  The idea behind it is that there's a bullet for everyone. The most elite snipers will wear a HOG's Tooth taken from the rifle of the enemy sniper he killed who was trying to kill him.  

A Marine HOG and his HOG's Tooth

                 An instructor searches for a shooter 1,200 yards down the stalk lane.

Signaling movement instructions to a walker from the OP.

• Stalking involves moving from a distance between 1200 and 800 yards to within 200 yards of an observation post (OP) undetected. After doing this, the student must set up a Final Firing Position (FFP) and fire two shots without being found by the OP within a time period of 3–4 hours.
  • After the first shot is fired, a walker (a neutral instructor who does not help students or the instructors in the OP) will get close to the sniper's position to make sure he can positively ID the OP. Positive ID is established by the observers holding up cards with 2-3 letters on them above their binoculars. The sniper must then correctly tell the walker what is written on them. After positive ID has been confirmed, the walker will move within 10 yards of the shooter and inform the OP that he is within 10. The OP will then attempt to walk the walker onto the sniper's position by way of movement commands. The OP must get the walker within 1 foot of the shooter. If the shooter cannot be found, the walker will tell the shooter to fire a second shot on his command. After the second shot has been fired, the OP will look for blast from the rifle or movement from the shooter. If the OP cannot find the shooter, then the walker will indicate the shooters position to the OP and check to make sure the shooter had the correct windage and elevation settings, along with correct position and stable shooting platform.
• Grading is as follows for stalking:
  • 0: Being out of bounds on the stalk lane, not freezing on the command freeze (when the OP believes they know the position of a student, they call freeze and all students on the stalk lane have to immediately freeze in whatever position they are in), poor FFP.
  • 40: Caught out of range or fired out of range (not within 200 yards).
  • 50: Caught within range.
  • 60: 1 shot fired but, no positive ID, incorrect windage or elevation, unstable shooting platform.
  • 70: 1 shot fired and positive ID, correct windage, elevation, shooting platform but OP walked onto shooter after first shot.
  • 80: 2 shots fired and positive ID, correct windage, elevation, shooting platform but OP saw blast from shooter's position after second shot.
  • 100: 2 shots fired and positive ID, correct windage, elevation, shooting platform and shooter was never found.
• Students must obtain an overall average of 70% out of 10 stalks, with a minimum of two 100s and no more than a single zero in order to pass stalking.

BOYS IN HATS

 

LIFE BEFORE THE INTERNET

by Damien

I remember it well, being (literally) carried into my first gay club by my best friends – Nicole and Phillip – in June of 1990. I was screaming. I did NOT want to go in. I was terrified that “being gay” was everything that I had been told was horrible.

Then I was in the club.

Everyone looked normal. Even the drag queens. And people were welcoming. They were engaging. They were friendly. There weren’t creepy. They weren’t trying to rape each other. They were just…. being. And that first night opened a door to a community that had my back. Always.

Now – I am not so sure. 

The internet is a phenomenal tool of knowledge and information. But it is also, sadly, a despicable cesspool of misinformation and hate. As a Jew I have experienced the hate first hand – both professionally and personally. I was reading a Facebook post by a friend recently that had the title “Gays were nice before the internet.” And I had to agree. I do not know how I would cope coming out now. There is a ferocity to the online gay community that I have not known before. When we had no choice but to gather together in person, we accepted the notion that we were all we had at that time. And so, we just made the most of it. Were there bitchy queens? Absolutely. But I knew that even They would be there if I truly needed them. If my safety was at risk, they would step up – in 6-inch heels.

But I see the discourse online. The hateful comments (mostly younger) gays send to each other now.

“You’re old and fat, no one wants you.”

“You’re a fossil. Go back to the park.”

“Don’t be creepy. You’re horrid and foul.”

“Why didn’t you die? How did AIDS miss you?”

These aren’t comments I have faced. But these ARE comments others I know have faced. On Facebook. NOT in dating apps. But in the usual course of online conversations. This is dreadful. We – the whole of our community – should be better than this. There were people when I came out that weren’t entirely kosher, and I knew that. Some had agendas – trying to get in the pretty blonde ballet dancers’ pants. But I knew that. And I was able to manage that. But to have people these days – and by people - I mean the under 40 set – tell you that they wished AIDS had got you? I have no response.

With so many people out there genuinely wishing us dead, how do the younger generations justify what they say? And this is not a “get off my lawn” post. This is a “how are you able to justify this hate against your own” post. I have no answers. I have no explanation or hypothesis. I just am unable to reconcile the hate WITHIN the male gay community. Or, maybe I should say, gay male non-community. Because it seems our common unity is no longer something that we treasure or feel comfort from.

I don’t know what to say. I do not have answers. And I am increasingly horrified by how we treat each other.

Damien.

THIS IS NOT THE ONION

There really is going to be a gala party at Jabba the Fecal Cyst's golf club celebrating and raising money for the traitorous scum of January 6.

These people really have no bottom.

1989

This was the invite for the grand opening of Sound Factory back in 1989 -- the REAL Sound Factory at 27th between 10th and 11th and not the pale simulacrum that catered to the Guido Long Island and North Jersey B&T crowd up on 46th Street that opened in or around 1995.

The BF at the time and I paid our money for memberships (we only really wanted the membership for the laminated member ID cards but the cover charge discount was nice too) and those fucking crooks (Because club owner Phil Smith was basically a fucking crook) took our money and then took two years to give us our cards -- claiming each time we asked that "the machine is broken." And during which time we were forced to pay full admission rather than the reduced admission that the early membership holders got.

Full admission was twenty-five fucking dollars....in 1989! $63 in today dollars. For a club that didn't serve booze!

That shit adds up when a two-person household is going to the club EVERY Saturday for two straight years without ever missing a weekend....as was the case with us.

We'd hit the club one of two ways each weekend -- we'd either take a disco nap Saturday night and set the alarm for 1 AM and be at the club by 2:30 or 3 or, we'd go to the Roxy first and party there until they closed at 4 and then taxi up to 27th Street and hit the Factory at 4ish.

SF at full tilt on a Sunday morning

We'd dance and do drugs until noonish on Sunday (or later if Junior was feeling it and not pissed off and playing banging pots and pans, trying to send everyone home) because those were the days when there was one DJ, not a half dozen in a lineup, and he stayed in that booth and played until the fucking club closed...sometimes for 14 hours or more.

The view from the Sound Factory DJ booth

And then we'd start cruising around the club and dancefloor telling our friends (and pretty much every hot guy we came across -- as well as all our drug dealers) that there was an after-party at 95 Christopher Street Penthouse C.

After that we'd hop in a cab to beat the mob home and the house party at Penthouse C would get rolling to full effect and last well into Sunday night.

Those parties were notorious.

PRESIDENT OBAMA BRINGS IT!

It really is impossible to watch this man lay out who we are as a political party and not wonder how on Earth anyone can vote for the other people.

Oh!  At the 17:40 mark they cut to a shot of a woman in the audience weeping and that got my faucets going until the very end of the speech.

 

PREY

 

HOT "POWDER"?!?!?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

My unit in the marines Beta tested the very first MREs in the field -- and we fucking HATED them!  But one of the things we told the test observers (other than that they tasted like dogshit) was that they desperately needed to have Tabasco sauce included in them.  And it was.

Prior to that we all carried bottles of the stuff in our packs for our C Ration meals and, eventually, when MRE 2.0 were introduced they included tiny, single-use plastic bottles of tabasco in each MRE pack.

Normally I would find it hard to believe that they decided to substitute "hot powder" for real tabasco sauce but....it is the gummint sooooo.......

Anyways, a story related to military meals involved your author and one Corporal Joe Gordon.  Joe was in my unit in Spain and was stuck on what was known as "legal hold" for pulling some unlawful, likely highly depraved shit off base that got him criminally charged by Spanish authorities and under the SoFA (Status of Forces Agreement) prevented him from being able to rotate back to the World until his case was resolved.

Legal holds could last years....or even a decade or more, and Joe had been stuck in Spain on an initial two-year tour for almost five years.  We actually had a sergeant there, Sergeant Noriega, who had been on Spanish Legal Hold since the Tet Offensive -- and this was 1980!

Long story short; our unit had gotten a huge fucking resupply of C Rations from a Marine Amphibious Unit that had passed through on its way to the Eastern Med and they had dropped off a couple hundred cases for us consisting of 12 individual meals per case and Joe and I, being big fans of C Rations, decided we needed to scrounge some for our own uses.

They were under lock and key in the supply shed on the far side of our parking lot and were under guard. But Joe and I knew how things worked and how to get the guard away from the shed and so, late one dark night we lured the guard away, picked the lock to the shed, and over the course of ten minutes we fleeced off with fifty cases of C Rats.  Which we divvied up 25 cases apiece and took to our respective off-base apartments.

My dog Alpha, whom I had just recently rescued as a 10 week old pup, was pretty much raised for the next two years on stolen C Rat meals when we were off base at our apartment -- and when we were on duty on base she ate ham and cheese omelets and freshly baked crullers from the chow hall.

FYI, I took Alpha back to the World with me when I rotated home and she lived with my family in Princeton, New Jersey.  Where she lived to be almost 17 years old.

Alpha at about age 15 at home in Princeton

Israel and Palestine: Let Me Tell You This……

                                                                                                        by Damien

…… about that. 

There are four things to know about me: 

1. I am Pro-Palestine 

2. I am Pro-Israel 

3. I am Anti-Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran 

4. I am Anti-Netanyahu/Haredi/Far-Right 

Israel has a right to exist. However badly the British fucked up (then) Palestine, and however badly the UN/League of Nations fucked up the implementation of the State of Israel, it has a right to exist and is not going anywhere. 

Palestinians deserve a State Nation of their own (the borders of which I have some issue with). They are not going anywhere. It does not matter that they are the historical equivalent of being “bussed in” to the region. They are there. Several generations of families have known nothing else but the region of land occupied currently by what we now know as the modern State of Israel, and, the Palestinian Territories. 

As a Jew, I am often asked by (slack-jawed yokels) I mean the average American I meet what my stance on Israel is. And my response is “Which Israel? There are three Israels. Israel the nation. Israel the people. Israel the government.” Which usually prompts a very satisfying look of confusion followed quickly by several indecipherable verbal exclamations and a quick retreat. 

As a Jew-by-Choice, I did not grow up being taught about the glory of Israel, and yes, the idea of Israel is glorious. Given the multi-millennial persecution of the Jews, a safe homeland was inevitable, and necessary. From the kidnapping by the Babylonian Empire, to the expulsion by the Roman Empire, the Jews have only ever wanted a safe place to live, and live Jewishly. I have, therefore, the ability to look at the conflict with both the horror we all share, but also some objectivity. 

The Palestinians sadly have a bad wrap sheet. They were bussed in by the Romans when they expelled the Jews. Hordes of neighboring Arab populations were moved in to physically replace and displace the then Judean populations. (Please understand that I am paraphrasing history here, so as to not have a 5,000-word essay as my first BIE article). Then generation after generation of what became known as Palestinians were born, lived, worked, raised families, and died in what they came to know as their land. 

I am about to leap frog of many centuries here. Please bear with me. What we have now in 2024 are two groups of people with historic claims to the land. Neither of which has always acted with the moral high ground. Palestine has Hamas, suicide bombings, the PLO and their terrorist neighbors. Israel has had the Hagenah, Netanyahu, Ariel (the butcher of Beirut) Sharon who ridiculously tried to reclaim the Temple Mount, oh…and the Haredi – the Ultra-Orthodox who don’t bathe and believe that they and they alone are true Jews. 

 And yet we have one nation – Israel – who relies on another – Palestine – for its labor force. 

And yet another nation – Palestine – who relies on another – Israel – for economic opportunity. 

The two are tied together in a way that neither can exist without the other. And the Arab financial assistance to Palestine is both pitiful and often stolen by their internal terrorist gangs as is their foreign aid. 

What we have are two groups of people who are being held at gun point by their own extreme forces. True peace will not be known until at least three current generations of Israelis and Palestinians die. And this article barely makes the most infinitesimal scratch in the conflict – both now and historically. 

So, when the conflict is being discussed, take care how you discuss it. The true victims are the Palestinian people who are killed by Netanyahu and their own internal extremists, and, the Israeli people are who killed by Hamas/Hezbollah and Haredi extremists. Remember…...a Haredi Jew shot Rabin. Not a Palestinian. 

And one final thing. I am a deeply observant Jew. A Jewish Professional. And an avowed pacifist. And I have no clue how to fix the conflict aside from putting three generations on both sides up against the Western Wall and pulling the trigger. 

May Israel know security and prosperity. 

May Palestine know freedom and prosperity. 

Shalom to my Tribe, and, Salaam to my Cousins of Islam. 

Damien 

The Aussie Jew.

INDEED!

 

MY FILM REVIEW OF THE BIKERIDERS

Watched The Bikeriders on Peacock.

Mildly entertaining but pretty pointless. I was never really invested in any of the characters despite a hugely talented cast.

Tom Hardy was almost totally incapable of being understood, what with his indecipherable mumbling in a Chicago accent.

Austin Butler was reviving his portrayals of both Elvis from Elvis and Buck Cleven from Masters of the Air,  with a soupçon of Na-Baron Feyd Rautha thrown in.  His hair was fucking spectacular though and I'd definitely fuck him.

The always awesome Aussie Damon Herriman was totally fucking wasted in this film. As were Beau Knapp and my cousin Boyd Holbrook.  Although the insanely talented Michael Shannon's character was fun.

If you need something to watch this is perfectly ok. But don't expect more than ok.

LET ME JUST SAY THIS ABOUT THAT

I fucking LOVE that the Ukrainians are taking the fight inside Russia itself.

Frankly, I think Ukraine should mount a kamikaze style airstrike against Moscow with a few of the new F-16 they just got.  Its only about 500 miles away from the border.

I can't say this stuff on Facebook because they'll deplatform me for supporting violence but.....killing a bunch of Russians inside of Russia might be just the thing.

MY NEW YORK ROOF WAS NUDE PHOTOSHOOT CENTRAL

In fact, entire books were shot either inside my apartment at 95 Christopher Street, on my terrace, or on the roof just above my apartment.  Like the shots here from Michael Huhn's book 'Michael Huhn Photos.'

Well, that first one wasn't in the book.  I think either my BF at the time or my Dad took it of me back in 1993ish.  But all the rest are Michael's.  And the really annoying thing?  I let him use the terrace and roof as a favor on a dozen or more occasions and I never got a fucking thank you in the book.  

Asshole!

 

The hallway outside of the roof tank above my apartment.

The fire stairs on my floor leading up to the roof.

On my terrace rail off my living room and above Bleecker Street.

Mmmmmmm, Jose! Jose and I had several night's worth of meaningful relationships.

Taken from terrace off my living room. The apartment across the way just above his butt at 45 Christopher Street -- where the white brick transitions to the brown brick of the terrace -- that was Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson's apartment terrace.  We all used to wave at each other when we were out gardening.  One time, in Gristede's, Laurie snuck up behind me in the checkout line and whispered in my ear, "Your terrace looks MAGNIFICENT this year."  

New York....it ain't Kansas!

The roof above my living room.

Same location as previous pic, different model different photoshoot.

The top of the top!  The roof tank on the very top of my building. About 210 feet up.

And last but never least, Chris Perrino.  Sitting in the sun on my terrace wearing goggles. Chris and I were buds for 25 years.  We met at the Roxy when he was a 6 foot 2, ripped 18 year old kid with the most gorgeous blowjob lips in all of New York.  We had a very meaningful relationship.......on several occasions over the years.

And that's that. 

SOMETIMES YOU'VE JUST GOTTA SAY 'WHAT THE FUCK'

Lots of very nice BOGO deals at Kroger this week that I availed myself of. Also a ton of dollar off stuff that I usually buy anyways sooooo....I ended up saving $43 on what would have been a $150 grocery tab.

I tend to profit from scheduling my delivery order at from 7AM to 8AM -- meaning that the fulfillment clerk has just gotten in to work at 6AM and is apt to make mistakes due to the early hour/and or stupidity. And I NEVER allow their mistakes made in favor of the store to go unresolved but.....I definitely won't tattle on myself when the store fucks up in my favor. It may be a tad unethical but....its Kroger, the 17th largest corporation by revenue on the Fortune 500 list.

Also, too; because fuck Kroger!

Anyways....I saw that Colgate toothpaste had a coupon marking it down from two bucks a tube to a buck a tube this week so I put it on my list for a single tube aaaaaaand.....the six-pack above showed up.

A year's worth of toothpaste for a buck!

WOMB CONTROL AND UNAUTHORIZED SEXY-TIME

This is page 455 of Project 2025. 

This is not just about abortions -- its about these fucking conservative pigs controlling every aspect of a woman's reproductive system because they believe they (men) own it.  

They intend to use this to be able to criminalize anything a woman does with her body that they don't like.

I fucking hate these people!

TRUMP SUPERCUT CRASH AND BURN (VIDEO)

THE STOOOPID, IT BURNS!

Just got back from errand running at my local Kroger.  Was wearing my USMC Infantry baseball hat and some dipshit hit me up in the fruit and veg section and said,

"Thank you for your service."

To which I replied, 

"You already did.  Twice every month on the first and the fifteenth."

To which he idiotically responded,

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And then he said,

"You must really hate that foreign woman running against our president."

Which caused me to respond thusly:

"You know what I hate? I hate people saying stupid shit to me like you just did.  Because I hate stupid people. During the war I used to like to torture and kill Viet Cong prisoners if I thought they were stupid.  And all of them were stupid because they chose to be filthy fucking VC......."

Apparently, my comment served to remind him that he had important doings elsewhere in the store just then.

In retrospect, and thinking about this little episode, I feel my admittedly somewhat unhinged response wasn't so much precipitated by his insult of Kamala, or even that he was a supporter of Jabba the Shit Gibbon.  But rather because of this:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯