Starvin Larry

This article was first posted last year on SLL. It will be published every Memorial Day for as long as SLL continues as a website.

You don’t fight for your country, you fight for your government.

The Golden Pinnacle, by Robert Gore

On Memorial Day, America remembers and honors those who died while serving in the military. It is altogether fitting and proper to ask: for what did they die? Do the rationales offered by the military and government officials who decide when and how the US will go to war, and embraced by the public, particularly those who lose loved ones, stand up to scrutiny and analysis? Some will recoil, claiming it inappropriate on a day devoted to honoring the dead. However, it is because war is a matter of life and death, for members of the military and, inevitably, civilians, that its putative justifications be subject to…

They’re up to their old tricks. From Jenna McLaughlin at the intercept.com:

A PROVISION SNUCK INTO the still-secret text of the Senate’s annual intelligence authorization would give the FBI the ability to demand individuals’ email data and possibly web-surfing history from their service providers without a warrant and in complete secrecy.

If passed, the change would expand the reach of the FBI’s already highly controversial national security letters. The FBI is currently allowed to get certain types of information with NSLs — most commonly, information about the name, address, and call data associated with a phone number or details about a bank account.

Since a 2008 Justice Department legal opinion, the FBI has not been allowed to use NSLs to demand “electronic communication transactional records,” such as email subject lines and other metadata, or URLs visited.

The spy bill passed the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, with the provision in…

At the local Hamfest, I picked up these two gently used VX-5Rs for S25 each, with chargers. For those that don’t know, they’re a 5W tri-band HT (6m, 2m, 440) and is also a nice wideband communications receiver. They’re also waterproof, fairly rugged, and simple to use. For $25 each, used. Compare that to what $25 normally buys new. All they need is a programming cable, and we’re GTG. Behind them is a book of very useful knowledge for anyone wanting to build a signals collection and intelligence section. Another guy was there selling used Maxon EMCOM HTs for $10 a pair. With a little looking around and talking to folks, finding good equipment is pretty easy. Another friend not that long ago acquired an excellent Kenwood TS-440 with power supply and tuner for $400, squaring his HF needs away for a fraction of what it would cost new.

For…

As with firearms, all too often Survivalists/Militia folks have a hard time separating what they need from what they want, or try to cover way too many bases, resulting in cutting off the nose in spite of the face. Do you think the guy in the picture is effective with all this? (I know it’s meant to be a joke, but we all know THAT guy.)

For those who’ve been in the game a while, a few questions always seem to come up among new folks, along with the most common answer:

1. How much range will I get with this? Well, that depends.
2. I like the looks of this one radio- Can I do everything I want to do with this? Well, that depends.
3. Once I buy this, is it all I’ll ever need? Well…that depends.

I get it. We’re all human, this stuff can get expensive in a…