spiphywarfare

Month: February 2024

  • First Time Brewing Beer

    I’ve made a couple of ciders, some ginger beer, and a wine or two. They’ve been fun to make, and relatively easy.

    I have stayed away from beers because, quite frankly, I found it a bit intimidating.However, I am giving it a try today. The first thing I can say about it is that when my kits instructions included “brew day” steps, they weren’t kidding.

    The second thing I will say is that when I pulled the grains out of the water after they had steeped for 20 minutes, it was a very pleasant smelling liquid (wort) they left behind. It was slightly nutty with a hint of a corn smell. The grains were carapils and caramel. As I write this, I am waiting for the wort to begin boiling so I can move to the next step. More later.

    As I wait, watching the pot for it to boil, I begin to think it never will. My mind is going over the next phase. After all the warnings about letting the LME (liquid malt extract) carmelize on the bottom of the pan, I find myself wondering if maybe I should have stayed away from beer after all. It seems this must be a fairly regular occurrence.

    I am fairly certain that I prevented any of the first batch of LME from carmelizing. However, I learned tongs are useful when making beer if you drop your spoon into the wort while trying to lay it across the pan.

    At this point, I’ve added the first LME and noticed that the wort basically smelled neutral afterward. Just a slight hint of the smells I noted earlier were left. I’ve also added the Willamette hop pellets. Gave them a sniff before adding them into the wort and immediately recognized how beer gets its flavor from hops. Funnily enough, adding them to the wort made it smell like I was boiling hay.

    The first 45-minute boil is over. I just finished adding the second bit of LME and the spices. The spice packet had a very nice citrusy smell. I will be very pleased if I end up with a clean, crisp beer. It needs another 15 minutes of boiling, a cold bath, and then into the fermenter for a while. A few minutes into this last phase, and the wort smells grand.

    Done. Well, sort of.  I’m done for a few days anyway. I got the wort cooled down and transferred most of it to the fermentation container.

    I use “most” for two reasons. One, pouring out of a giant pot into a 5″ opening is hard, and it didn’t all make it. Two, some of the wort came out with the trub, left-over solids. But, I got it in there and got everything sealed up. Now, the first wait.

  • We Need to Stop S. 3589 

    We Need to Stop S. 3589 

    An interesting bill has been filed in the Senate, S. 3589, also known as the “Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act of 2024” aims to prohibit unauthorized private paramilitary activity in the United States. Sounds good right? We don’t necessarily want or need Wagner Group-style armies running around in the U.S. Or do we? 🤔 That’s another discussion for another time. What caught my eye while reading this was that Section 9 of this legislation includes an interesting definition, it incorporates a “security services unit” within the broader category of a “private paramilitary organization” (PMO). 

    The bill provides the following as the definition of a PMO: 

    This term encompasses any group of three or more persons who associate under a command structure. Their purpose is to function publicly or train to function publicly as a combat, combat support, law enforcement, or security services unit. 

    link to section

    Why That Matters 

    As a retired peace officer, I remember at times seeing how broadly written laws can be broadly and selectively enforced. That, combined with the need for churches, or any other organization for that matter, to be able to protect themselves in this society where violence is on the rise, caused me some concern. 

    Is Your Church Security Team a PMO? 

    Do you know if your church has a security team that trains to protect the congregation during services? Does it have a team lead or person considered “in charge” of it? Under the bill’s definition, this security team could be classified as a “private paramilitary organization” due to their structure and focus on security services. 

    Effects 

    Now, what could be the impact of this bill if this team acts during a service to neutralize a potential threat (such as an armed intruder)? If the bill becomes law, their actions might be considered “unauthorized private paramilitary activity” unless their activity has been sanctioned by federal or state authorities. 

    Despite their good intentions, and rightly honorable actions, the security team could face legal consequences. As written, this bill leaves open the possibility that they could be held liable for engaging in paramilitary activity without “proper authorization.” 

    Their training and commitment to protecting the congregation could lead to imprisonment if the law is strictly enforced as written now. A violation of the law that results in death carries this penalty, “the person shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for any term of years or for life.” Imagine the hero in the opening photo being sent to prison for his actions.

    Now, under exceptions we find the law does not apply to the U.S. Armed Forces, National Guard, state militias, military re-enactment organizations, veterans in a parade, and:

    “members of an organization that is authorized under Federal or State law to provide paramilitary, law enforcement, or security services training or to engage in paramilitary activity, law enforcement, or security services when performing the functions authorized by law and, in the case of paramilitary activity and law enforcement functions, when under the direction and control of a governmental authority [emphasis added].”

    I included this section because there has to be a specific reason for that emphasized language to be in there. Why would it specify that law enforcement members can only do that when under the “direction and control” of a governmental authority? Would the feds consider an off-duty officer providing security for a church, movie theater, a Quinceañera, etc. as being under the direction and control of a governmental authority? I “know” that they are, but this language making it explicit makes me wonder.

    The only halfway good thing about this bill is that it recognizes it’s limited by the Commerce Clause so if one can manage to outfit their team with all in-state equipment, including ammunition, it is of no effect at all. But I would urge people to contact the people in D.C. that are supposed to represent them and ask them to oppose this bill.