June 28, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Heavy Hitter: 5.56mm Barnes 85gr OTM gel test"--TFB TV (5-1/2 min.)

These 85 grain bullets are too long for use in an AR, unless you were willing to hand-feed them through the ejection port one at a time. Nevertheless, we again see just how effective the heavier weight open-tip match bullets are in the ballistic tests.

• "How to Draw a Gun From a Wheelchair"--NRA Family. The article describes 9 steps: setting the brake, bracing the upper body, accessing the firearm, gripping the firearm, drawing it and rotating it toward the aggressor, extending the firearm, firing it and returning it to the holster. 
• The breaking news today is a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland. Preliminary reports are indicating 4 were killed and 20 injured, but that a suspect was taken into custody. These early reports are also indicating that the shooter used a shotgun. 

• Related: "Active Killer Pre-Attack Behavior"--Active Response Training. By coincidence, Greg Ellifritz had, earlier this week, published this post summarizing some research into active killers. Some of the key points he notes is that active killers generally obtain their firearms legally, they generally plan for weeks or even months ahead of time, only 25% have been diagnosed with a mental illness, but most exhibited signs before hand such confrontations with one of the victims, revealing their plans to others, stalking or other types of abusive behavior. Read the whole thing.

• Paging Colin Flaherty: "Horrifying moment high-fiving New York thugs knock man unconscious in middle of street before returning to take photos of his body while passers-by empty his pockets"--Daily Mail. Yes, you read that right. Two black men walk up to a man (who appears to be white), and one punches the white man, knocking him out. The two black men then walk away, high-fiving each other. Then, other blacks that had witnessed the attack came up to the unconscious man and started emptying his pockets.
• "Bicycle: The Oft-Forgotten Bugout Option"--Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You. I've written about this before, as have others. The author of this piece brings up a lot of good points, including this one:

A great walking pace for most people would be about 25 miles a day, and that’s carrying only a very light load if any. Many people would struggle to do 10 miles with 30+ pounds on their backs. A normally fit person on a bicycle loaded with 50 pounds? 75 miles a day is very reasonable. In fact, being within a day’s bicycle ride was one determining factor when choosing The Place for our bugout location.

• "SELCO: “The media manipulated people, bombarding us with fear and hate” during the Balkan Wars. Sound familiar?"--Organic Prepper. He notes that before everything flew apart, the media aggravated differences, and stoked fears and hatred. 
• Yeah ... comfort in a CCW is more important than most people think: "'Discomfort' from handgun leads to Dimond theater's evacuation"--KTVA. The concealed carrier in this instance was sitting in a theater, discovered that it was uncomfortable to have a pistol digging into his hip, and took it out to rest in his lap. Sure enough, someone else saw saw the pistol, reported it, and the police were called. Comfort in concealed carry involves several factors, but the big four are: whether you have a "love handle" or are fat, location (where and how you are carrying, such as hip, IWB, appendix, etc.), the quality of the holster, and the size and weight of the weapon--especially barrel length. 
• "REALITIES OF “THE BUGOUT” PLAN"--American Partisan. The author explains:

Through the years, my thought on “Bugout” have evolved, simply because it makes sense to not put yourself into that type of situational risk unless all other options are denied to you. Keep in mind, a “Bugout” is not the same as a “Bug to”. A “Bugout” is when you’re headed out of your primary home with no clear home/retreat to go to. Most say “We’ll set up in the national/state forest.” These types generally have never “Set up” for an extended period (most not longer than a week, some maybe two weeks of camping at most, but it’s all good training). A “Bug To” is when you are headed to a clearly defined home or retreat that has been planned out (if someone lives there, they know you’re coming) and prepared by you ahead of time, and has supplies already laid in for your stay because it was part of the “plan”. Although “Bugout” and “Bug To” are primary residence evacuations, one (Bugout) is way too open ended to not be the last option available to you.

• If you've been following Q, this may be of interest: "SENIOR SCIENTIST AT ALLERGAN, VACCINE RESEARCHER SHOT TO DEATH AS HE SLEPT BESIDE HIS DAUGHTERS AT REMOTE CAMPSITE"--Blacklisted News. It is not so much the how as the whom that may be important in this: a senior researcher for a pharmaceutical company.
• "Six Age-Old Muzzleloader Rules Put to the Test"--Range 365. I don't shoot black powder, but this may interest those of you that do. The authors of this article decided to test some age old rules or beliefs regarding muzzle loaders. Most have to do with exposure to the elements and maintenance, such as whether the weapon getting wet would prevent firing, whether you can bring it into a warm house or tent from cold weather, whether you need to clean it immediately after shooting, and so forth. And, using a modern in-line muzzle-loading rifle, they found that most of these were false. One of the more interesting tests they did, however, was to compare bullets that had been deformed by being really pounded on with the ram rod versus a bullet that wasn't fully seated tight against the charge. What they found is that the deformation had only a small impact on accuracy, but failing to fully seat the bullet had a dramatic impact on accuracy, substantially opening up groups. 
• It's an invasion: "Watch: 200 Migrants Attempt to Storm Croatian Border Yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’"--Breitbart. The article reports:

The clip, which was released over the weekend, shows the group of migrants attempting to cross a small canal and push through the line of police wearing protective gear. The incident occurred at the Croatian town of Maljevac, which lies on the border with Bosnia, Kronen Zeitung reports.

I thought that the tactics for dealing with this type of attack had been fully worked out by the end of 1914.

• "Erdogan voter in the Netherlands: We are already the boss here, this is Turkey"--Voice of Europe. Obviously assimilation hasn't worked out.

• Related: "Turks in Germany praise 'our leader' after two-thirds vote for Erdogan"--Deutsche Welle. The article reports that "Erdogan supporters waving Turkish flags and chanting slogans reportedly took to the streets in multiple Germany cities to celebrate after the authoritarian ruler claimed victory in the election on Sunday night."

• Interesting: "Finland on fence about joining France-led defence coalition"--Voice of Europe. The interesting part of this isn't Finland's position, but that France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom are in talks to form a European defense alliance, presumably to succeed NATO.
• A different perspective: "Civilians Around the World Become Better Armed: Will widespread private arms rebalance power between individuals and the state? It looks like we’re going to find out."--Reason.com.

       A note to the folks obsessed with somehow disarming all civilians: You may want to find a new hobby. This particular horse isn't just out of the barn, it's in the field shooting skeet.

       Worldwide, there are about 857 million firearms in civilian hands—up 32 percent from the last Small Arms Survey estimates in 2006. For comparison, there are about 133 million firearms controlled by the world's militaries and 22.7 million in the hands of law enforcement across the planet.

       That means a growing numbers of civilians around the world are in a position to push back against police and militaries that serve often-abusive governments, and that are already outmatched in terms of raw weaponry. In the wake of the murderous, state-sponsored horrors of the 20th century, this latest report from the respected, Geneva-based Small Arms Survey represents good news to many people (albeit not the usual suspects you'll see quoted on the news).

• The wages of sin socialism: "A minimum-wage worker in Venezuela could afford 5 cups of coffee each month — and nothing else"--The Week. Venezuela has had 43,378 % inflation over the last year.
• Speaking of socialists, you might have seen a stunning upset in a primary election in New York. Rep. Joe Crowley in New York's 14th congressional district, a ten-term incumbent, lost against new-comer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an avowed socialist. Ocasio-Cortez ran on a platform calling for universal health care, a federal jobs guarantee and the abolition of ICE. It was a narrow squeeze out either: Ocasio-Cortez took 57.5% of the votes compared to Crowley's 42.5%--and this, even though Crowley was the incumbent and had raised 10 times as much money as Ocasio-Cortez. Vox Day had some thoughts about this election yesterday, and suggested that this is a sign of things to come: that old-guard Democrats hailing from the Irish, Italian and Jewish political machines will be replaced by Hispanic politicians. Oh, Ocasio-Cortez's mother says her daughter wants to run for president someday. 

• Update: Château Heartiste has some irreverent discussion of how this portends the split of the Democratic party. 

• Mexico before Christianity: "The full horror of the Aztec 'skull tower' revealed: Archaeologists say THOUSANDS of human sacrifices had their still-beating hearts cut out before their heads were severed and added to a monument the size of a basketball court"--Daily Mail.