June 4, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"MUST WATCH if you Conceal Carry"--Black Scout Survival (7 min.)

Some possible retention issues for handguns, and the zipper method of shooting an attacker at extremely close distances.

• John Low of Defensive Pistol Craft has his a new post with a selection of links and commentary. One such comment:

     In my classes, I teach my students to never accept a plea deal.  Because, pleading to a lesser offense to avoid the risk of a long prison sentence, is lying; and lying is a sin.  It is wrong to say you committed a crime when you did not.  Don't let the authority figures convince you to confess to a crime that you did not commit.  

     "Well, you can talk because you've never been in that position."

     As a matter of fact, I have been in that position.  The prosecutor offered me a plea deal, that my attorney conveyed to me.  But, I plead not guilty and the Federal Magistrate in New Jersey dismissed all charges.  (Not the same as a verdict of not guilty, but effectively the same thing.)  Pleading to a lesser offense would have resulted in a conviction and caused me to lose my security clearance, my job, the ability to hold positions of trust in the church, the ability to possess firearms, and the trust of my children.

     Even if you get convicted, you can appeal.  It's just a matter of believing you are righteous and having faith in the American justice system.  Keep the faith.  God will bless you.

Plea bargains serve the same purpose as torture did during the Middle Ages--to get a confession even if the person did nothing wrong. Anyway, Low has a comprehensive list of articles and tips, so check out the whole thing.

• A new Woodpile Report is out.  One article in particular jumped out:

• "Sun’s 11-Year Cycle –'Powered By Tidal Forces of Venus, Earth, Jupiter'"--Daily Galaxy. From the article:

      In the hot plasma of the sun, the Tayler instability perturbs the flux and the magnetic field, itself reacting very sensitively to tiny forces. A small thrust of energy is enough for the perturbations to oscillate between right-handed and left-handed helicity (the projection of the spin onto the direction of momentum). The momentum required for this may be induced by planetary tidal forces every eleven years—ultimately also setting the rhythm at which the magnetic field reverses the polarity of the sun.

      “When I first read about ideas linking the solar dynamo to planets, I was very skeptical,” Stefani recalled. “But when we discovered the current-driven Tayler instability undergoing helicity oscillations in our computer simulations, I asked myself: What would happen if the plasma was impacted on by a small, tidal-like perturbation? The result was phenomenal. The oscillation was really excited and became synchronized with the timing of the external perturbation.”

• "5 Tips To Help You Win Trophies With A Revolver"--Shooting Sports USA. The tips are: (1) learn to stage the trigger; (2) get some trigger work done on your revolver to lighten and smooth the trigger pull; (3) polish and chamfer the chambers; (4) smooth and radius the trigger for double-action shooting; and (5) experiment with different grips to find one that matches your hands better. As to the first point, the article explains:

      Upper-level shooters will often stage the trigger to put the revolver into the single-action mode, and gain the advantage of a light single-action pull—without shifting their grip to cock the hammer.

      When the trigger begins rearward movement in DA, the bolt that locks into the cylinder notch drops out of place. This frees the hand and pawl to rotate the cylinder to bring the next chamber into alignment with the barrel. When that is done, the bolt snaps upward to again lock the cylinder in place. That can be distinctly felt (and even heard if decent active earmuffs are worn). At that point, the trigger is at the SA pull weight.

• While we are on the subject of revolvers: "What to Expect When Shooting a Revolver for the First Time"--USCCA. A short article in loading and unloading a revolver, the basic mechanics of how it works, and a discussion of recoil. When I first came across this article, I wondered why write such an article? But there are probably a significant number of younger gun owners that probably have never shot a revolver. 
• And more: "How To Safely Decock A Revolver"--The Revolver Guy. He provides detailed instructions, and adds:

If you continue to press the trigger as the hammer is lowered, then the gun thinks that you want to fire it. If you lose control of the hammer and it strikes with enough force, the gun can fire. By removing your finger from the trigger as soon as the hammer is disengaged from the sear, the safeties inside the gun (if present) can work to prevent the firing pin from reaching the primer, even if you lose control of the hammer as you lower it.

• And even more: "First Firearm: First Revolver Calling Your Name?"--The Firearm Blog. Some general information on revolvers, basic operation of a revolver, and a list of things NOT to do with or to your revolver (e.g., don't use a wrist flick to close the cylinder).
• "MAG POUCH RUN DOWN (PISTOL EDITION)"--The Mag Life. The author looks at and comments on various pistol magazine pouches available for concealed carry.
• "Fear & Loading: “Stockpilers” Account for 44 Percent of Ammo Sales"--American Rifleman. From the article:

Results from a recently released Southwick Associates survey indicate “stockpilers”—those who set aside 1/5th of whatever they buy for future use—accounted for 44 percent of all ammunition purchases in the past five years. Primary reasons cited by respondents for the accumulation include uncertainty in future supplies (69%), concerns about changes in the political climate (64%), money savings (57%), swings in economic conditions/income (54%) and time savings (39%). 

• "Only 530 semi-automatic guns handed over, police say"--New Zealand Herald. That is out of an estimated 300,000 firearms subject to the ban. The article suggests that the lack of cooperation is because gun owners are waiting to see what type of compensation they will receive for turning in their firearms. Yeah, that's it. From the article:

      [Nicole McKee, Secretary of the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners] expected most people would comply with the laws, but she said that there was no trust in the system whatsoever among firearms owners, and that people felt blindsided and blamed.

      "We are effectively being punished for the acts of a foreign terrorist, and we want to make sure that our personal and private property is adequately compensated when it is confiscated."

• Since New Zealand is going the route of Australia, this article seems appropriate: "Homemade MAC-11 copies seized in Queensland, Australia"--Impro Guns. The author observes that "[l]ooking closely they appear to have been made using the widely circulated Box Tube MAC-11 plans." You can't stop the signal.
• Speaking of which: "ATF Agents Hunting Down Chinese Full-Auto GLOCK Conversion Kits"--The Truth About Guns. The article quotes from CNN: "Federal authorities suspect that thousands of machine gun conversion devices have been illegally imported into the United States from China, in some cases ending up in the hands of convicted felons, CNN has learned." 
• "When You Realize There Is No Compromise On Gun Rights in This Country"--The Truth About Guns. The article comments on a New York Times op-ed written by Gregory Gibson, whose son was killed in a mass shooting. Gibson relates how his attempts to understand gun owners led him to own and enjoy shooting handguns. Key point, however:

      I’d been told repeatedly by gun owners — often from the back of whatever crowd I was addressing — that my arguments for gun control had little credibility because I knew nothing about guns or gun culture. Eventually I came to see some truth in that assertion. If there was a gun culture of Second Amendment zealots, there was also an opposing gun-control culture made up of people who knew little about guns except that guns were bad. People, in other words, like me.

     Received wisdom had it that the two sides in the gun control “debate” would eventually hammer out a consensus resulting in “sensible” gun legislation that would “respect the Second Amendment” while making it harder for criminals and would-be mass murderers to get guns. But now it seemed that the implied dialectic was a sham, and that in fact the two sides were locked in a sterile opposition from which no consensus would ever emerge. America was in the midst of a culture war, not a debate. We were muddling our bloody way toward some new identity as a people, or perhaps our dissolution as a people, and no survivor’s story would change that. For the first time since Galen’s death, I saw the situation in a different light.

• Related: "The Gun Debate is About Competing Views of Freedom and Culture"--The Truth About Guns. Spencer Critchley, a Democrat campaign consultant, offers the following advice to Democrats:

“The gun debate isn’t really about the facts, it’s about competing views of freedom and culture, and I think Democrats need to grasp that if they want to be effective at reaching more gun owners—most of whom actually support reasonable gun safety measures,” Critchley told The Epoch Times.

• Related: "The Cultural White Walkers Have Descended"--By Ben Domenech at The Federalist. Although not about firearms, per se, the author points out the truth of modern politics:

      Consider the possibility that the people, honorable or dishonorable alike, who forever urged politeness and good behavior are wrong. Consider the possibility that the progressive movement has embraced views that will no longer tolerate even the presence of offensive views, as they are now practically the same as violence. Consider the possibility that a lifetime New York limousine liberal, mugged by the reality of abortion and convinced of the transactionalism of Christian voters, recognized a more brutal approach, an approach which actually spells out on national television what happens in a late term abortion, could be a better cultural defense than a thousand phone-ins to the March for Life.

     It would be comforting to believe David French is correct about all of this. Many, even if they believe he is wrong, will continue to personally emulate his approach, unwilling to choose a more confrontational approach. The distaste with the Molotov is understandable. But the truth is the culture has long ago passed the point of consensus where it is possible for a peaceable navigation of the conflict.

     Politics today is for the rough, the confrontational, and the unapologetic. It is not comfortable unless we lie to ourselves about where it is and where it is going. Instead, American Christians inhabit the position where their foes are animated by beliefs consistent with an apocryphal quote from Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune: “When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.”

• "Freedom Wins in New York! Governor Cuomo signs Gravity Knife Repeal!!!"--Knife Magazine. At issue was how the definition of "gravity knife" was interpreted and tested for. The bill doesn't change the definition, but made "gravity knives" legal. The article notes, however, that the New York City Administrative Code still bans knives with blades over 4 inches, and that knives must be carried completely concealed.
• "Texas legalizes brass knuckles and other self-defense weapons"--KWTX10. Per the article: "Gov. Gregg Abbott signed House Bill 446 over the Memorial Day weekend, making it lawful to carry things like brass knuckles, wild kat keychains and clubs for self-defense." Note that the law doesn't take affect until September 1.
• Reminder: The United States does not have anywhere near the highest number of "mass shootings". From "Comparing the Global Rate of Mass Public Shootings to the U.S.’s Rate and Comparing Their Changes Over Time" by John Lott:

       Over the 18 years from 1998 to 2015, our list contains 2,354 attacks and at least 4,880 shooters outside the United States and 53 attacks and 57 shooters within our country. By our count, the US makes up less than 1.15% of the mass public shooters, 1.49% of their murders, and 2.20% of their attacks. All these are much less than the US’s 4.6% share of the world population. Attacks in the US are not only less frequent than other countries, but they are also much less deadly on average. 

       Out of the 97 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranks 64th in the per capita frequency of these attacks and 65th in the murder rate. 

       Not only have these attacks been much more common outside the US, the US’s share of these attacks have declined over time. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number and severity of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the US.

• "Monovaults…a do over"--Notes from the Bunker. The author reprises a past article on monovaults that was deleted. He explains:

     Succinctly, the Monovault is a large diameter plastic tube designed for storing (and burying) whatever items you feel need to be tucked away somewhere. The tubes have a Gamma Seal lid closure at one end, and then a ‘burial cap’ that goes over that to make retrieval easier. The tubes come in several different lengths and diameters depending on what it is that you want to tuck away.

     Remember those cylindrical weapons/supply containers from WW2 that we’d see in movies? It’s pretty much a very modernized version of that.

He also notes that "[w]While burying is certainly an option, the qualities that make a container suitable for burying (waterproof, airtight, durable,etc.) also make them perfect for enplacing in above-ground environments – hidden in attics, under porches, buried in brush piles, sitting in the corner of the basement, under the gravel pile on the back forty, etc." Check out the article for photographs and some discussion on the different sizes available and what you can fit in each. As always, be aware of the dangers of storing something with water in an area that experiences freezing temperatures.

• "June Ebola Update"--Raconteur Report. A word of warning:

     In this current outbreak, in 50% of cases, fever as a presenting sign is completely absent.

      (Fever, we remind you, is how grade-school dropout customs screeners in 126 countries check people at the airports for Ebola before letting them in. Including our TSA wizards here in the U.S. It's really the only thing they can check that can be mastered by 80 IQ government employees worldwide. Sleep tight.)

      Short of laboratory testing everyone (which they aren't and cannot do in nearly 1/4 of the Hot Zone in DRC), and a 40-day quarantine, cases will continue to multiply.

     And they are.

And for those of you that care to know, Aesop figures that the lethality rate of this current outbreak is 75%.

• "Patchwork emergency response efforts leave some residents in the dark after chemical incidents"--Houston Chronicle. After discussing some incidents involving the release of chemicals into the air or water, the article continues:

      These incidents have highlighted the lack of a central system for notifying the public as already exists for severe weather or missing children. Some say a better system is critical in constantly evolving situations where a community can suddenly be exposed to cancer-causing chemicals in a split second if the wind blows in a different direction.

     Decisions about chemical alerts are now left up to local agencies, with a patchwork of systems that largely depend on communities knowing how to get the information. Localities, for their part, depend on a timely and accurate flow of information from companies — something that officials say can be lacking.

This can be a problem, especially if you live near a shipping lane or harbor, a chemical plant, or a rail line. If you live in those areas, you might want to invest in a scanner that can pick up police, fire, or utility company radio traffic.

• Related: "Why You Might Be FORCED to Bug Out Even If Your Plan Is Bugging In"--The Organic Prepper. More of a plug for the author's book than an article, but the author does have a list of types of disasters that might require you to leave your home, the top three being: floods; hazardous substances; and fires. What I think some people should consider are disasters that could force you to "bug in" even if your plan was to bug out, like pretty much any disaster that might destroy road networks or make them impassible. Floods and earthquakes come to mind. Even the season could play a part: I know some people that have cabins and the like in the mountains of Idaho, but that are inaccessible in the winter or easily could be. For instance, southwest of Boise, in the Owhyee Mountains, is the town of Silver City that, literally, is cut off in the winter because of snow and the steep winding roads. Going the other direction, there is the small town of Atlanta that is likewise generally inaccessible except by snowmobile or aircraft in the winter. Even places that are normally accessible in winter in good times, might not be if the county isn't out plowing the roads.

• "Urban Foraging: 27 Edibles You Can Find in the City Post Collapse"--The Survivalist Blog. A look at 27 edible plants commonly found in urban areas (although perhaps not all will be present where you live), including, of course, the Dandelion. The author also discusses some safety rules, including making sure you aren't trespassing, washing the items thoroughly, and positively identifying what you are about to eat. Unfortunately, the article only has photographs of a handful of the plants, but I suppose if you are interested in foraging for food, you should have one or more plant guides.
• "Advantage of Handguns for Defensive Use Against Bears: the Bear is Usually Killed"--Ammo Land. The author discusses a recent bear attack in British Columbia, Canada, where a woman hiker was stalked by a black bear and then attacked, although she had five dogs with her. Her bear spray was ineffective. Fortunately, one of her dogs was willing to step in and defend her, and between the two, they were able to get the bear to leave.
• For you home schoolers, art lovers and antiquarians: "Download 502 Free Art Books from The Metropolitan Museum of Art"--Open Culture. Also note that the Open Culture site has links to many free courses and lectures.
• "Solar scientists struggle to predict the next sunspot cycle"--Behind the Black. Long story short, the Sun hasn't been behaving like scientists expect, and the scientists have insufficient knowledge of the physics of the Sun to predict what will happen. Basically, they are simply guessing.

"Colin Flaherty: Letter from a cop: Talks us through the craziest video he ever saw" (15 min.)

Basic story is that an officer was chasing a fleeing felon on foot through a low-income housing project, when another resident suddenly intercepted the officer and engaged him with a handgun. Although the officer was wounded, he survived; it appears that the attacker was thoroughly ventilated. This was followed up by the the threatening hoots, howls, and wailing of other residents starting to gather around the scene. Fortunately, other officers were on the scene to assist and protect the injured officer.

• "Most violent weekend in Chicago this year: At least 52 shot, 10 fatally"--Chicago Tribune. The article notes that "[t]he level of violence, which typically spikes during the summer months, eclipsed that of the three-day Memorial Day weekend when at least 43 people were shot, seven of them fatally."

• More: "Leaked surveillance video shows horrific shooting of Chicago mother who died shielding her one-year-old daughter - as police investigate unauthorized release of the footage"--Daily Mail. Black-on-black violence. It's not clear from the video whether the mother was targeted or the two males standing on the street with her.

• Related: "Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart: 51 People Charged With 1st Degree Murder Are on Home Confinement"--The Truth About Guns. These are people charged with first degree murder, but awaiting trial. And this:

In all of 2018, only 89 murder suspects faced charges. So if Dart’s comment (at about the 6:15 mark) is correct, then Cook County judges and prosecutors have released between a third and half of all murder suspects in the last year and a half on home confinement.

• "DeWayne Craddock was violent with co-workers before Virginia Beach shooting: report"--New York Post (warning: auto-play video). The article reports:

      But he recently started showing serious behavioral problems and got into physical “scuffles” with other city workers, a source told the New York Times.

     The source told the paper that the troubles had escalated in the week leading up to the mass shooting — and Craddock was involved in what it called “a violent altercation on city grounds.”

     Craddock reportedly knew he was facing disciplinary action for the fight when he went into the municipal building with two .45-caliber handguns, at least one of which was equipped with a sound suppressor — and both of which were purchased legally.

• "Somalis have Changed Minneapolis"--American Thinker. According to the author, some 80,000 Somalis now live in the Twin Cities metro area. From the article:

      Anyhoo, here’s a week Minneapolitans had with their Somali neighbors last month:

      On Wednesday, May 15th a couple of University students were attacked on campus at the East Bank Train station by two Somali thugs. It was an attempted robbery that the guys rebuffed sustaining injuries that required a hospital visit.

     On Thursday, May 16th two Somalis burned down the pavilion at Lake Calhoun [or Lake Bde Maka Ska if you’re a virtue signaler) an eating and hanging out meeting place in the heart of the city enjoyed by generations of Americans around the prettiest city lake you’ve ever seen. This is in the most expensive neighborhood in Minneapolis.

     On Friday, May 17th a gang of 10-12 Somali youths attacked all the white people at a that same East Bank Train station with hammers and pipes. Snopes says this is “Mostly False” because after the attack they fled, and out of the 7 who were eventually apprehended only two were still in possession of weapons, in this case pipes. So therefore, it never happened.

      And now Tuesday, May 20th a woman walking her dog in a gorgeous, huge, wooded off leash dog park, complete with sandy beach on the Mississippi River, found spikes just off the path. Sharp metal objects taped to a wooden spike, presumably designed to hurt dogs running happily through the underbrush. Now, we don’t know that a Somali did that, it could be some crazed psycho Swede, but Islam abhors dogs as unclean because the prophet did.

• Out of Africa: "VIDEO: ‘First large group’ from AFRICA wades across Rio Grande into US"--American Mirror. The article reports that "[a] group of illegals from Angola, Cameroon and Congo waded across the Rio Grande River and into the United States, video from Customs and Border Protection shows." "The video shows male and female adults walking through the water and into Texas, several with children on their shoulders."
• Warning: you might want to poke out your eyes after viewing the video embedded in this article: "Shoplifter TWERKS at security cameras as she 'steals hundreds of dollars of clothing' with an accomplice from a Florida shop"--Daily Mail. Why would this, shall we say, "large" black woman taunt the business from which she was stealing? Black culture is an honor culture, with respect being very important--by doing this, the culprit is showing her disrespect and contempt. 
• I've posted before about the ongoing murders (some say, genocide) of Afrikaan farmers in South Africa, and the South African government's plans to expropriate farm land and redistribute it to blacks. Just this week, one of the more outspoken farmers against land confiscation, Stefan Smit , was murdered on his farm. He was owner of one of the largest vineyards in South Africa. Smit's murder came only a week after another farm activist, Annette Kennealy, was beaten to death with a hammer. Vox Day has commented on Smit's murder, but also observes that it was the inevitable consequence of South Africa importing such a large "native" work force, writing:

     Harvest. Your. Own. Damn. Grapes. And remember, the love of money is the root of all evil. There is considerably more to life than an expanding bank account or GDP.

Something to keep in mind since that biggest supporters of immigration (legal or otherwise) are farmers and various industries. They've sold our birthright to purchase their bowl of porridge. Also:

     The harsh truth is that South Africa's whites should have used their nukes when they had them. Now they'll end up fighting a near-hopeless war being outnumbered and outgunned. Of course, one suspects that whatever remnants of civilization survive will say much the same thing about Americans and all their guns. Weapons are irrelevant without the will to use them.

• Related: "Imagining the Impossible: Insurgency in the U.S.A." From the abstract:

... Historically, the United States has not been immune to insurgent impulses. Although not necessary for insurgent mobilization, a Perfect Storm of converging existing conditions (globalization, demographic shifts, anti-Christian attitudes, and increasing domestic militarization) may threaten America's white non-Hispanic Christian population and potentially foment an insurgency. Current trends suggest this may already be happening in an area within the United States. This research seeks to determine the mechanisms by which an insurgency could manifest itself in the United States and assist the U.S. government in considering how to preemptively counter a domestic insurgency.

Note that the author's assumption is that the government will stand in opposition to "America's white non-Hispanic Christian population."

• The wages of sin socialism: "Remembering the biggest mass murder in the history of the world"--Washington Post. "[B]oth Hitler and Stalin were outdone by Mao Zedong. From 1958 to 1962, his Great Leap Forward policy led to the deaths of up to 45 million people – easily making it the biggest episode of mass murder ever recorded."
• Socialism at work in California: "LAPD employee contracts contagious bacteria that causes deadly typhoid fever"--Fox News. Apparently the attempts to make California into a third-world country are working, inasmuch as the article notes: "Fewer than 350 Americans contract typhoid each year, and usually only after traveling to underdeveloped countries, according to the CDC."
• The cure--airport security theater--is worse than the disease: "Airports are introducing antimicrobial trays at security checkpoints in a bid to stop the spread of disease"--Daily Mail. The reason for these new trays? "Last year, research from the University of Nottingham found that plastic trays at security checkpoints have the highest numbers of viruses of anywhere in an airport, including the toilets." Also: "Such trays are covered in pathogens that can cause everything from the common cold and flu to pneumonia, bladder infections, Sars and even brain damage, according to the first study of its kind."
• Being culturally vibrant: "U.S. Gang Members Arrested in Tijuana with Bazooka, Meth"--Breitbart. The headline is wrong. It wasn't a Bazooka, but, rather, a light anti-armor weapon (LAW). Probably picked it up at a gun show (sarc.).
• And some more cultural vibrancy: "Dole fruit trucks burned in Honduras as protests spread"--Reuters. From the lede: "Protesters burned and looted some 30 shipping containers marked with the logo of the Dole Food Company in Honduras on Sunday, a military official said, in the second attack on symbols of U.S. power in the Central American nation in recent days."

• Related: "Despite perils, more U.S.-bound migrants are turning to ‘La Bestia’ to cross Mexico"--Hastings Tribune. "La Bestia" (the Beast) is a freight train that runs from southern Mexico to northern Mexico and is widely used by Central American migrants, such as those from Honduras, seeking to make it to the United States. The article notes that such migrants have largely traveled unimpeded through Mexico the last few years. But with Mexico cracking down on the transportation of illegal aliens through Mexico, migrants have returned to riding on the top of the train cars. An excerpt:

     “We’re going to the U.S.A.!” came an unexpected cry, in English.

      That was from Julio Cesar Doblado, 44, a Honduran who said he had been deported from New York. He wore stars-and-stripes shorts and had only half a right arm — he said the rest was cut off when he fell from La Bestia four years ago in Mexico.

      Galo and the others used yellow plastic rope to help secure children and luggage atop the cars. Finally, La Bestia began lurching north, its rooftop stowaways flashing smiles of relief. Ahead lay a voyage teeming with peril, but also the hope of fresh beginnings.

• Related: "ICE Agent: Migrants Trade Children to Get Smuggling Discounts from Coyotes"--Breitbart. "Coyotes are giving smuggling discounts to migrant parents who lend their young children to other migrants at the border, says a report by the Center for Immigration Studies."

• The Mexican government will never be able to do anything to stop illegals trekking through Mexico, even if it wanted to do so: "Mexican government admits 80% of its populated territory is run by cartels, including key border areas"--Conservative Review. The article reports:

Several weeks ago, the Mexican investigative journal Contralínea posted a map of Mexico prepared by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), showing that 80 percent of the country’s 266 districts recently targeted for enforcement by the Mexican National Guard in a new counter-cartel operation are either controlled (57.5 percent) or disputed (23.3 percent) by the cartels. “Only 53 (19.92 percent) enjoy a low level of violence, which means that control is exercised by the authorities,” reported Contralínea on May 4, citing the data on the color-coded map.

Also:

      It’s important to note that according to Jaeson Jones, retired captain of Texas’ Department of Public Safety Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, the priority areas color-coded on the map are mainly the areas where people live, and the ones left out are simply not a priority, not because the cartels don’t control most of those areas, but because there is little infrastructure or population in those areas.

     For example, the areas color-coded at the border are all the cities where people live, such as Tijuana, Mexicali, San Luis, Nogales, Juarez, Piedras Negras, Loredo, Miguel Alimen, and Reynosa (going west to east). And notice how every one of them is controlled by the cartels. All of the major smuggling areas leaning into California, Nogales, Arizona, El Paso, Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas are fully controlled by the cartels. The other areas are deserts with few people and no infrastructure, so they weren’t a priority for the Mexican government’s campaign, but they still affect our security because the cartels are sending large flows of migrants in areas like Antelope Wells, New Mexico, which are absolutely controlled by Sinaloa.

       Thus, we now see from an internal document of the Mexican government an admission that Mexico has essentially lost control over every important populated area in Mexico outside Mexico City and a few others, and particularly the most sensitive areas of the U.S.-Mexican border. 

In other words, Mexico is teetering on the edge of becoming a failed state.

• You may have seen news stories about liberal women organizing a "sex strike" in protest to laws regulating abortion. In "Lysistrata Among the Hippies" at Law & Liberty,  Titus Techera explains how a "sex strike" may have worked in ancient Athens (to force Athens to seek peace with its enemies), but can't work today. He explains:

     This mutual dependence simply doesn’t exist in the West anymore—this is the second distinction between then and now. The liberal ideologists that “liberated” us from staying with hard marriages wrought divorce on a scale so massive that it completely destroyed the authority of women in private life. So although modern women have freedoms Athenian women would have found hard to imagine, Athenian women nonetheless had powers modern women simply cannot fathom.

     ... When young people in their twenties increasingly don’t even bother to get married in the first place, it is impossible for wives to organize a sex strike. Without marriage as a norm, there is no way for women to tell men what to do ....

     Finally, to understand the full delusion of liberals who think they could use the power of withholding sex against men—look up studies on young Americans up to their early 30s. ... Yet, studies show they aren’t having much sex anymore. Up to a third of young Americans report not having had sex in about a year. Many don’t report anger or even being ashamed about this. It’s just how we live now, loneliness as far as the eye can see.

• Speaking of feminism: Liberal white women can pay to attend dinners where they can be shamed for racism.
• "It’s Not Your Imagination: The Journalists Writing About Antifa Are Often Their Cheerleaders"-- by Eoin Lenihan at Quillette. Key part:

We created a data set of 58,254 Antifa or Antifa-associated Twitter accounts based on the follows of 16 verified Antifa seed accounts. Using a software tool that analyzed the number and nature of connections associated with each individual account, we winnowed the 58,254 Antifa or Antifa-associated Twitter accounts down to 962 accounts. This represents a core group of Twitter users who are connected in overlapping ways to the most influential and widely followed Antifa figures. Of these 962 accounts, 22 were found to be verified—of which 15 were journalists who work regularly with national-level news outlets.

And:

Of all 15 verified national-level journalists in our subset, we couldn’t find a single article, by any of them, that was markedly critical of Antifa in any way. In all cases, their work in this area consisted primarily of downplaying Antifa violence while advancing Antifa talking points, and in some cases quoting Antifa extremists as if they were impartial experts.

Unfortunately, as Red State reports, the "Analyst Who Found Journalists Connected To Antifa Now Suspended By Twitter". From the article:

     Earlier this month, Dr. Eoin Lenihan mapped the connections of accounts belonging to domestic terrorist group Antifa with journalists from prominent organizations such as Vox, the Guardian, the Huffington Post, and more. Lenihan claimed that certain journalist had eight or more connections, and suggested various members seem to have consistent communication with Antifa, or pay people for doxxing information.

* * *

     However, it would now appear that Lenihan has now been suspended by Twitter, and according to journalist Andy Ngo, who consistently covers Antifa activity, Twitter did so after Antifa members mass flagged his account.

• "Children who are bullied for being chubby 'gain more weight because the stress causes them to binge eat and stop exercising’"--Daily Mail. 
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "U.S. Air Force F-35s, F-15s and F-16s Might Soon Have Laser Weapons"--The National Interest. From the article:

     The Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHIELD) ... currently exists as a bulky, ground-based demonstrator. However, the Air Force is optimistic that SHIELD can be shrunk to a small pod that could be tested on an F-15 fighter by 2021 and eventually integrated also integrated into F-16 and F-35 single-engine fighters. Some sources suggest the system may see its first flight tests on C-17 or C-130 cargo planes later in 2019.

      If airborne-lasers prove as viable and effective as expected, then future laser weapons could profoundly transform aerial warfare by increasing the survivability of fighters, bombers and even tankers and transport planes to deadly anti-aircraft missiles. Further down the line, lasers could eventually serve as very fast and precise air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons with virtually unlimited magazines.