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Sunday, January 5, 2020

A Quick Run Around the Web (1/5/2020)

"Plasma Climate Forcing | Path to the Atmosphere"--Suspicious Observer (7 min.)

  • Related: "National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin"--Dept. Homeland Security. Although DHS claims to have no warnings of specific threats, the Bulletin warns that "Iranian leadership and several affiliated violent extremist organizations publicly stated they intend to retaliate against the United States." Remember Ol' Remus's warning to stay away from crowds. The Bulletin also indicates: "Iran maintains a robust cyber program and can execute cyber attacks against the United States. Iran is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States."
  • Related: "War With Iran?"--Angelo Codevilla. Although the United States' government has never wanted to resolve the war, we have in fact been at war with Iran since at least 1979 when Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy. His recommendation is that we crush Iran once and for all, and that the best method is to impose sanctions against any country that trade with Iran--this would effectively cut off Iran's imports and exports. However it ends, it will be messy: as Iran's leadership is pushed to the wall, they will act more and more irrationally. 
          Predictable consequences when two cops (one 5’2″ 130lbs and the second 4’11” and 100lbs) get in a fight with a guy my size who is high on methamphetamine. The two cops get “tacked,” “pinned,” and choked. He takes one of their Tasers.
            The tools on the cop’s belt do not make him or her a competent fighter. Tools fail regularly (as the Taser did here). When that happens, cops still have to do the job. There are a large number of them who cannot physically handle the people they need to arrest.
              If the average citizen understood how physically inept many police officers are, there would be a whole lot more people carrying guns and training in the fighting arts.
                These cops couldn’t protect themselves. Why do you think they can protect you?
            It reminds me of a video at the YouTube channel "Good Luck America" (formally "Think Like a Cop") under the title "Joplin, Missouri Police Woman Shoots Herself In Hand - Male Cop Shoots Suspect - Earning The Hate." Basic story is that police get called concerning a man standing out on the street yelling and screaming (but not having threatened anyone or trespassing). Female cop arrives first, and the man complies with all her instructions, but she doesn't do anything but wait for backup because, well, she just isn't capable of handling the guy if he decides not to cooperate. Male officer finally arrives, and the two go up to the guy. However, probably because the male officer knew that he was effectively on his own, he decided to shoot the guy with his taser, and the formerly compliant guy now becomes more animated. Female cop decides to "assist" and promptly shoots herself in the hand with her own taser, and then starts screaming and crying. Male cop doesn't know what happened to the female cop, and when the guy gets up off the ground pissed off from the pain, male cop shoots and kills the guy. Female cop continues crying and tries to blame her mistake on the male cop. Short take is that the guy is dead because there was a female cop in the mix who was worse than useless.
            • "An interesting look at urban defense"--Bayou Renaissance Man. Peter Grant has collected links to a series of articles on urban defense and comments that "in a series of articles, Clay Martin offers his thoughts on defensive measures for city dwellers:  preparing one's property, choice of defensive weapons, and other issues.  I don't agree with everything he proposes, but on the whole his ideas appear sound.  His experience was in Iraq, whereas mine was in Africa, but urban conflict isn't all that different anywhere around the globe. "
            • Those of you that use Leatherman multitools may be interested in this: "Graf Knives Precision Flat Wrenches for Leatherman"--Jerking the Trigger. Per the article, "[t]he flat wrenches are designed to work with any of Leatherman’s tools that use the pocket clip like the Charge, Surge, and Wave tools." Sets are offered in both metric and imperial measurements.
            • "Buntline Special Pistol – The Myth & a Review of Cimarron’s Wyatt Earp Buntline"--Ammo Land. The Buntline Special was allegedly a long barreled (8-inches or more) Single Action Army (SAA) that was presented to a handful of famous Western gunmen. Unfortunately, the story is a myth, as the author explores in more detail. Nevertheless, the legend lives on, and the article concludes by quickly reviewing Cimmeron's "reproduction" of the revolver.
            • "Beyond the One Percent"--Notes from KR. Karl Rehn has offered up the content of his talk at the 2017 Rangemaster Tactical Conference, with commentary. (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8). Rehn relates that the subjects of his talk are:
            • Estimating the number of gun owners / carry permit holders
            • Estimating the number of people who train to a mandatory minimum level (state carry permit, hunter education, military, law enforcement)
            • Estimating the number of people that take at least one class a year or shoot one match a year
            • Exploring the reasons that motivate those people to train and compete
            • Identifying the reasons why gun owners do not train or compete
            • Suggesting approaches that might motivate a few more percent to participate
                     One of the keys to successful performance of a skill under stress is Recency of Experience. The brain retrieves skills more quickly based on how recently they were performed. If you’ve drawn your gun within the last 24 hours, you have vastly more recency of experience that someone who hasn’t drawn their gun in three months. This is an incredibly important component of “stress-proofing” oneself for a fight.
                      Automaticity is another key factor for being able to perform a skill under extreme stress. Automaticity is a state that is achieved only through lots of practice spaced over lots of time. Automaticity is a state of heavy myelinization of neural pathways responsible for the skill. This helps the brain retrieve those skills under extreme stress, and helps the brain maintain them over periods of disuse. In conjunction with recency of experience, automaticity is another very important component of “stress-proofing” skills.
                • "Sectional Density – All Important And Almost Ignored"--Abe's Gun Cave. From the article: "Sectional Density simply tells you how concentrated a bullet’s weight is compared to it’s diameter. Or in layman’s terms: SECTIONAL DENSITY IS HOW “LONG AND THIN” VERSUS “SHORT AND FAT” A BULLET IS." Also, "Over 90% of the bullet’s aerodynamics is determined by its Sectional Density."
                • "Federal’s Terminal Ascent Ammunition"--Empty Cases. New ammunition that is supposed to provide good expansion at both short and long ranges. The author explains:
                         For 2020 Federal has released a new line of rifle hunting ammunition loaded with a new bullet. It’s called Terminal Ascent. I recently tested some pre-production samples of this new ammo in a 6.5 Creedmoor and the initial results look promising.
                           This new bullet comes with the common but in this instance a very different polymer tip. It is heat resistant to prevent any degradation in BC during flight. But the Slipstream tip, as Federal is calling it, is different than other designs, and this difference has a huge effect on what the bullet is able to do. Most importantly, Federal has a patent on the tip’s hollow core that initiates expansion even when the bullet is traveling at lower velocities.
                            The inspiration came when the Federal engineering team drilled a hole all the way through the center of the tip. Upon impact, that hole would allow target media into the front end of the bullet to initiate expansion. The engineers tested the concept and it worked perfectly. It extended the performance range by a few hundred yards.
                               Further testing and development lead to another breakthrough—one that not only improved terminal performance but also improved accuracy and decreased drag. The engineers found that they could actually close up the front end of the tip and still get a high BC. The bullet would still expand on those low velocity impacts, because the front end of the tip would break off and reveal the channel, allowing media to enter. This discovery allowed Federal engineers to maintain the small, aerodynamic meplat of a solid polymer tip while getting the same guaranteed expansion at distances where other bullets fail to open consistently.
                                 It also has a skived jacket and a large hollow point nose cavity to help initiate expansion over a wide velocity range. The bullet is of the bonded design with a solid copper jacket and a lead core. Like with the Nosler AccuBond this is a proven concept that delivers a great balance of expansion and penetration. However, unlike the AccuBond the Terminal Ascent bullet has what Federal is calling a AccuChannel – which is similar to the grooves in a Barnes Triple Shock – to help with accuracy and eliminate fouling. AccuChannels are a bit different from other bullet grooves. While most are a straight-cut grooves, Terminal Ascent bullets have sloped grooves. This helps the bullet to be more aerodynamic, which boosts the ballistic coefficient. And finally, the bullet has a solid copper shank and is nickel plated.
                                A study of the effects of California's institution of Universal Background Checks, along with a state ban of firearms ownership for people who had committed a violent misdemeanor, has been published in The Annals of Epidemiology, volume 30, February, 2020.

                                The study covered a decade before the laws were passed to a decade after the laws was passed. It found the laws had no effect on firearms homicides or suicides.
                          • "And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire": "Virginia 1/3/2020 More Pre-Filed Gun Control Bills"--Loose Rounds. Bills that would limit the open carry of loaded firearms in certain locations, a red flag law, requiring background checks for all firearm transfers, reporting of multiple firearms purchases to the State, allowing municipalities to pass their own gun control measures in excess of what State law provides, and more.

                          "It's 1941 - A World at War - WW2 - 071 - January 4 1941"--World War Two (13 min.)

                                  In mid-October, Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani met with his Iraqi Shi’ite militia allies at a villa on the banks of the Tigris River, looking across at the U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad.
                                    The Revolutionary Guards commander instructed his top ally in Iraq, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and other powerful Pro-Iran militia leaders to step up attacks on U.S. targets in the country using sophisticated new weapons provided by Iran, two militia commanders and two security sources briefed on the gathering told Reuters.
                                      The strategy session, which has not been previously reported, came as mass protests against Iran’s growing influence in Iraq were gaining momentum, putting the Islamic Republic in an unwelcome spotlight. Soleimani’s plans to attack U.S. forces aimed to provoke a military response that would redirect that rising anger toward the United States, according to the sources briefed on the gathering, Iraqi Shi’ite politicians, and government officials close to Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
                                        Soleimani’s efforts ended up provoking the U.S. attack on Friday that killed him and Muhandis, marking a major escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran. The two men died in air strikes on their convoy at a Baghdad airport as they headed to the capital, dealing a major blow to the Islamic Republic and the many Iraqi paramilitary groups it supports.
                                  Five days ago, an undisclosed intelligence agency intercepted a telephone call made by the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in which he was heard ordering his proxies in Iraq to attack the U.S embassy in Baghdad, as well as other Israeli and American targets, with the aim of taking hostages, Israeli sources say.
                                          In 2010, as Iraq faced pivotal elections that decided the country's direction, Soleimani went to great lengths to ensure Iranian-backed politicians won control of the government, according to a comprehensive 2013 New Yorker profile of the terror leader by Dexter Filkins.
                                            During that time, Filkins reported, then-vice president Biden called pro-America Iraqi politician Ayad Allawi to demand he stop trying to form a government. This crucial call paved the way for Soleimani to orchestrate an Iranian takeover of the Iraqi political system, according to interviews Filkins conducted with numerous sources.
                                             The op-ed, “Hypersonic Missiles Are a Game Changer,” by Quincy Institute analyst and former National Security Council senior director Steve Simon, examined the potential of the powerful weapons. But an example used in the 11th paragraph is sure to have conspiracy theorists buzzing.
                                               “Is there an individual in an unfriendly country who cannot be apprehended? What if the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, visits Baghdad for a meeting and you know the address? The temptations to use hypersonic missiles will be many,” Simon wrote.
                                                India, too, has sent more foreign-born immigrants to the U.S. than Mexico since 2010 — a pattern of legal immigration that has shifted the wage and job burden from America’s blue-collar workers to the white-collar workforce.
                                                   Every year, about 1.2 million legal immigrants are admitted to the country, the majority of which immediately begin competing for U.S. jobs against America’s working and middle class. Specifically, legal immigration from China and India has helped shift entire regions and industries in the U.S.
                                                     Take, for instance, that Chinese immigration has surpassed Mexican immigration in the state of California as of 2015. In Silicon Valley, California, foreign-born immigrants mostly from India now outnumber native-born Americans in the region’s tech industry.
                                                        The slowing of legal immigration from Mexico, a low-wage economy, and increases in Chinese and Indian immigration have helped delivered wage hikes to America’s working-class while white-collar American professionals continue to see their wages stagnate.
                                                         While blue-collar wages rose by about 4.3 percent last year thanks to a tightened labor market, according to Goldman Sachs, white-collar wages increased at a slower pace at 3.2 percent.
                                                    To date, these Republican governors in 17 states have asked the Trump administration to continue resettling refugees in their states:
                                                    • Mike DeWine of Ohio
                                                    • Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas
                                                    • Kim Reynolds of Iowa
                                                    • Charlie Baker of Massachusetts
                                                    • Gary Herbert of Utah
                                                    • Doug Burgum of North Dakota
                                                    • Chris Sununu of New Hampshire
                                                    • Doug Ducey of Arizona
                                                    • Eric Holcomb of Indiana
                                                    • Bill Lee of Tennessee
                                                    • Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma
                                                    • Pete Ricketts of Nebraska
                                                    • Kristi Noem of South Dakota
                                                    • Jim Justice of West Virginia
                                                    • Mike Parson of Missouri
                                                    • Brad Little of Idaho
                                                    • Larry Hogan of Maryland
                                                      The only reason that Brad Little won the election in Idaho is because, in the primary race, a die-hard establishment Republican and Mormon with deep pockets (and a love for foreign immigrants) ran against former U.S. Representative Raul Labrador (R), drawing votes away from Labrador. Labrador had been a leading member of the Freedom Caucus while in the House of Representatives, and was also Mormon, and would have otherwise been able to beat Little in the primary. But with votes pulled away from Labrador, Little then was able to win the primary and go on to easily defeat his Democratic opponent in the general election.  
                                                              “Conservationists are stuck in a catch-22: In trying to save some species, the would-be protectors may be giving the animals an evolutionary disadvantage. A new study describes how efforts to protect the endangered northern quoll, a spotted, kitten-sized marsupial native to Australia, by placing a population on a threat-free island may have actually undermined a key survival instinct.
                                                               After 13 generations — just 13 years — in isolation, the northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) had lost their fear response to native predators, researchers report June 5 in Biology Letters.
                                                            Heartiste commented: "Substitute 'gated community, open borders shilling shitlibs' for 'prey animals' and 'third world invaders' for 'predators' to understand current events at a deeper level than any poli sci grad school automaton."
                                                                    By the way, you can find old Heartiste posts at heartiste.org.
                                                                       A scientific consensus is emerging that today’s porn is truly a public health menace: its new incarnation combines with some evolutionarily-designed features of our brain to make it uniquely addictive, on par with any drug you might name—and uniquely destructive. The evidence is in: porn is as addictive as smoking, or more, except that what smoking does to your lungs, porn does to your brain. 
                                                                        The damage is real, and it’s profound. The scientific evidence has mounted: certain evolutionarily-designed features of our neurobiology not only mean that today’s porn is profoundly addictive, but that this addiction—which, at this point, must include the majority of all males—has been rewiring our brains in ways that have had a profoundly damaging impact on our sexuality, our relationships, and our mental health. 
                                                                          Furthermore, I believe that it is also having a far-reaching impact on our social fabric as a whole—while it is impossible to demonstrate any cause-and-effect relationship scientifically beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to broad social trends, I believe the evidence is still compelling or, at least, highly suggestive.
                                                                            Indeed, it is so compelling that I now believe that online porn addiction is the number one public health challenge facing the West today.
                                                                      In Matthew 5:28, Christ warns that any man that looks upon a woman (other than his wife) with lust has committed adultery with that woman in his heart. But with modern technology, porn has become so addictive because of the dopamine rush that it rewires the brain so that the the "reward" of the dopamine rush comes not from sex but from viewing the porn itself. One of the effects is chronic erectile disfunction among young men:
                                                                              Porn is a sexual stimulus, but it is not sex. Notoriously, heroin addicts eventually lose interest in sex: this is because their brains are rewired so that their sex reward system is reprogrammed to seek out heroin rather than sex. In the same way, as we consume more and more porn, which we must since it is addictive and we need more to get the same kick, our brain is rewired so that what triggers the reward system that is supposed to be linked to sex is no longer linked to sex—to a human in the flesh, to touching, to kissing, to caressing—but to porn.  
                                                                                Which is why we are witnessing a phenomenon which, as best as anyone can tell, is totally unprecedented in all of human history: an epidemic of chronic erectile dysfunction (ED) among men under 40. The evidence is earth-shattering: since the Kinsey report in the 1940s, studies have found roughly the same, stable rates of chronic ED: less than 1 percent among men younger than 30, less than 3 percent in men aged 30-45. 
                                                                                  As of this writing, at least ten studies published since 2010 report a tremendous rise in ED. Rates of ED among men under 40 ranged from 14 percent to 37 percent, and rates of low libido from 16 percent to 37 percent. No variable related to youthful ED has meaningfully changed since then, except for one: the advent of on-demand video porn in 2006. It’s worth repeating: we went from less than 1 percent of erectile dysfunction in young men to 14 to 37 percent, an increase of several orders of magnitude. 
                                                                              But, the author explains, the issue is not just that someone viewing porn becomes addicted due to the dopamine reward, but that continues exposure to porn desensitizes the viewer, so that he (or she) must not only increase the amount of porn, but the novelty: i.e., as the author expresses it, "[i]n other words, like water flowing downhill, we are drawn to porn that is increasingly taboo—specifically, more violent and degrading." He continues: 
                                                                                Once you are addicted to online porn, the thing that provides the biggest dopamine jolt is whatever is most shocking. And the reward cycle means you need a bigger dopamine boost every time—something newer, more shocking. And each time, DeltaFosB rewires your brain, creating and strengthening the Pavlovian mechanism by which you do become attracted to those shocking images, and in the process overwriting the neural pathways which link normal sex—you know, nonviolent, non-incestuous—to the reward center. 
                                                                                He continues by discussing how porn addiction negatively affects sexual and romantic relationships, causes loneliness, and causes brain damage by weakening the prefrontal cortex. 
                                                                                  Hypofrontality manifests in a decline in what psychologists call executive function. As the name executive function suggests, this is a pretty important feature of our minds. Executive function includes our decision-making faculties, our ability to control impulses, to evaluate risk, reward, and danger.
                                                                                  Read the whole thing.
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                                                                                  Ragnorok Part XIV -- Escalation

                                                                                  Things are hearing up quickly in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. I saw a meme from the Babylon Bee a week or two ago stating that the Democr...