The Docent's Memo (April 18, 2022)

 

VIDEO: "Is it time to kick the 5.56 to the curb and upgrade to a modern cartridge?"--Military Arms Channel (53 min.). While I can see the point that there are more effective cartridges out there without going much larger or heavier, I think that Tim Harmsen is too focused on what he would have liked when serving in the military and ignoring the logistical realities. For instance, he argues that the switch to 6mm ARC  (the cartridge that he believes should replace the 5.56mm) will be easy and with minimal cost as it would only require the change of a barrel, bolt and the magazines. There are advantages to the 6mm ARC. But replacing one with the other in the military inventory is not going to be cheap, quick and easy. First, such a momentous change does not happen overnight. The U.S. Army began to phase out the M1 Garand in the late 1950s; it was not completely phased out of use in Guard and Reserve units until the early 1980s. Second, it isn't just a change of barrel, bolt and magazines. Rather, you would have to update training both of soldiers and armorers, you would have to replace spare parts, manuals, reevaluate and modify training ranges, and myriad other things that come with making a major logistical change. Even the stripper clips used to hold the ammo would have to be replaced. Third, it took decades to get NATO to actually be using rifles that used the same ammo and standard magazines--all of that would be thrown out the window. Fourth, Harmsen can say all he wants about the recoil difference being minimal, but a 105 pound woman (or 105 pound Asian male from an allied country) might disagree. Fifth, Harmsen is suggesting that the military switch to a long range cartridge at the same time that everything is telling us that the next major conflict will be in a mega-city. Afghanistan should be seen as an anomaly, not the future. 

Finally, Harmsen's opinion is based on the old, tired idea that there is one battlefield cartridge and/or infantry weapon to rule them all. Yet the history of warfare since the invention of the metallic cartridge has been pointing to the need for at least two standard issue battlefield cartridges: a more powerful cartridge suitable for longer distance shooting such as in mountains or other open areas (and for its ability to penetrate barriers), and a less powerful cartridge suitable for urban combat, assaults, and which is controllable in full auto.  In my mind, the use of designated marksmen using a more powerful cartridge at a squad level is a step in the right direction. However, trying to turn everyone in a rifle squad into the equivalent of a designated marksman may be counterproductive. 

Firearms, Shooting & Self-Defense:

• The April 15, 2022, Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Another good selection of articles, but here a few that stood out:

1. ANOTHER ROUND OF LOW LIGHT CONSIDERATIONS. A good article on weapon lights including how to compare lights: i.e., what lumens, candela, lux, throw, and spill all mean.
2. Concealment Tricks and Tips, Vol. 3: The “Shoot Me Last” Vest. Notwithstanding the ridicule reserved for those that use gun vests to conceal a firearm, vests actually can be quite effective ... so long as they vest itself doesn't suggest that you are carrying a concealed weapon. The author suggests a fleece vest.
3. SHOOTING WITH X-RAY VISION PART II | Ethics Of Deadly Force Training. The article concerns whether it is ethical to teach anatomy to shooters so that they can more effectively stop an attacker. I say yes. I also try to incorporate anatomically correct targets into my shooting regimen. 
4. Shooting from Retention: A Necessary Skill for Armed Citizens? I think so. It may be true that most civilian shooting encounters are at 3 yards or more, but a gun fight can quickly turn into a fight for the gun, so every defensive shooter should know how to use a gun when someone is trying to take it from them. This is also where I put in my traditional plug for the efficacy of snubnosed revolvers in such situations.
5. Who Knew? A Guide to 7.62 Ammo. The author of this article extolls the 7.62x39 as a defensive or hunting cartridge. In fact, in full metal jacketed versions, it is grossly inferior to the 5.56 in full metal jacket when it comes to wounding. Ballistic tests and battle field experience back me up. Frankly, so do mass shootings. In any event, putting a hollow point or lead tipped hunting bullet on it doesn't do much either as the muzzle velocity is already at or below the speed necessary for expansion. You will have to look for cartridges that are designed to expand/fragment at low velocities to get the most out of this cartridge.
6. Using a Bathroom With a Concealed Carry Handgun. This is a topic that needs to be discussed more but isn't. With the spread of "family friendly" restrooms in public places--those where it is intended that only one person, or perhaps just a child and parent, will be using the facility--a good solution is to simply use such a restroom, making sure that the door is locked. But most public restrooms are not like this, and so this article has good advice for your standard public restroom. And whether using a standard public restroom or the "family friendly" style, don't remove your firearm from your holster. If you look at incidents involving firearms and restrooms, the most common situation is someone leaving the firearm behind when they exit the stall or the restroom.

• "BASIC STREET SMARTS" by Ari Kandel. His basic points:

1.    Keep up maximum situational awareness. Don't be an easy target.

2.    Perceive possible threat from as far away as possible. Distance = Time = Options.

3.    Take subtle measures to avoid possible threat.

4.    Take direct measures to avoid threat.

5.    Counter threat.

6.    Get outta there.

7.    Check yourself for injuries.

8.    Call 911 to get medical attention, whether you think you need it or not, and report incident.

He includes subpoints and recommendations as to each of the 8 items I've copied here. For instance, as to point 8, he writes: "'I was attacked. They were killing me! I escaped. I need an ambulance at [your location].' That’s all! Do not give details before consulting an attorney." So be sure to reach the whole thing. 

• "Making the J-Frame .38 Snub Work"--The Snubnose Files. An excerpt:

Clint Smith is reputed to have said something to the effect, “Handguns are meant to be comforting, not comfortable”. I tend to agree if one is pretty sure of treading a hazardous path, leads a high-risk life-style, or works in a dangerous profession. Before retiring as a full-time peace officer, I seldom carried less than a 9mm or .45 automatic off duty. Were I in the jewelry business in Los Angeles or a bodyguard or something similar, I would not rely solely on a snub. More than likely I’ve served my last arrest or search warrant. I’ll not kick in any more doors or be sworn to confronting and arresting wanted felons known to be dangerous on sight. These days I’m around the house feeding ducks or goldfish, writing a bit, at the range, or hunting lease and that’s about it. Before he passed, my father was in need of constant medical attention. On one hurried trip into a large city after the midnight phone call, the snub was in my pocket all right but there was a cocked-and-locked .45 in a strong side belt holster as well. The area around the hospital had been the scene of a recent homicide and several aggravated robberies. Going into a know risky area I wanted “comforting” more than “comfortable.” You get the idea; for most of my time I’m in a very, very low risk environment. True warriors will opine that one could be under deadly attack at any time and that is true, but we all play the odds to a degree. Knowing that a dozen gang bangers were heading my way to rid the world of my shadow and that I couldn’t retreat or get police intervention, I’d go with something other than a handgun to be sure. At the same time, I refuse to be “naked” and want a firearm on or near me 24/7. More than any compact 9mm or .380 ACP, the snub .38 meets my own personal requirements at least to the minimal level. For me, the .38 snub excels as a pocket gun. If going to a belt gun, OWB or IWB, a more effective and larger handgun can easily be carried.

The article goes on to discuss ammunition selection as well as instruction on practicing with a snubnosed revolver. The highlights from the latter section:

1. Start at relatively close range (3-5 yards).
2. Don’t shoot beyond your individual fatigue limit.
3. Use realistic targets (e.g., a 4-inch dot rather than a 1-inch dot).
4. Shoot regularly.
5. Shoot ammunition you can handle (i.e., "While it is necessary to shoot some of the ammunition we intend to carry in the gun, not each and every shot has to be."). 
6. Practice reloading. 
7. Make sure that your snub “fits” you (i.e., a set of grips that works for you--I will again throw in my usual recommendation of the Ergo Delta grips; the author states, "So far the 'best' carry grip I’ve tried for pocket carry has been the checkered rubber copies of Craig Spegel’s popular boot grip.").
8. Forget ego and shoot beyond your comfort zone (e.g., increase the range from 5 to 7 and, eventually, 10 yards; or try increasing your cadence).
9. Shoot in various ways (e.g., try shooting with just one hand, your off-hand, point shooting, etc.).

• "Situational Awareness: Nice Guys vs. 'Nice Guys'" by Wendy Lafever, NRA Women. She begins:

A “Nice Guy” (which I’m going to call an NG from now on) is a man who uses social pressure to try to coerce you into doing things you don’t want to do. The NG may or may not want to actually harm you, but whatever it is he wants, he’s going to use the sheep’s clothing of niceness to try to get it. Since the NG is wearing the same costume as an actual nice guy, we can’t rely on visual cues. Here are some simple ways to tell NGs and nice guys apart.

Some of the points she discusses:

• Actual nice guys don’t need to tell you they’re nice.
• Actual nice guys hate the thought of making you uncomfortable.
• Actual nice guys listen and learn.
• The NG will always tell you how nice you aren’t.

VIDEO: "Loading Shotgun Ammo With Lena Miculek"--Sportsman's Warehouse (6 min.)

Some tips for the competitive shooter or home defender on how to top off your shotgun double quick.

Prepping, Outdoors & Survival:

• "8 Best Charge-Stopping Bear Cartridges" by Eric Conn, American Hunter. They are, in the author's opinion:

1. .45-70 Government.
2. .454 Casull.
3. .44 Remington Magnum.
4. .375 H&H Magnum.
5. .50 Alaskan.
6. 12-Gauge Slug.
7. .338 Winchester Magnum.
8. .357 S&W Magnum.

Of course, listing the calibers or cartridges is really only half the story, if even that. You need a bullet that will provide the necessary penetration to punch through the hair and hide, thick layer of fat, thick bone (if necessary), and reach vitals. Thus, many of the handgun rounds will make use of a hard-cast lead bullet; your defensive ammunition that meets the FBI requirements (including avoiding overpenetration) will not be a very good selection, even if shooting it from a .44 Magnum or .357 Magnum. The same applies with 12-gauge slugs. A common Foster slug intended for deer hunting will probably work fine on a black bear and might work on larger grizzly and brown bears, the one that I see most recommended is Brenneke’s Black Magic Magnum, which uses a 3-inch shell, because of its superb penetration.

• "Bear Gun Shootout: 10mm vs .44 Mag." by John B. Snow, Outdoor Life. The topic interested me. Unfortunately, though, the test was rigged to make sure that the 10mm came out on top. Why do I say this? Because the authors used three tricked out 10mm pistols which they compared to a  scandium framed Smith & Wesson 329 PD--the lightest .44 Magnum and, therefore, the one that will exhibit the most recoil and be the least controllable. I suspect that most people carrying a .44 Magnum revolver are going to use something with a steel frame such as the S&W 629, Ruger Redhawk or Super Blackhawk, and similar. It might be that a semi-auto pistol is faster to deliver multiple hits on a charging bear, but I would at least like to see an honest test before coming to any conclusions.
• "Why Chest Holsters Make Sense For Backwoods Carry" by Brad Fitzpatrick, NRA Family. An excerpt:

    For years, the conventional carry position for handguns has been the shooter’s strong side hip. This position makes the handgun easy to reach in many circumstances, and allows the firearm to be tucked out of the way and concealed if necessary. But hip carry has its issues. For starters, carrying a heavy firearm (especially something as large as a big-bore revolver) on the hip causes imbalance and even discomfort while you’re walking several miles. In many cases, such as when sitting on a bike, on horseback or in a canoe, accessing a hip-mounted handgun can be difficult. And fly-fishing? Forget it; it simply isn’t an option when you’re wearing waders.

    Enter the chest rig. For starters, chest holsters offer rapid access to your firearm when you need it most. It may initially seem that the hip position is easiest to access—after all, your arms hang down at your sides, right? Think again. Begin tracking your arm position throughout the day and you’ll find your hands are most often in front of your body. This is particularly true when you’re in the outdoors. You’re using your hands to clear brush, to paddle, support a bike, tie a fly to a tippet, or you’ll simply loop your thumbs in your pack straps. In any case, a chest holster offers the fastest, easiest access point if you need to reach your gun in a hurry. Many backpackers mount their firearm to their pack straps, but that’s not the ideal carry solution because if you drop your pack—and you inevitably will—you’re unarmed.

    Comfort is another reason why many shooters are turning to chest holsters. Anyone who has carried a large handgun in a belt holster while walking long distances understands how irritating that extra weight can be (not to mention having to hike up your pants over and over and again). Chest holsters balance the gun and distribute weight evenly across the shoulders.

    “You can carry very large handguns on your chest very comfortably, and with the right loadout you'll barely notice you have a .500 Magnum,” Harris says. “If (chest holsters) carry a large revolver, the comfort only increases with smaller revolvers and semi autos.”

    The "Harris" mentioned above is Adam Harris who owns GunfightersINC which, among other products, offers the excellent Kenai Chest Holster. And because the article is as much about Harris and the bear encounter that convinced him to make a chest holster, the article really focuses on the Kenai Chest Holster.

    Of course, GunfightersINC did not invent the chest holster and are far from the only company to sell them. The big names such as Galco and DeSantis offer chest holsters. Other manufacturers, including Falco and Alien Gear, offer them as well. Some offer models with flaps to protect the firearm from moisture while others (even from the same company) leave the handgun exposed for quick access. Some offer or come with accessories to conveniently hold a reload. While the major hunting handguns are represented among the choices, only a few have models for more standard handguns.

    But when I was looking for a chest holster and researching what others had to say, the Kenai Chest Holster kept popping up again and again. And that is what I eventually settled on for my S&W .44 Magnum. The key factors that influenced my decision was not only the positive reviews, but the fact that the holster was pretty much impervious to damage due to rain since it used a Kydex holster and elastic straps made of manmade materials. You can read my initial thoughts about the holster here. An additional factor I would add is that the once you have the harness, you can purchase additional holsters which cost about half of the total cost of the harness/holster set. And GunfightersINC has a wide selection of such holsters for most any popular or semi-popular firearm out there. Thus, for instance, you could have a holster for a large bore revolver, but order a second holster for something lighter and smaller when you don't need or want the big artillery, like your Glock, Sig, or whatever (although in those situations, I have been using my Hillpeople Gear Kit Bag). 

• "Keep the Ice On"--Backwoods Home Magazine. The author observes that the primary reason given for using a generator during a power outage is to keep a refrigerator and/or freezer running. "Yet," he points out, "most will typically have only a week’s supply of fuel to power a generator during an extended power outage." "In my opinion, that’s a very large investment for such a short-lived benefit. Perhaps it’s time to rethink your emergency refrigeration needs during an extended power outage, lasting weeks or even months if we are considering a real grid-down event." In this vein, the author suggests looking at some low energy consumption ice makers to provide ice for freezers and coolers--ice makers that could be powered by a deep cycle battery attached to solar panels:

    It’s time to toss out everything you know about making ice cubes in a freezer. In fact, making ice is not only easy without a working freezer, it’s also very fast. It takes only seven minutes per batch at room temperature in a small counter-top ice maker. You can make ice all day as long as you have a supply of clean water, a small inverter, and a fully charged deep-cycle battery. This battery can be kept fully charged using your generator, your car or truck, or even a small solar array.

    You can make an endless supply of ice without a working freezer and can even take it with you if you go camping or must evacuate.

The author relates that he found a wide selection of portable countertop ice makers in the $120 to $150 range that are perfect for this application. 

    The downside with these lower cost ice makers is you must fill the water reservoir by hand and the ice cube compartment is not refrigerated, so the ice will start to melt if left in the unit. You have to remember to fill and empty it while in runs. However, we have found emptying the hopper is not a problem since my wife, Sharon, and I schedule an ice making day every few weeks. On this day we bring the ice maker out of the closet and place it on the kitchen counter near the sink. We then plug it in and fill the reservoir using a water pitcher. As the unit is making ice, we check the hopper several times an hour to empty the ice cubes into our freezer. During a full day we can fill two 10-pound bags of ice.

    Being able to make an unlimited supply of ice during a power outage lasting weeks or months without a working refrigerator or freezer could be a real lifesaver. In addition, unlike most of the emergency equipment people buy, then immediately store away for a major disaster that may never come, a portable ice maker can be used regularly during normal times, and this is a real advantage.

He then goes on to review some different models of ice makers.

• "How to Break Into Your Own House: Without Looking Like a Burglar"--Skillset Magazine. Seems like it would be easier to use a keypad linked to your garage door opener or hide a key, but whatever. It is a good review, however, of how criminals can break into your house so you can consider ways of hardening your house.
• "How to Scavenge for Survival Items Post-Collapse" by Tom Marlowe, The Survivalist Blog. The author begins:

    It’s natural for many preppers to have at least considered the option of taking what they need, if necessary, from the scattered remains of their home town.

    Even in the midst of the destruction left in the wake of a disaster, useful materials and goods will remain. It may just be one more thing you have to do to survive.

    Scavenging is frequently discussed in prepper circles as a given, a process with little risk of consequence.

    But when you are talking about a real-deal survival situation, nothing happens in a vacuum. Your little scavenging expedition will not be so easy in the real world, nor will it be without legitimate risks.

    We must also consider that scavenging, even in extreme times, is very much an ethical gray zone.

    We’ll go through scavenging as a survival technique in this post, including how to use it to improve or replace what supplies you have or need.

    There are plenty of moral and practical issues that must be considered before you go swiping any unused supplies or materials in and around your area.

The article then goes on to discuss why you might need to scavenge notwithstanding your having stocked up on supplies, the difference between scavenging and looting, and how not to get shot while doing your scavenging. Finally, the author addresses some actual techniques and safety tips for safely scavenging (you may not want the bottles with the big green biohazard labels you found outside the hospital, for instance), including some scavenging sites you may not have considered. 

    If this topic interests you, I would recommend reading Joe Nobody's book, Without Rule of Law, as it addresses equipment and techniques for scavenging missions. Another book to consider is The Prepper Pages: A Surgeon's Guide to Scavenging Items for a Medical Kit, and Putting Them to Use While Bugging Out by Dr. Ryan Chamberlin as the author offers tips on scavenging medications and medical supplies. I've reviewed both (see here and here).

VIDEO: "Ukrainian Raids Into Russia - Missile & Helicopter Attacks 2022"--Mark Felton Productions (5 min.)

News & Current Events:

• They really do hate you: "Woke North Carolina medical student put on LEAVE after tweeting about deliberately injuring a patient for mocking her pronoun badge - but university says she 'didn't intend to harm' the man"--The Daily Mail. Kychelle Del Rosario, a medical student at Wake Forest School of Medicine, bragged on social media how she had deliberately missed a patient's vein during a blood draw because the patient had mocked Del Rosario's pronoun badge. The patient did not mock Del Rosario's choice of pronouns--her/she--because it matched Del Rosario's gender, but just the idea of wearing a pronoun badge. In any event, probably after a discussion with an attorney, Del Rosario is now saying that her missing the vein was an accident--so she either lied on social media or she is lying now (but admitting that she is incompetent); either way, she is definitely a liar. I think police should prosecute Del Rosario.
• "First images 'show Putin's doomed flagship Moskva on fire and sinking into the Black Sea after being shot by Ukraine' as conscripts tell of horrors on board with hundreds thought to have died"--Daily Mail. It was not in rough seas, as the Russians have claimed was the cause of the actual sinking.
• "RT reporter discovers banned anti-personnel mines used by Ukraine"--RT.
• "Russia warns it will view NATO and US vehicles moving weapons in Ukraine as targets"--The Mirror. From the article:

    Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS News Agency the shocking development in an interview today.

    He was quoted as saying: "We are warning that US-NATO weapons transports across Ukrainian territory will be considered by us as legal military targets.

    "We are making the Americans and other Westerners understand that attempts to slow down our special operation, to inflict maximum damage on Russian contingents and formations of the DPR and LPR (Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics) will be harshly

suppressed."

    This comes as Russia's aggression and attempts to curtail NATO's influence has actually pushed more countries into considering whether to join the defensive bloc.

• Inside every liberal is a tyrant screaming to get out: "Dem Sen. Coons: U.S. Needs to Discuss Sending Troops to Ukraine — ‘Putin Will Only Stop When We Stop Him’"--Breibart.
• Wars and rumors of war: "Captagon: Jordan's undeclared war against Syria drug traffickers"--BBC News.

    At the height of the conflict in Syria, smugglers and militant groups took advantage to supply Captagon - which is often laced with caffeine - to fighters, to boost their courage and help them stay alert on the frontlines.

    With few legitimate work opportunities and growing poverty, many ordinary Syrians became involved in the drugs trade.

    Now, with the Syrian economy shattered by a decade of war and still stifled by international sanctions, it has turned into a multi-billion-dollar industry, worth far more than any legal exports.

    Although there have been public denials from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, reports have linked powerful figures in business and the military to the manufacturing and distribution of Captagon.

And:

    Once it was wave upon wave of Syrian refugees that spilt across the border into Jordan. Now, it is drugs.

    Skirmishes between the Jordanian military and drug traffickers are becoming more frequent, with larger hauls being made.

    Since the start of 2022, the army has intercepted more than 17,000 packets of hashish and 17 million pills of Captagon. Only 15.5 million Captagon pills were picked up in all of 2021, while 1.4 million were seized in 2020.

    Jordan is largely a transit route to the drug's biggest market: the Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia.

    "The most dangerous thing we've noticed recently is the presence of armed groups alongside the smugglers," says Colonel Zaid al-Dabbas of the Jordanian army, who has taken me on a tour. 

    He estimates there are about 160 groups operating in southern Syria. They have "new tactics, like those of organised crime" and use drones and expensive, customised vehicles, he says.

    The increase in illegal activity, along with the killing of a Jordanian soldier, has prompted a change in the army's rules of engagement: it now has a shoot-to-kill policy.

    On 27 January, the military says, 27 traffickers were killed when it foiled a co-ordinated effort to cross into Jordan at several points along the border. Four others have been killed in separate operations.

    The army would like more support for what another officer describes as "an undeclared war" on Jordan's borders.

    "We're fighting on behalf of other countries in the region and the world at large," says Colonel Mustafa al-Hiyari. "Drugs are destroying our families, morals and values."

• Leftists can't meme: "Boston University Professor Ibram X. Kendi declares Republicans 'The Party of White Supremacy' and claims conservative efforts to limit teaching of critical race theory are really 'grooming' children to become racist"--Daily Mail. "Grooming" works as a meme to use against the leftists that want to sexualize kids because the term has long been used to refer to sexual predators. Besides, a good meme has to be based in reality. The party of Abraham Lincoln being the party of  white supremacists? Not believable. Liberals grooming children? It happens before our eyes every day.
• Related: "Parent dressed as Easter Bunny hands out eggs with condoms inside to children at Austin elementary school"--The Blaze. 
• Diversity! "Riot cops clash with protesters hurling rocks and setting cars alight in Sweden after anti-Islam Danish politician threatened to burn the Koran in Muslim areas"--Daily Mail. It's okay-- celebrated actually--for Muslims to murder non-Muslims, rape and sexually assault Christians, burn, vandalize, or otherwise destroy Christian churches, complain of Christians singing Easter songs, burn Bibles. But the so-called Religion of Peace will throw a violent hissy fit if the Koran is "disrespected."
• More diversity! "Michigan police release footage of white cop fatally shooting black man in the head during struggle over taser after traffic stop: Man's family retain Benjamin Crump who says 'excessive force was used'"--Daily Mail. A Congolese immigrant, Patrick Lyoya, decided he didn't need to obey police officers, engaged in a game of tag, and then while fighting off an officer armed with a Taser, decided to grab the Taser. At that point, Lyoya learned the hard way that a handgun beats a Taser.
• Gun control at work: "NYC subway 'shooter' Frank James' NINE past criminal charges include sex crimes and burglary in New York and New Jersey: 62-year-old is charged with terrorist attack on mass transit"--Daily Mail. Amazing how gun prohibitions seem to only disarm victims.
• But all we need to do is take away everyone else's guns, sniff the useful idiots: "Cops remove evidence from home of murdered Queens mom who was stabbed 60 times and stuffed into a duffel bag: Killer texted husband claiming she 'sent him to jail years ago'"--Daily Mail.
• The federal judiciary has taken the position for years that nothing untoward can happen when housing men and women together: "Two inmates at all-women's New Jersey jail are PREGNANT after both had sex with transgender prisoners: ACLU won battle to house 27 trans inmates there"--Daily Mail. 
• The left hates the Catholic Church because of its strong support of the family: "Media that gleefully pilloried the Catholic Church over pedophilia charges avert their eyes over much larger schoolteacher pedophilia problem" by Thomas Lifson, American Thinker.

VIDEO: "Massive Food Shortages Coming from China’s Covid Lockdowns"--China Uncensored (13 min.)

Opinion & Analysis:

• "Invasion" by Sarah Hoyt. She writes, in part (underline added):

    It’s worse than you think

    Well, perhaps not if you’re a reader of this blog and others like it, but most people are bombarded with images of children, and mothers carrying children in arms, and they think that’s what immigrants are.

    Most immigrants coming in are in fact males of military age. Before you attribute super powers to the left, part of that is what every “wave” of immigrants starts off as. Because men come over, establish themselves, then “send for” the family.

    However, we do have evidence from when people did deep-dives into the “caravans” that a lot of these pseudo migrants are being actively recruited by communist groups. And yes, of course — do I look stupid? — the left is intending to use them as shock troops of sorts in a conflict they desperately want to go physical. (Because they’re stupid in a highly specialized way, okay. They have watched all the movies of communist revolutions. They think that’s reality. No. Even the migrants wouldn’t save them. But that’s besides the point.)

    Leaving aside that a lot of these people are ideologically opposed to us, the demographic tilt is bad bad bad news — salutes BGE — because a large, undigested, probably largely unemployable population of young males will have bad effects. Bad effects for general disorder. Bad effects for crime. Just bad effects in general, regardless of what the population is.

    In this case, the fact that most of the populations are less “civilized” by which I mean more actually racist, patriarchal, homophobic and violent (because most of the cultures they come from are that also) and from lower trust cultures than ours means bad bad bad results.

• An interesting mix of misunderstanding and making stuff up: "In This Time of War, I Propose We Give Up God" by Shalom Auslander, New York Times. Auslander writes:

    This weekend, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Passover, the name of which comes from the story of God “passing over” the homes of our distant ancestors on his way to slaughter the first born sons of evil Egyptians. Our forefathers, the story goes, marked their doorposts with lamb’s blood in order to spare their own sons the awful fate of their enemies.

    In this time of war and violence, of oppression and suffering, I propose we pass over something else:

    God.

    Two aspects of the Passover story have troubled me since I was first taught them long ago in an Orthodox yeshiva in Monsey, N.Y. I was 8 years old, and as the holiday approached, our rabbi commanded us to open our chumashim, or Old Testaments, to the Book of Exodus. To get us in the holiday spirit, he told us gruesome tales of torture and persecution.

    “The Egyptians,” he told us, “used the corpses of Jewish slaves in their buildings.”

    “You mean they used slaves to build their buildings,” I asked, “and the slaves died from work?”

    “No,” said the rabbi. “They put the Jewish bodies into the walls and used them as bricks.”

    My father was something of a handyman at the time, and this seemed to me a serious violation of basic building codes, not to mention a surefire way to lose a home sale.

    “Is this brick?” the interested couple asks.

    “No, no,” says the realtor. “That’s corpse.”

    But just as troubling — even more so today in light of the brutal slaughter taking place in Ukraine — were the plagues themselves.

    God, the rabbi said, struck all the Egyptians with his wrath, not just Pharaoh and his soldiers. Egyptians young and old, innocent and guilty, suffered locusts and frogs, hail and darkness, beasts running wild and water becoming blood. Mothers nursing their babies, the rabbi explained, found their breast milk had turned to blood.

    “Yay!” my classmates cheered.

    But Pharaoh, the story continues, still wouldn’t relinquish his slaves. Technically this was God’s fault as he “hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” but the issue of free will wouldn’t begin troubling me until my teens. And so God, in his mercy, started killing babies.

    “Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the firstborn of the servant girl.” Exodus 11:5.

    Surely, I wondered, there were some Egyptians who didn’t whip Jews, who didn’t have anything against Jews at all? Surely there were Egyptians horrified by slavery, Egyptians who disagreed with Pharaoh as often as we do with our own leaders?

    “Everyone?” I asked the rabbi. “He struck everyone?”

    “Everyone,” the rabbi said.

    “Yay!” my classmates cheered.

    God, it seems, paints with a wide brush. He paints with a roller. In Egypt, said our rabbi, he even killed first-born cattle. He killed cows. If he were mortal, the God of Jews, Christians and Muslims would be dragged to The Hague. And yet we praise him. We emulate him. We implore our children to be like him.

    Perhaps now, as missiles rain down and the dead are discovered in mass graves, is a good time to stop emulating this hateful God. Perhaps we can stop extolling his brutality. Perhaps now is a good time to teach our children to pass over God — to be as unlike him as possible.

    “And so God killed them all,” the rabbis and priests and imams can preach to their classrooms. “That was wrong, children.”

    “God threw Adam out of Eden for eating an apple,” they can caution their students. “That’s called being heavy-handed, children.”

    Cursing all women for eternity because of Eve’s choices?

    “That’s called collective punishment, children,” they can warn the young. “Don’t do that.”

    “Boo!” the children will jeer.

    I was raised strictly Orthodox. Old school. Shtetl fabulous. Every year, at the beginning of the Seder, we welcome in the hungry and poor Jews who can’t afford to have a Seder themselves. It’s a wonderfully human gesture. A few short hours of God later, at the end of the Seder, we open the front door and call out to Him, “Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that did not know you!”

    And God does. With plagues and floods, with fire and fury, on the young and old, the guilty and innocent.

    And we humans, made in his image, do the same. With fixed-wing bombers and cluster bombs, with self-propelled mortars and thermobaric rocket launchers.

    “Why did God kill the first-born cattle?” my rabbi said. “Because the Egyptians believed they were gods.”

    Killing gods is an idea I can get behind.

    This year, at the end of the Seder, let’s indeed throw our doors open — to strangers. To people who aren’t our own. To the terrifying them, to the evil others, those people who seem so different from us, those we think are our enemies or who think us theirs, but who, if they sat down around the table with us, we’d no doubt find despise the pharaohs of this world as much as we do, and who dream of the same damned thing as us all:

    Peace.

The Communists gave up God. The result was not peace, unless you count the peace of the grave: 94 million dead in the 20th Century. The Nazis were also a godless regime and look at all the peaceful things they did. The problem with modern intellectuals such as Auslander is that they elevate theories and models over reality and experience. Yes, what is happening in Ukraine is terrible. But what was it like under the Soviet Union? Andrew Roberts in his book Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War describes some of what the Nazis encountered when they drove the Soviets back at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa (footnotes omitted): 

     As though the citizens of Occupied Poland, the Ukraine and the Baltic States did not have enough to be terrified of during the German advance, the NKVD also unleashed on them an orgy of sadistic violence quite unlike its normal murder sprees. After Stalin had ordered Beria to purge the Army, wipe out defeatism and rumour-mongering and investigate with maximum distrust anyone who had escaped from the Germans, horrific scenes took place in Russian-held areas just before the Wehrmacht’s arrival. ‘When the prisons were opened up after the Soviet retreat there were scenes of indescribable horror,’ records Richard Overy. ‘Bodies had been savagely mutilated; hundreds of prisoners had been tortured to death rather than dispatched with the usual bullet in the back of the head. In one incident in the Ukraine the NKVD dynamited two cells filled with women prisoners. In another prison the floor was strewn with the tongues, ears and eyes of the dead prisoners.’ Overy concludes that the NKVD guards had been ‘convulsed by a spasm of retributive violence induced by fear, desperation and rage’. In Lvov alone, 4,000 people were shot, including almost everyone in the city’s prison, which was then burnt down.

    Small wonder, therefore, that when the Germans arrived in many parts of western Russia, the Ukraine and the Baltics, the village elders came out to greet the invaders with their traditional welcoming offers of bread and salt. ...

That Hitler, who was anti-Christian if not an atheist, squandered all this good will by being almost as brutal as the Communists only reinforces the inhumanity of those that reject God.  

VIDEO: "Sap, Blackjack & Slungshot- Overview and History"--Object History (13 min.)

And Now For Something Completely Different:

• Evolution in action: "California man, 56, is crushed to death between his car and rollers after getting out of his vehicle during an automatic car wash"--Daily Mail. To summarize, a man drove his vehicle into an automatic car wash that was not operational, set his car in neutral, got out of his car for an unknown reason, and when the car rolled (because no brakes and not in park), it pinned him against equipment for at least a half hour before anyone realized anything was wrong. 
• Rev. 13:17 alert: "The microchip implants that let you pay with your hand"--BBC News. The article explains:

    And when it comes to implantable payment chips, British-Polish firm, Walletmor, says that last year it became the first company to offer them for sale.

    "The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris - or at your local grocery store," says founder and chief executive Wojtek Paprota. "It can be used wherever contactless payments are accepted."

    Walletmor's chip, which weighs less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice, is comprised of a tiny microchip and an antenna encased in a biopolymer - a naturally sourced material, similar to plastic.

    Mr Paprota adds that it is entirely safe, has regulatory approval, works immediately after being implanted, and will stay firmly in place. It also does not require a battery, or other power source. The firm says it has now sold more than 500 of the chips.

    The technology Walletmor uses is near-field communication or NFC, the contactless payment system in smartphones. Other payment implants are based on radio-frequency identification (RFID), which is the similar technology typically found in physical contactless debit and credit cards.

Now all they need to do is combine this with a social credit score to keep people that have "wrongthink" from purchasing anything. What could go wrong?