Not Enough Free Stuff To Go Around

From the Daily Mail: "Black activists seeking reparations blast Democrats for flooding their neighborhoods with migrants from Latin America." The irony is rich:

    Black activists seeking reparations for slavery in New York are coming after Democrats over propositions to include other minorities in their plans, accusing them of planting migrants to shift voter results. 

    Aubrey Muhammad claimed to the New York State Commission on Reparations Remedies in Long Island last month that Democrats were importing 'Latinos' to fill 'voting rolls' as 'replacements for us' and gentrifying Black neighborhoods. 

    'The Democrats, in a sick way, important 25 million immigrants. And 70 percent of them came into poor Black neighborhoods,' Muhammed told Fox News. 

As Tolkien pointed out, evil will oft evil mar. 

"Gay" Asylum Seeker Facing Deportation After Marrying Woman

 From the Daily Mail: "African migrant claimed to be gay to get asylum in the US - then made incredibly stupid mistake after entering the country, DHS says." Per the article:

    Salah Dine Habib, a native of Mauritania in west Africa, entered the US around 2023 and was arrested May 21, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

    Habib claimed to be homosexual on his asylum application, which in his home country is a criminal offense punishable by being stoned to death.

    He got a job as a taxpayer-funded corrections officer at a county jail in Portland, Indiana, after being hired by Jay County Sheriff Larry Ray Newton Jr, WIBC reported.

    However, Habib was allegedly exposed as a fraud after he married Newton's stepdaughter Chelsea in September 2025.    

 Jay County officials are pointing their fingers at each other on who to blame for not thoroughly vetting Habib before offering him a job--a job that could have gone to an American, I would add.  

Israel, Once Again, Sabotages Peace Talks With Iran

I've mentioned before that Israel is best described as a frenemy, not an ally, who grossly abuses its relationship with the United States including, but not limited to, spying and espionage, providing a haven for Jewish criminals fleeing the United States, and undermining the U.S. in the Middle East. And we have seen it over and over again with how they have undermined the U.S. vis-a-vis Iran. The latest: "Trump's ceasefire collapses as Iran ENDS peace talks over Benjamin Netanyahu's fresh bombing campaign." The article relates:

    Iran's top negotiators on Monday stopped exchanging messages with the US through Pakistani intermediaries as Tehran vowed to fully shut down the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Iranian state-affiliated news outlet Tasnim.

    The report claims Iran cut off communication because it believes one of the preconditions for the ceasefire was a halt to the IDF's continued attacks on its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

    The regime says 'No dialogue will take place' until Israel fully withdraws from Lebanon and also stops attacks in Gaza, according to Tasnim.

    'Also, the resistance front and Iran have resolved to completely block the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts including the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, in order to punish the Zionists and their supporters,' a regime official told state media. 

    The Trump administration has spent recent weeks trying to quell the fighting by brokering a temporary ceasefire between Benjamin Netanyahu's government and Lebanon, but those efforts have not succeeded.

    Oil markets went into a frenzy following news of the ceasefire's collapse, with crude prices climbing more than six percent.

Trump was reportedly not happy with Israeli prime minister  Benjamin Netanyahu:

    Donald Trump reportedly called Benjamin Netanyahu 'f***ing crazy' on a phone call just before the President announced a halt to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. 

[snip]

    However, Trump issued a note of hopeful skepticism: 'Let's see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!'

    Before the statement, the pair reportedly had a tense exchange during a phone call regarding escalating conflict in Lebanon between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah. 

    A source told Axios that at one point, Trump bluntly asked Netanyahu: 'What the f*** are you doing?' 

    Trump eventually went off on the prime minister, directly stating that Netanyahu would be jailed without him. 

    'You're f***ing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,' he reportedly said. 

    Two sources told the outlet that Trump accused Netanyahu of being ungrateful to him and that making good on threats to bomb Beirut would make things worse for Israel. 

    The sources hinted that Trump's rage was driven by a belief that Israel's actions were making it harder to forge a peace deal with Iran. 

    Netanyahu later appeared to cast doubt on Trump's claim of a ceasefire, saying that his country would strike Beirut if Hezbollah doesn't stop attacking Israel. 

As I expressed yesterday, I doubt that Iran is sincere about trying to reach a peace deal, but neither can we trust Israel's leaders. 

Burying The Lede While Paris Burns

There hasn't been much attention in the U.S. media over the riots in Paris following a win in a major soccer match. Gateway Pundit provides some coverage of the chaos in its article, "Paris Burns: PSG Champions League Victory Sparks Second Straight Year of Riots, Looting, and Arson." But you have to get close to the bottom of the article before you come across a hint of why the rioting and looting is so much worse over the last several years:

The disturbances have reignited a broader national debate over mass migration, demographic shifts, public order, law enforcement, and the limits of existing policies. Many voters increasingly question why such scenes continue to repeat themselves year after year.   

These scenes repeat year after year because France has imported so much of the third world while simultaneously taking a laissez faire attitude toward their acting out. 

     Ruminating about the riots, the host of the Richard the Fourth YouTube channels wonders if Europe needs a strongman (presumably Oswald Spengler's Caesar figure) to save it. He uses Ecuador and its mass incarceration of criminals as an example of what must be done to control the criminal elements. 

VIDEO: "Europe Needs a Strongman to Save Her"
Richard The Fourth (15 min.)

Finding A Handgun That Fits

 Massad Ayoob discusses how to determine if a handgun fits you, specifically looking at trigger reach. 

VIDEO: "Handgun Dimensions Decoded"
Massad Ayoob - Facts and Firearms (12 min.)

More On The Police Assisted Murder Of Henry Nowak

Nowak, as you may remember, was a British youth stabbed repeatedly by a non-British thug, Vickrum Digwa, then handcuffed and left to drown in his own blood by the British police. Spiked has more about this case and the cause of Nowak's death in its article: "Henry Nowak and the savagery of state wokeness." Digwa has been found guilty of murder; his mother, who removed the murder weapon from the scene and hid it, has been found guilty of "assisting an offender." 

As savage as the knifing was, it was what happened next that has shaken Britain’s soul. Digwa’s mother arrived and spirited away the murder weapon – it was later found hidden in the family home with 20 other Sikh swords and knives. Digwa then accused Nowak of having racially abused him. He said Nowak used a racist slur against him, punched him and knocked off his turban. These were ‘wicked lies’, the court heard during his murder trial. Yet there was a group of people on the scene of this atrocity who believed Digwa’s vile libels against the youth he had just fatally lacerated: the police.     

The author goes on to explain why the police believed Digwa and let Nowak die.  

    We all know why Digwa’s evil lie was believed and why wounded, gasping Henry’s pleas for help went unheeded – it’s because the word ‘racism’ acts like a magic spell on our ruling class. It’s like a rhetorical narcotic. The minute they hear it, they morph, like woke Manchurian candidates, into wide-eyed searchers for the merest hint of that greatest sin in our morally deracinated times: white privilege, and prejudicial speech. Their aim becomes not the discovery of truth but the demonstration of virtue. On that street in Southampton, once the word ‘racism’ had been uttered, the role of the state’s representatives suddenly and radically changed: it was no longer to investigate a potential crime but to obsequiously act out a moral script.

    Having prostrated themselves so fully before the new regime religion that falsely calls itself ‘anti-racism’, the police were virtually programmed to believe the ‘brown man’ and be sceptical of the ‘white man’. No doubt the critical race theory that pumps like a toxin in the veins of the establishment kicked in, meaning that the Sikh who had so ruthlessly wielded his sword instantly became the victim, while the target of his red-mist knifing – the white boy – became the oppressor. The state’s intoxication with the hyper-racialised politics of victimhood has driven it ever further into a quagmire of dogma where cool moral judgment is all but impossible. 

Read the whole thing.  

The Muslim Way Of War

Iran is pretending to pursue peace negotiations simply as a reprieve to regain their military strength: "Iran digs out underground missile sites during cease-fire with US: report." From the lede:

    Iran has dug out a majority of the entrances to its underground missile bases that were buried by joint US-Israeli strikes during the height of the war, satellite images show.

    A recent probe of 18 missile facilities hit during the war shows that at least 50 out of 69 tunnel entrances have been reopened since the cease-fire went into effect in April, CNN reported.

    The fast work indicates that Iran would be poised to fire a lot more long-range missiles across the Middle East if the war restarts amid tense peace negotiations.  

This strategy is termed hudna. The Middle East Forum gives this explanation of it (footnotes omitted):

    The concept of hudna deserves a close look: It is not a Qur’anic term, nor is it the only Arabic word for a cease-fire or truce; others include: muhadana, muwada’a, muhla, musalaha, musalama, mutaraka, and sulh. But hudna is the most prominent. It is the first word used in Muslim history to mean cease-fire, specifically in the context of the seventh century Truce or Treaty of al-Hudaybiyya, often termed the Sulh al-Hudaybiyya (peace of al-Hudaybiyya).

    Named after a village outside Mecca, the truce came six years after Muhammad and his followers abandoned Mecca for Yathrib, today’s Medina. This move, known as the hijra (emigration) is of enormous significance for the classical understanding of jihad, inasmuch as it sets a pattern of retreat followed by regrouping and rearming, which permits an attack on the territory previously left behind. In March 628 C.E., Muhammad and his followers sought to return to Mecca to perform a pilgrimage. At Hudaybiyya, Muhammad “marched till he reached al-Hudaybiyya which lies at the limit of the Haram [sacred territory of Mecca] area at a distance of nine miles from Mecca.” Muhammad and the rulers of Mecca, most of whom had yet to convert to Islam, negotiated a truce, the essence of which was to permit the Muslims to return unarmed on pilgrimage each year for the next decade. It came to an end two years later, however, following an infraction by a tribe allied to the Meccans. In 630, Muhammad entered Mecca with a small, armed force and took the city peacefully. Hudna, in other words, amounted to a temporary truce.

There is no such thing as a lasting peace with Islam--it is always temporary until they believe they have sufficient strength to challenge you. Or, as the Times of Israel has succinctly explained:

    Simply put: within Islamic tradition, it is considered morally acceptable to make peace treaties (Hudna) when in a position of weakness, and to break them once the balance of power shifts in one’s favor—just as the Prophet did.

    Western observers often fail to grasp why Muslim negotiators push for temporary ceasefires (often ten years long, mirroring the Prophet’s example). They’re then surprised when such agreements collapse suddenly. This isn’t seen as dishonorable, rather, it follows a deeply rooted cultural and religious precedent. 

Gun & Prepping News #83

 Some links that may be of interest:

• "Shoot/Don't Shoot"--Active Response Training.  A reminder that just because someone is in your home doesn't mean that they need to be shot. Greg Ellifritz illustrates this by recounting from his law enforcement days an encounter with a woman suffering mental problems trying to get from the garage into the living quarters of a residence. He writes: "While scary and acting erratic, this woman didn’t need to be shot.  I took her into custody for an involuntary mental health evaluation at a psychiatric hospital.  I hope she gets the help she needs to get better."
• Related: "Oklahoma homeowner fatally shoots suspected squatter found living with girlfriend inside vacant house"--New York Post.  Timothy Smith discovered Justin King in a bedroom with an unidentified woman in a residence Smith owned, but did not live in. According to the article, Smith (who was armed) and his daughter had stopped to check on the house after reports of squatters in the area. When he discovered King, there were words exchanged, and King apparently stepped toward Smith, who shot and killed him. "Smith defended his actions," the article recounts, "admitting he didn’t see King with any weapons but that the suspected trespasser shouldn’t have been in the house in the first place." Smith is now being charged with first-degree manslaughter.

• Sometimes we get too focused on self-defense and tactical aspects of firearms and forget the reason we got into shooting--because it was fun! "Shooting Is Fun: How I Rediscovered the Benefits of Rimfire"--American Rifleman.  The article begins:

     So, I recently had the pleasure of attending “Plinkapalooza” at Range Ready in Robert, LA; you might recognize this as the home range of the Gun Talk crew. “Plinkapalooza” was designed to be a celebration of everything rimfire; we had handguns, carbines and rifles in everything from .17 HMR through .22 Mag., with a heavy emphasis on .22 LR. Events were tailored around showcasing the abilities of these firearms and ammunition, but the most important thing was for it to be fun.

    Folks, when I’m telling you it was a LOT of fun, I’m not exaggerating. I’m probably understating it.

    Sometimes we get caught up in the very serious nature of firearms to the exclusion of that fun factor, and it’s good to be reminded that shooting is fun. Obviously, no matter your reason for hitting the range, safety is paramount; beyond that, though, it’s a good thing to take a moment to actually enjoy going to the range. Yes, working with your concealed-carry rig is important for self-defense, training with your rifle keeps perishable long-range skills sharp and practicing with your shotgun keeps your wingshooting fresh. But, let’s be frank—none of these is as fun as plinking informal targets with a .22 rifle.

• "Does It Really Make Sense to Handload Ammunition Anymore?"--Field and Stream.  The two main reasons people have loaded ammunition in the past was to realize a lower cost per round (mostly achieved through recycling brass and, with some reloaders, casting your own bullets) and for better accuracy and quality. But this isn't the 1970s anymore, and the quality of manufactured ammunition is as good or better than most people will be able to realize out of their own reloading. Which brings us to the economics:

 Right now, 1,000 rounds of cheap 9mm FMJ ammunition will cost you about 36 cents per shot. That works out to $360 for the lot. Assuming you already have 1,000 9mm cases, the rest of the components—bullets, powder, and primers—to reload that many rounds will run you about $295. That means you’ll save about $65. If you’re talking rifle cartridges, the components are a bit more expensive, but you can also save a bit more. If you already have the brass to reload 1000 rounds of .223 Remington FMJ ammo, the rest will cost you around $320. Compared to the least expensive factory ammo, you’ll save about $180.

That's great if you already have the equipment. But, if not...

 That said, you’ll also need to shell out for reloading tools to make the ammo. A good progressive press will run you at least $500. A single-stage press is much less expensive; the RCBS Partner Press, for example, is only $127. Either way, you’re going to need some additional tools and can expect to pay as much as $200 for them. If you go the single-stage route, a press that comes in a kit is your best bet, but you’re still looking at least $250 for a minimalist set up.

The author sums up:

 Given these numbers, and at an average savings of about $120 per thousand rounds, if you go the single-stage route, you’ll have to load around 3,000 rounds to break even on the components plus the cost of the tools. If you’re working with a progressive press, you’re going to have to produce about 7,000 rounds to do that same. Either way, over the course of a year you’ll have to shoot between 250 and 500 rounds per month to make use of your investment. And remember, these numbers only apply if you already have the empty cases. If you don’t, brass will cost you between 10 and 20 cents each, adding another $100 to $200 to every thousand rounds, which could completely offset your savings. (Financially, by the way, you’re better off buying ammunition and using the fired brass.)

To reduce cost, you can look for used reloading equipment. Reloading tools do not hold their value as well as firearms; often you can find killer deals. I’ve known more than several shooters who’ve scored a truck load of reloading equipment from people who just wanted their ex-spouse’s crap out of the house. You can also partner up with a buddy and split the cost on tools and even components.   

I sort of lucked into a great deal on my reloading equipment: a lady I worked with had bought a pretty good set up for her husband, an avid hunter, but it turned out he had no interest in reloading, so she sold it to me for about half of the cost. And I also used the "buy the loaded ammunition and save the brass" route to acquire much of my brass, together with long hours visiting different popular shooting locations on public land and picking up the brass others had left behind. However, I have on occasion purchased new brass, such as when I started loading for the .300 BLK. In that instance, I initially bought some Winchester brass, but switched to Starline because it was less expensive. I like Starline. 

• "As America Turns 250, the Guns That Won the Revolution Sit Outside Modern Gun Control – Mostly"--The Truth About Guns.  I'd said a long time ago that one of the points against buying "antique" guns for prepping is that there exemption from firearm regulations could always be changed, and now we see people challenging some of the exemptions. 
• "The Three Gun Battery for Self-Defense"--Civilian Gunfighter.  His recommendations:
•  First, a 9mm handgun suitable for self-defense and training purposes that can serve for both concealed carry and for self-defense. You know where this is heading--the author adds: "If I were pressed to recommend a specific gun, I would advise the purchase of a Glock 19, although there are many other good choices."
• Second, an AR-15 rifle or carbine. The reason given is that it pushes your defensive envelope out further should that be necessary, it can be pressed into hunting duties if needed, and can be set up to an ideal weapon for self-defense.
• Third, he recommends a pistol or rifle in .22 LR, explaining: "The .22 is ideal for teaching young or inexperienced shooters, offers economical practice and training options, and is suitable for small game hunting. In my opinion, the best .22 firearm would be a clone of one of the two firearms already acquired."

Finally, he adds:

 

Once your budget allows for further purchases beyond the three gun battery, rather than diversifying your armory, I’m going to suggest a different tactic. Buy ammunition and magazines for the guns you already own. Ideally, I think you should have 1000 rounds per caliber and 10 magazines per gun. This allows you to practice and train at your leisure, and ensures your ability to continue to train and fight when ammunition availability is compromised by political or societal crisis. Anyone who has sought out ammunition during gun control scares or at times of civil unrest or urban rioting can understand the comfort that a stash of ammunition can provide. 

• "A Basic 5-Gun Battery of Handguns [2024]"--Primer Peak.  The author considered paring down his collection of handguns and conducted a thought experiment as to what handguns he would need to satisfy his needs and shooting habits: "I eventually settled on five handguns: a Glock 17, a Glock 26, a Colt 1911, and two Smith and Wesson revolvers — a K22 and a 442. "
• "Ruger P89 Review: For What it Isn’t"--Hipster Tactical.  A review of the P89 and why the author does not believe it was a compromise weapon. The P89 was a refinement of its predecessor, the P85, which Ruger had introduced for the military pistol trials. I had a friend who had a P85 and it was a pretty good pistol, so sometime in the early 90s I sold a Taurus PT92 I owned and purchased the P89 (because the P85s were no longer being made). Overall it was a good gun and built like a tank, but nothing that excited me. It wasn't as accurate as the PT92 had been (nor as accurate as the P85 my friend had) and there wasn't the aftermarket support for it that other pistols had. I eventually sold it. 
• "WA2000: The Bullpup Sniper Rifle with a Past"--Recoil.  A history of this iconic, but apparently little used, rifle. 
• "The SOLGW MK1 Controversy Explained"--The Truth About Guns.  Sons of Liberty Gun Works (SOLGW) makes a rifle called the MK1 that won the SOCOM contract for a combat assault rifle.

The SOCOM-selected MK1 features the ARMAD steel barrel, chrome-lined and QPQ-finished, with a service life reportedly extending to 70,000 rounds in machine gun testing. The select-fire variant uses materials and metallurgy specifically engineered for the contract — built to take a beating at a level most civilian shooters will never encounter. That rifle is the result of a multi-year development effort, and every component was analyzed and refined for maximum reliability in the most austere environments on earth.  

 

But the MK1 that SOLGW sells to the public for $3,200 is not that rifle, according to the TTAG article. For one, it does not come with the ARMAD steel barrel. In fact, according to the article, "[t]he two most integral components of any AR-pattern rifle — the barrel and the BCG — are, on the civilian MK1, more or less standard." And, currently at least, the ARMAD barrel is not even an option for the civilian version.  

• And the hybrid cartridge developed for the .277 Fury may already be obsolete: "Federal Signs Agreement With U.S. Army to Improve Ammo Performance"--American Rifleman. 

    Federal Ammunition announced this week that it has entered into an agreement that allows the U.S. Army to utilize its patented Peak Alloy ammunition case technology for use in multiple cartridges and weapon systems. Terms specify certain conditions necessary prior to granting government purpose rights, such as the delivery of 40 million cases that feature the cutting-edge technology.

    Peak Alloy first appeared on the commercial market in 2025 when Federal Ammunition introduced it in the company’s all new 7 mm Backcountry cartridge. The material was used in the high-strength, proprietary steel alloy casing, which enables significantly higher chamber pressure than traditional brass—in excess of 80,000 PSI. As a result, bullet velocity increases in smaller, lighter, shorter-barreled rifles typically configured for suppressors.

    “At higher pressures, Peak Alloy cases ‘hang on’ in the chamber and absorb some of that rearward force, thereby limiting the amount transferred to the firearm to a level it was built to manage,” Federal Rifle Ammunition Managing Engineer Jake Burns explained to NRA Editor Emeritus John Zent in 2025. “That’s where the ‘magic’ happens.” 

• They make everything from motorcycles to chain saws to sewing machines, but they also made rifles: "Fudd Friday: Watch Out For Husqvarna’s Bargain Rifles On The Used Rack"--The Firearm Blog. An excerpt:

     There are several options to look for here, starting with the Husqvarna 1640s I mentioned above. These are made in America-friendly calibers like .30-06 or .270, as well as calibers that are more common in Scandinavia, like 6.5x55mm, 7x57mm, 9.3x62mm or 8x57mm. They also came chambered for belted magnums, including 358 Norma Magnum and 7mm Remington Magnum, although these are less common.

     Why buy a 1640? Because this Mauser-pattern bolt action, built from the early 1950s until the late 1960s, was built to a quality standard that few other commercial rifles for the mass market could match (we’re talking the equivalent of a pre-’64 Winchester Model 70 here, the cream of the crop for the working man). And the 1640 was a bit of an odd design, too; not a large-ring Mauser 98 action, but a small-ring full-length controlled-feed version of the Mauser 98.

    This was a natural evolution of Sweden’s long-standing production of small-ring Mausers. While some might question the small-ring action’s capability to handle full-power loads, let alone belted magnums, the 1640 series was made of fine, modern steel and these guns can handle the heat.

    And even though they’re basically laid out like a Mauser 98, Husqvarna baked some improvements into the design, particularly the slide-safety on the side of the action, instead of the back-of-the-bolt design the original Mauser 98 used, which doesn't work well with a low-mounted scope—the safety bumps into the rear eyepiece when it’s rotated. Not so on the Husqvarna 1640.

• "POTD: Ruger LCP MAX with ReadyDot Micro Reflex Sight"--The Firearm Blog.  The ready dot is an optic designed by Ruger specifically for the Ruger LCP Max. It uses fiber optics to gather light rather than relying on electronics. It uses a 15 MOA aiming dot, so it is obviously placing important on fast accusation and shooting at shorter distances. 
• "Military snipers are being put out of a job by drones"--MSN. Drones have largely replaced snipers in the Ukrainian military. 

    Unmanned vehicles are particularly suited to the sniper’s two main tasks of reconnaissance and targeted killing. Their key advantages include their bigger visual range, maneuverability and expendability: If the mission fails, the loss is a craft worth thousands of dollars rather than a life.

    Ukraine still uses snipers. The U.S. also continues to train them. But in Ukraine they are being used less and in a changing role that is becoming more dangerous. Many snipers, like Kovalskiy, believe the era of sniping has passed.

    “Drones are just more effective and cost less,” said Kovalskiy, who is part of a military counterintelligence division of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU.

• "TTAG Review: Olight’s Updated ArkPro Ultra EDC Flashlight"--The Truth About Guns.  This is a flattened design (rather than a tubular design) intended to be easier to carry in the pocket. It has a max output of 1,700 lumens in "turbo" mode but the standard output is 800 lumens. It also features a UV light and a green laser pointer. MSRP is about $130. 
• "Emergency PPE for Disasters"--True Prepper.  As the author notes: "Disasters and emergencies can be dirty, stinky, hazardous messes where you’ll want to protect your hands, skin, eyes, and airway. PPE, or Personal Protective Equipment, can help you with that protection." It doesn't even have to be a major regional disaster. It could instead be a fire and explosion of a train carrying chemicals, at a chemical plant or storage, or smoke from widespread wild fires. In any event, the author discusses Everyday PPE--basically what you would need for 99% of your needs--as well as equipment suitable for CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) events. He also covers decontamination and organizing your PPE gear. 
• "The Most Dangerous Volcanic Threat to America Is Coming. And It Doesn’t Need an Eruption to Begin."--Popular Mechanics.  The threat are huge mudflows, called lahars.

    What makes a lahar so perilous? Start with its unpredictable behavior, as the slurry of sediment, rocky debris, and water begins at the top of a volcano and travels downslope, moving very quickly and covering large distances. In mere minutes, a lahar can flow down a volcano and level anything in its path. “They are complex phenomena that change a lot during transport,” National Autonomous University of Mexico volcanologist Lizeth Caballero García, told Pop Mech in this feature story. “They can grow, they can dilute.”

    And there’s good reason why United States Geological Survey (USGS) researchers have deemed lahars the “most threatening hazard” in the Cascades: They pose a direct danger to surrounding communities. For instance, around 150,000 people live in Washington’s Pierce County—in the middle of the projected lahar path of volcano Mount Rainier, located just around 60 miles from Seattle. 

• "How to mulch your garden beds without harming plants"--Associated Press. The article explains that "Mulch is defined as a protective layer applied over soil to retain moisture, suppress weeds and moderate soil temperature around plants, as well as in uncultivated areas," and can be made of "gravel, plastic sheeting and shredded tires to organic materials like compost, pine needles, shredded bark, hay, straw and wood chips." However, some materials should be avoided altogether, and some materials (like gravel) should only be used in certain environments. The best, according to the author, is wood chips. 
• "Microgardening means getting a surprisingly big harvest from a windowsill or balcony garden"--Associated Press. Some tips on maximizing your output from a very small vegetable or herb garden.
• "How To Get Paint Out Of Carpet Without Ruining The Fibers"--Southern Living. Instructions for both water based and oil based paints. 
• "Survival Experiences in Nature – Caribbean Edition"--Caribbean Trading. I was looking for this type of information after watching an episode of the British television show, Death in Paradise, which featured a murder on a survivalist compound. This article briefly covers some of the variety of terrain and climate, dealing with weather and mosquitoes, and some essential survival gear and experience. It seems oriented toward the traveler that is planning on exploring the islands away from the general tourist locations.
• "20 Survival Tips For Living on a Tropical Island"--Another Rum Punch. This article is intended for people moving to the Caribbean, such as for retirement, rather than just visiting with tips on making your life more enjoyable and warning of infrastructure issues you may have to deal with.  
• "Super El Niño of 1877 caused over 50 MILLION deaths worldwide – now scientists warn the 2026 event could be even worse"--Daily Mail. I will acknowledge that this is just more environmental scare tactics. Nevertheless, the famine that resulted from the 1877 even was real. Although most of the information about the famine focuses on India (termed the Great Famine) its impact was much more widespread. From the article:

    The 1877 El Niño was one of the most severe climate events in recorded history, triggering a global humanitarian disaster known as The Great Famine.

    Climate reconstructions suggest water temperatures in a key region of the Pacific Ocean rose by 2.7°C (4.86°F), which caused disruption to rainfall patterns around the world.

     Estimates indicate the resulting scarcity of food and disease outbreaks killed up to four per cent of the Earth's population at the time.

    That would be the equivalent of at least 250 million people if it happened today.

    Now, forecasts suggest water temperatures could potentially exceed 3°C (5.4°F) above average later this year – making the upcoming super El Niño even more powerful than the one nearly 150 years ago.

    'Simultaneous multiyear droughts similar to those in the 1870s could happen again,' Deepti Singh, associate professor at Washington State University, told the Washington Post.

[snip]

    Many climate historians think the 1877–78 event reshaped world history and some consider it one of the first 'truly global climate disasters'.

    Drought conditions, which had already been developing for several years, were intensified – causing crops to collapse across huge areas.

    India was among the worst–hit regions as monsoon rains disappeared, while Northern China suffered devastating dry spells that led to harvest failures.

    In Brazil rivers dried up and agriculture collapsed, while parts of Africa, southeast Asia and Australia also experienced severe drought and forest fires.

    The resulting famine weakened societies, intensified colonial control in some regions, accelerated migration and exposed how vulnerable global food systems were to climate shocks.

    There were also outbreaks of malaria, plague, dysentery, smallpox and cholera across weakened populations.

• More: "What Caused the Great Famine?"--State of the Planet. A more in-depth look at the 1877 event.
• More: "Climate and the Global Famine of 1876–78"--Journal of Climate. A scientific paper that goes into even more detail on the droughts and the causes of the droughts. 

RPG Saturday: Barbarians of Lemuria

  

Barbarians of Lemuria ("BoL") is a sword and sorcery role-playing game by Simon Washbourne based on Lin Carter's Thongor of Lemuria series of adventures. The basic game mechanic is loosely based on the 2d6 system from Traveller, but also has significant differences. It is not exactly clear when the game came out: the best information I have is that it originally showed up in the early 2000s. (You can find a free to download PDF of what apparently was a very early version here). 

    But, over time, it was expanded, new artwork added, and more details of the setting added. For instance, DriveThru RPG lists a "Legendary Edition" which apparently dates back to 2009. When I first purchased a copy two years ago through DriveThru RPG, they were selling the Mythic Edition (which is no longer available through that site) that apparently dated back to sometime in the 2010s.  Unfortunately, the game did not see much success at the time in the United States. 

 

The Mythic edition of BoL

In the meantime, in 2016, fans of the game in France asked Washbourne for the rights to publish the game in French, forming a small publishing company called Ludospherik to translate and publish the game. It apparently enjoyed enough success in France that it continued to be published and expanded. So in 2024, Ludospherik decided to try the English-speaking market again and launched a Kickstarter campaign which was overwhelmingly successful. Thus, in 2025, they released a new printing of the Mythic Edition with new art, better formatting, and better quality printing.

 And while the text appears to be the same as the earlier version I had purchased, it is a much better print copy of the game: better print quality, much better formatting of the text (making it much easier to read and find materials), and high quality art. 

 

An example of the interior art from the 2025 edition. Although this is a full page bit of artwork, all of the illustrations in the book is of similar quality. It truly makes it a pleasure to browse through the book.

     In any event, the Kickstarter of the game was good enough that the additional materials (a poster sized map of the setting and a game master screen) and a supplement translated from the French (further detailing a portion of the game world with an adventure and other information) have since been published. A second supplement is in the works. 

    While many games are "setting neutral"--meaning you could use the game for different settings within that particular genre--this game is tightly interwoven around its setting. While Washbourne lists many different authors and their works as inspiration--including the John Carter of Mars stories by Edger Rice Burroughs and the Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard--it is obvious to anyone that has read the books or short stories that the setting for Barbarians of Lemuria is based on the Thongor of Lemuria stories by Lin Carter.

 

The two maps above are of Carter's Lemuria (the lower of the two was actually drawn by Carter; I'm unsure of the origin of the upper map). The map, below, is of the game world for Barbarians of Lemuria.

You can see that what Washbourne largely did was flip Carter's Lemuria from West to East, make it part of a larger continent, change the time (Carter's setting is far in the past before recorded history while Washbourne's setting is in the far future after some cataclysmic event) and adds a few more tweaks to the geography. Many of the intelligent species,  creatures, cities, and factions are also the same between the two with just changes to the names. The dominant city in both settings (Patanga for Carter, and Parsool in BoL) even have airships. 

    I'm not complaining, though. I enjoyed the Thongor stories both as a kid and when I recently re-read them a few years ago. So I was excited when I discovered that not only had someone created a game using a similar setting, but that the game was still available for purchase. I also liked that it was a true sword & sorcery setting. I like Tolkien and D&D, but elves and dwarves and halflings in a pseudo-European High Middle Ages setting gets tiring after a time. This offers an exotic setting while maintaining a strong fantasy element. Washbourne has also done an excellent job of filling out and expanding the setting from the Thongor books, and it appears that the supplements will be building on that.  

     The setting is quite expansive, moving from tropical regions in the south to sub-arctic in the north. The primary civilizations are centered in the sub-tropical and tropical regions around the great bay that you see (the Gulf of Sataria), with governments mostly resting in greater and lessor city states rather than expansive empires. Technology is that strange mix common to many sword & sorcery settings, mixing technology and weapons from classical to medieval or early renaissance (but without firearms) with the odd bits of super-technology thrown in. Some of this technology are bits and pieces left over from civilizations that preceded humanity; others are the works of alchemists and sorcerers. 

     This is understandable given the background. BoL is set many millennia after what is termed in the game as the Age of the Sorcerer-Kings. This was an era of high technology and unbelievable power but, reminiscent of the fall of Atlantis, the inhabitants became too proud and, in their pride, loosed a terrible devil or demon, the Dark Lord Hadron, who wreaked destruction across the globe. What followed was an Age of Darkness where monsters were born and Hadron and surviving Sorcerer-Kings rules over the ruins and barbarism. But eventually the Gods of Lemuria hatched a plan--the creation of a great sword that would be used by a mighty hero to destroy the monsters and minions of the Sorcerer-Kings and drive Hadron back into void, while also founding the first post-apocalypse city. 

    But some Sorcerer-Kings survived, becoming almost reptilian in appearance, and ever seeking to resume control of the world. This eventually led to another great battle, where the Sorcerer Kings were defeated but the great Orb-Sword was lost. The survivors migrated south to found the cities that would become the great metropolises of the BoL setting. 

    As noted above, the game mechanic is fairly simple: the players roll two six-sided dice (2d6) and add or subtract modifiers. If the resulting sum is 9 or better they succeed at what they are attempting. There are more specific rules for combat, but it follows the same general mechanic. 

    The characters are defined by four general attributes: strength, mind, agility, and appeal. Values for these range between -1 and 5 (although characters can only begin with values of 0 to 4). These act as a modifier in certain cases. Rather than rolling for these attributes, the character is given 4 points to spread between them as he or she wishes. Characters also have four combat abilities--initiative, melee, ranged, and defense--and similarly has 4 points to divide among these. 

    Further development of the character follows a life path model, although much simpler than in the Traveller game.  It begins with the player selecting a background for the character (basically where the character grew up) that gives some options; then the character picks 4 careers, splitting up 4 points between them giving a score between 0 and 4. Thus, this acts similar to meta skill. Thus, if you were a sailor, you would have that skill level in everything a sailor might be expected to know or be skilled in. 

    Characters also have "Hero points" which can be used to influence the game--to do something heroic or lucky. And, finally, characters can have boons which are specialized skills or advantages (e.g., particularly alert, fearless, or "battle harness" which allows your character to wear a loincloth, chainmail bikini, or something similarly scanty and treat like medium armor) or flaws (a disadvantage or ineptitude such as being absent minded, a country bumpkin, gullible, etc.).  

    Consistent with the sword & sorcery setting, magic users are rare and players are discouraged from playing wizards and the like. Conan and Thongor spent much of their careers killing evil wizards, and this game seems to encourage the same. But there is plenty of room for other types of adventurers other than barbarians from the icy north lands. Thieves, pirates, merchants, sailors and seaman, alchemists and scholars, soldiers and gladiators, and many more are open to the characters. And the setting allows for the full gambit of adventuring from seeking hidden treasures, exploring abandoned cities or ruins, guarding caravans or merchant vessels, exploring, leading raiding raiding on neighboring cities or tribes, court intrigue, and more. 

     In addition to the rules on character creation and combat, the rules cover larger battles between units of men and ships, as well as the impact of magic or sky-boats on battles. There is also a detailed gazetteer covering most of the major locations in the game world, a brief history, a description of the gods and religions of the setting, the different non-human races (i.e., other intelligent species), and a decently sized selection of beasts and monsters. The gazetteer has many adventure seeds. 

    The chapter about the mysteries of Lemuria covers the magic of the setting, including alchemy, how priests and druids exercise their powers, and magician and their powers. The chapter also covers cults.

    The next chapter, The Sagas of Lemuria, is for the game master. It has tips on running adventures, a discussion of rewarding characters, and different types of non-player characters (NPCs), example villains,  sample adventurers, a handful of simple adventures to get you started, and even some random tables to help with coming up with ideas for other adventures. 

     I haven't played this game much just because of time and getting together people for games. But I was able to run an adventure over 3 or 4 session involving the characters stealing a treasure map, traveling to the location marked on the map, fighting off a rival group searching for the same treasure, and then dealing with a building come to life to kill the adventurers (yes, this was based off a Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story) as well as a subsequent adventure where the characters come across a seemingly deserted ship. 

    In short, though, it is a fun game with a detailed world and plenty of material here to create your own adventures with just the basic books; and the supplements are adding even more. I will definitely be playing more of this one. 

Concealed Carriers: What To Say & Do During A Traffic Stop

Another video on interacting with law enforcement. This video goes over what to say and do (and what not to do) should you be stopped in your vehicle and (a) you are either required to notify the officer that you have a weapon, or (b) are asked if you have a weapon. Since the consequences of screwing up could be a cop shooting you, this is important stuff.  

 VIDEO: " Cop: 'Any Weapons?' — Say THIS, Not Yes Or No"
Daniel Cross & Co. (10 min.)