NYC Mayor Shows His Communist Bona-Fides

One of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan is for city-owned grocery stores that will supposedly offer prices 30% below retail prices on a core basket of goods. The stores will be operated by one or more grocery chains, but subsidized by the City. The current plan is to open five of these stores in the poorest neighborhoods in the five boroughs--areas that are currently served by mom-and-pop run bodegas. Consequently, and this is what proves Mamdami's communist bona-fides, "Taxpayers will subsidize Big Grocery to help put mom & pop bodegas out of business, and make the city's poorest residents more dependent on Big Government than ever."

Earthquake Strikes Japan's Kyushu Island

From the Asahi Shimbun: "7.1 magnitude quake leads to casualties, fires in Kumamoto."

    A major earthquake that registered a maximum seismic intensity of 7 rocked Kumamoto Prefecture at 4:27 p.m. on July 28, causing casualties, damaging or destroying infrastructure and disrupting transportation.

    Tsunami warnings were issued for the Ariake and Yatsushiro Sea areas, but they were lifted at 6:10 p.m.

    The Japan Meteorological Agency reported the hypocenter of the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1, was at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometers.

    The main quake was followed by a series of aftershocks, including one with an intensity of lower 5 at 4:29 p.m., and two more with intensities of 4 at 4:39 p.m. and 4:59 p.m.

    The maximum intensity of 7 was recorded in Uki city and Hikawa town in Kumamoto Prefecture.

    An intensity of upper 6 was felt in Kumamoto city’s Minami Ward as well as in the cities of Yatsushiro and Uto, and the towns of Misato and Mashiki.   

 There was damage to some buildings, including a shopping mall that suffered a partial collapse, and roads and at least one bridge. The Daily Mail has more photographs of the damage. Several people died in the mall collapse, but I haven't seen any real estimates as to the number of dead or injured. My guess is that it will be a fairly small number due to the building codes which take into account the earthquake risk.  

Guidelines For Expired Foods

Everyone probably has that can or box of food that somehow got pushed to the dark corner of a pantry or cupboard that, when you pull it out, you wonder if it is any good. This is particular true for preppers as we tend to store more food for longer periods of time than most people. So this article from MarthaStewart.com may be helpful: "The Most Dangerous Expired Pantry Staples, According to Food Safety Experts." 

    The article has specific advice as to certain items: powdered baby formula, damaged or bulging canned goods, flour, cooking oil, spices and dried beans. But as far as general advice, the article goes on to recommend:

    Regardless of the printed date, certain warning signs should always send food straight to the trash. “There are several warning signs you should never ignore,” Okegbe says. She recommends watching for:

•     Mold
•     Moisture inside the package
•     Pest activity
•     Unusual clumping
•     Discoloration
•     Off odors
•     Compromised packaging

“The condition of the food and its packaging matters ,” Okegbe says. “If the packaging is compromised or the food looks, smells, or feels unusual, it’s best not to take the risk.”  

And trust your nose. 

Have We Entered World War III?

Reading through WRSA yesterday, I noticed that Matt Bracken believes that, with the recent attack by Ukraine on an Iranian freighter in the Caspian Sea, we are already in another world war. It is something worth considering. I will say that while I don't believe we are quite there--after all, we aren't trading missiles with Russia--but it could easily slide that way. 

    One of the reasons I don't think we are there yet is because the public statements from Ukraine tie the attack on the Iranian vessel to Ukraine's war with Russia rather than as an extension of the U.S. conflict with Iran. CNBC reports:

    Iran summoned a Ukrainian diplomat in Tehran on Sunday to protest an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, as the war in the Middle East threatened to overlap with the Ukraine conflict.

    Iran said the attack left one sailor dead and injured several others. The country’s foreign ministry complained to Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran early on Sunday and “conveyed Iran’s strong protest over the ‘hostile and criminal act.’” Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

    In a post on X highlighting Ukraine’s attacks on distant Russian targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that his country’s forces “also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.”

    Russia has long used Iranian-designed Shahed drones in its war on Ukraine, a weapon that analysts sometimes refer to as “the poor man’s cruise missile.”

But it is not necessarily as simple as Ukraine striking Iranian shipping as a means of interdicting Iranian shipments of war material to Russia. From Fortune Magazine:

    Hamidreza Azizi, an Iran expert at the think tank SWP Berlin, ran through different interpretations of Ukraine’s strike on the Iranian ship.

    One is that Ukraine wants to demonstrate its value as a partner to the U.S., which supplies vital weapons like Patriot air-defense interceptors, adding that the operation couldn’t have happened without a green light from Washington and other Western partners, he explained on X.

    Another view is that Israel and the U.S. asked Ukraine to pressure Iran on their behalf amid concerns that any attacks they make on Iranian infrastructure would trigger retaliation against regional economic assets.

    A third interpretation is that Ukraine’s attack was in response to Houthi rebels threatening ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which Saudi Arabia has relied on to export its oil and bypass the Strait of Hormuz. [Ed: Ukraine entered into a security agreement with Saudi Arabia in March].

    The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is another vital shipping chokepoint, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The Iran-backed Houthis hit two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea this past week, causing Saudi Arabia to strike the Yemeni port city of Hodeida.

    “In other words, the Caspian front, together with the Indian Ocean — where the United States has imposed a maritime blockade on Iran — is now intended to complete a ring of economic and military pressure around the country,” Azizi wrote. 

    He added that Iran is also worried Ukrainian intelligence services may support ethnic insurgent groups against Tehran, similar to Kyiv’s approach in Syria against the Assad regime.

    To respond to Ukraine’s involvement, Iran could launch its own direct attacks against Ukraine-linked vessels in other sea lanes or against Ukrainian infrastructure. Tehran could also recognize Crimea and the Donbas as parts of Russian territory.

    “In any case, what is clear is that Iran’s war is becoming increasingly intertwined with two other conflicts: the Saudi-Houthi confrontation and the Russia-Ukraine war,” Azizi warned. “With each passing day, the war is evolving into an increasingly complex, multidimensional, and international conflict.” 

Tommy Moore: "Fight Like Your Grandad"

 A video teaching WWII style combatives.  

 VIDEO: "Fight Like Your Grandad DVD"
Tommy Moore: Bartitsu Lab, Boxing & Gutterfighting (1 hr. 47 min.)

Feds Threaten To Intervene In Colorado River Water Rationing

From CBS News: "Colorado River reservoirs hit record lows as Trump administration threatens major cuts." From the article:

    A deepening water crisis in the Western United States has reached an impasse as disagreement among affected states is grinding progress to a halt, and the well of potential solutions is close to running dry.

    The nation's two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell on the Colorado River — have fallen to their lowest levels on record. It's a moment of reckoning in the drought-stricken West as seven states can't agree on how to share the rapidly shrinking water supply.

    The Colorado River is a lifeline for the region, and it's the line dividing the upper basin states, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, and the lower basin states, California, Arizona and Nevada.

[snip] 

    After years of failed negotiations between the states, the Trump administration is now poised to impose sweeping cuts.

    California, Arizona and Nevada have offered to cut their use by about 1.6 million acre-feet, or roughly 500 billion gallons, a year for the next two years. 

    However, federal officials who control the water flow are considering cuts nearly twice that amount. The major cuts would likely mean higher costs for cities trying to secure water, tighter restrictions on outdoor water and significant changes for farmers who use the majority of the river's supply. 

The Religion of Peace Strikes Again

Some more cultural enrichment news coming out of Europe:

• From this past Saturday: "Suspected Islamic extremist wanted after plowing van into Berlin LGBT festival, killing 1 and injuring 16"--New York Post.  The suspect was subsequently identified as Abdul Ballout, a Lebanese migrant, who had previously tried to join the Islamic State group, and was on a suspended sentence for planning a dangerous . He was, of course, already known to police in Germany. After a manhunt for Ballout, he was shot and killed after charging at police with a knife. 
• And this morning: "Crazed Paris terrorist cuts down 3 women, then screams, ‘Allah commanded me’"--New York Post.  He was overpowered and stopped by civilians at the scene. Two of the women were seriously injured but expected to survive. The article does not say anything about the third woman, so presumably she had lesser injuries. 

The Downside of Carrying Striker Fire and/or Appendix

The host of this YouTube channel had an unintentional discharge when drawing a handgun from an appendix holster. Looking at the holster, it appears that the pistol was only partially drawn when it discharged. He has no idea how it happened. In the comments, he indicates that it was a.40 S&W Glock 23 and an FDO Industries IWB Kydex Holster. He also indicates that the "[s]hot happened on the draw, not the reholster," and "[a]ll internals including the trigger are stock. Only mods to the firearm were a rear sight replacement and front mounted flashlight." It seems to me that one of the common factors to many of these accidents is a holster designed for a weapon mounted light. 

The host also comments:

    Probably will not carry appendix again. Probably will also not carry loaded again, unless the pistol has a safety or is a double action. I do think these would have helped prevent this.

    I don't know if I'll conceal carry striker fired again.

Yes. This probably would not have happened with a DA/SA pistol. 

 VIDEO: "I lost a testicle to an accidental discharge."
North Wind Aerial (14 min.)

Louis Awerbuck - Combat Shotgun

 Louis Awerbuck passed away in 2014. Massad Ayoob wrote about him: 

A master with pistol, revolver, and every kind of long gun, he was particularly noted for teaching the defensive use of the shotgun. His trademark was innovative shooting scenarios that duplicated real-world difficulties in which firearms had to be employed to protect the innocent. Awerbuck was one of the great trainers in his field, but more than that, he was a thinker. He understood better than most that in the word “gunfight,” the operative syllable was not “gun.” 

The video below is a training video from Awerbuck on using a shotgun for combat including an overview of shotguns and shotgun ammunition, using a shotgun with sling, transition to a handgun, range drills, ready positions, dealing with multiple targets, and more.  

 VIDEO: "Louis Awerbuck - Combat Shotgun"
LASER BEARD (1 hr. 35 min.)

Gun & Prepping News #91

 Some links that may be of interest: 

• "Violence of Mind & Action: Combat Marksmanship"--Breach Bang Clear. 

    Combat marksmanship (CMMS) is the ability to place lethal precision fire on a threat target in all environments under the stress of combat in order to reduce a threat to a point that it is no longer viable.

    CMMS principles differ from those of marksmanship (MMS) because with the former, an enemy is either actively firing at you or has just been firing at you. In the latter, the Gunfighter has all the time to make a shot count. In CMMS, the Gunfighter has limited time to perceive a threat and then eliminate the threat. That time is literally the rest of their life.  

He goes on to discuss topics of preparedness, mental rehearsal, determination, passion, and speed in order to achieve violence of action:

Violence of action is the execution of actions with surprisingly overwhelming force. It is a culmination of all the passion, determination and speed needed to realize victory. When faced with violence of action the assailant must reevaluate the situation. Violence of action also diminishes the bravado of the assailant and increases the bravery of the Gunfighter. Violence of action is the one aspect that criminals use to surprise victims and totally dominate the situation. By dominating the situation, they control the victim. The Gunfighter must use all the aspects of the combat mindset to be the one that dominates the situation, eliminates any threats with the appropriate level of force and be prepared to go to that level of force.  Thereby controlling the situation and being victorious. 

• "Your Hunting Bullet Choice is Too Small: The Case for a .30 Caliber All-Around Rifle"--Shooting Times. The author's perspective is addressing a single rifle for hunting big game in North America, with his pick being either the .30-06 or .300 Winchester Short Magnum (WSM). He explains:

I recommend that most people wanting to be one-gun hunters focus on .30-caliber cartridges. Those can handle 180-grain to 200-grain bullets for black bears and big nondangerous game like elk and moose, where lighter, smaller-diameter bullets may be less effective.

However, he does recommend larger calibers for dangerous game (e.g., brown bear). 

• Speaking of .30 caliber hunting rifles: "Lightweight AR-10: Building a Hunt-Focused Backcountry Rifle (Part 1)"--American Hunter. The author begins:

AR-10 rifles are a lot of things, but “lightweight” typically isn’t one of them. That is, until the Ruger SFAR was released. But since that rifle is being discontinued, and the guns were somewhat scarce as it is, I thought I’d try my hand at building a lightweight AR-10 and getting it even lighter, if possible. I wanted to stay within a reasonable budget, though. That said, I observed diminishing returns in weight versus cost—it could be lighter by shaving off a few ounces (maybe as much as half a pound depending on the optic you pick), but it would be ridiculously expensive.

The first part focuses on the lower receiver, while the future part 2 will focus on the upper (including optic) and part 3 will cover tuning the rifle. The author used a Nemo Arms receiver set that is made of "billet 7075-T6 aluminum, it’s skeletonized in some places and has lightening cuts in others, minimizing weight." When I built mine, I used a Roam lower receiver made of magnesium which is listed as having a weight of 7.3 ounces. (I also used a Roam upper). 

Related:

• "Is an AR-10 a Good Hunting Rifle?"--Battlbox.  

Quick Answer: Yes, the AR-10 is an excellent hunting rifle. It is most effective for medium to large game like whitetail deer, feral hogs, and elk due to its semi-automatic action and chambering in powerful cartridges like .308 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor. 

• "How to Build an AR Hunting Rifle"--Peterson's Hunting.  Some discussion of building an AR-10 for hunting.
• "Building a Lightweight AR-10 on a Budget"--Shooting Illustrated.  

• On the subject of lightweight receivers (albeit for the AR15 platform): "33% Weight Reduction: New 1791 Industries LiteRaider MMC Receivers"--The Firearm Blog. Pricey, but here is the basics:

The weight race for AR platform receivers just shifted, and this is of interest for anyone who’s running & gunning a lot. 1791 Industries is introducing its LiteRaider line of ultra-lightweight uppers and lowers built from Metal Matrix Composite, a material engineered to sit 33 percent lighter than aluminum while matching the strength profile of 7075-T6. That's not a marketing-thin claim; it's built on an actual material science play, one that could reshape how builders approach the sub-eight-pound rifle conversation.

• If you are just looking for a lightweight hunting rifle, it is hard to beat a lightweight bolt action: "Howa Superlite: The Most Affordable Ultralight Hunting Rifle on the Market"--The Truth About Guns. The rifle, sans scope, is only 4.7 lbs. And as to price:

... Most of those ultralight rifles carry price tags north of $2,000, often $3,000 or more, before a scope ever touches the rail. The Howa Superlite in 6.5 Creedmoor breaks that pattern. At a street price that is typically under $1,000, you can easily build a complete rifle-and-optic package that comes in well under the price of other ultralight rifles. After putting rounds downrange from 100 yards out to 750 yards, it’s clear this mountain rifle backs up the affordable price tag with real performance.

• "I Want a Good Defensive Bullpup Shotgun…Is That Too Much to Ask?"--Shooting News Weekly. A quick look at the various bullpup shotguns on the market, including problems or downsides he sees to the different designs. He seems to lean toward the KSG-7 because he believes the extra tubes (and ammunition) just complicate the designs. And although the bullpup shotguns are slower to reload than standard layouts, the author does not believe this is a problem:

But I don’t think most people using a shotgun defensively will ever need to reload. I’ve looked, and I can’t find a single example of a civilian defensive shotgun encounter that required a reload. Even John Correia of ASP hasn’t seen a civilian defensive encounter that required a reload across the entire spectrum of civilian defensive firearms use. 

But, he also adds, "[a]t the end of the day, if having higher capacity and faster reloads is one of your must-haves, a shotgun probably isn’t going to be the weapon you’re going to pick anyway." 

• "KelTec KP50 Review: 100 Rounds of 5.7x28mm in a Compact, Folding Platform"--Guns America.  Another weapon you probably would not need to reload in a defensive context:

 KelTec completely reworked its original P50 concept, replacing the awkward top-loading design with a drop-free magazine, machined receiver and far more practical controls. We put the new KP50 through a high-volume range session, with and without a suppressor, to find out whether the unusual 5.7x28mm pistol is more than a novelty.

The review is very detailed--much more than most firearms reviews. However, the conclusion is:

    The KP50 is not for everyone, and KelTec clearly did not design it to be.

    It is heavier and larger than a conventional handgun. It lacks a last-round bolt hold-open, and its unusual internal arrangement requires the shooter to learn a different manual of arms.

    Ammunition cost will also discourage casual shooters from treating it like a rimfire plinker, no matter how mild the recoil feels. A 50-round box costs us $29, so it’s not ridiculously expensive but also not cheap like 22 LR.

    Within those limitations, however, the KP50 is a remarkably successful redesign.

    The new bottom-loading magazine corrects the original P50’s most awkward feature. The machined construction feels substantial. The folding brace, flat magazine orientation and uninterrupted top rail produce a compact package that is easy to configure and transport. Recoil is almost nonexistent, practical accuracy is excellent and the 9.6-inch barrel produces a meaningful increase in velocity compared with shorter 5.7mm pistols. 

     Most importantly, the KP50 is enjoyable to shoot.

    That may sound like faint praise, but it is not. Firearms do not always need to imitate existing service weapons or satisfy a narrowly defined tactical requirement. There is still room in the market for a well-built, mechanically interesting gun that is accurate, reliable under reasonable conditions, and genuinely fun on the range.

    The KP50 is strange, but it is not strange merely for the sake of attracting attention. Its unusual shape follows an unusual mechanical solution: fitting 50 or 100 rounds of 5.7x28mm into a compact firearm without hanging a large magazine underneath it.

    KelTec took an intriguing but awkward concept and turned it into a much more mature platform. The KP50 remains unmistakably KelTec, but this time the unconventional engineering is paired with unexpectedly good execution.

• "How the Kentucky Rifle Turned Frontier Hunters into America’s First Snipers"--Outdoor Life. A reprint of a 1948 article. An excerpt:

     It was in response to the demands of obstinate frontiersmen that the famous Kentucky model evolved. It hit its stride by about 1730 but underwent steady change for many years. Most rifles were built to the buyer’s specifications or according to the maker’s latest experiments, and the resulting new ideas were eagerly seized upon by competing smiths. For this reason, surviving examples show wide variations in detail. 

    No frontiersman wanted to carry a heavy weapon on his long treks in the wilderness. The weight was steadily reduced until the average Kentucky hunting rifle weighed between 9 and 10 pounds. (Those made for match shooting averaged about 19 pounds.) Similarly, using a large-caliber rifle meant that the lone pioneer had to carry a heavy load of bullets. So the caliber was reduced from the .65 and .70 common in Europe to about .45. The pound of lead that once yielded sixteen .70 bullets now gave forty-eight .45 balls — three times as many shots. 
    
    Simultaneously the front sight was enlarged and the trigger guard strengthened while it was stripped of its old bulk. But probably the most distinctive change came in the barrel, which on previous rifles had been uniformly short and heavy.

    Now it was lengthened, ranging in the early Kentucky models from 51 to 77 inches, or up to more than triple the length of the average big-game rifle of today. This meant that less powder was needed than before, because it burned cleaner. In the opinion of several authorities, this long barrel which gave great accuracy at the same time that it deadened the noise of the firing was the main factor in the success of the Kentucky rifle. 

    Coupled with this was the novel “patch” method of loading invented by some unsung genius. Thanks largely to this discovery, rifles could be reloaded in one fourth the time it took before, and eventually backwoodsmen were getting off their second shot in less than half a minute after the first.  

• "Butterfield Effect Hits ‘The Trace’ Hard as They Try to Reconcile Lower Crime, Higher Gun Ownership"--Shooting News Weekly. It's hard for gun haters and cowards to understand how gun crime can be declining at the same time as gun ownership continues to climb. 
• "Separate outbreak of diarrhea parasite with dozens of cases not related to recalled lettuce identified"--Daily Mail. 

    Health officials are tracking another outbreak of the 'explosive diarrhea' parasite as the disease runs rampant across the US.

    The FDA said 72 people had been infected with cyclosporiasis, a disease transmitted by food or water contaminated with human feces, in a separate cluster than the one with thousands of suspected cases potentially linked to lettuce and Taco Bell. 

• "How to survive the apocalypse, according to the world's best doomsday preppers"--BBC Science Focus. This article is mostly about the booming underground shelter business in the UK and the different survival needs a shelter must address. But there are some tips on storing food and water.
• "Why 20 Million Americans Now Identify as Preppers—and What They’re Buying"--Inc.  The article itself is not significant as it is just another piece on how the underground shelter business is booming--this time focused on the U.S.--but I was somewhat surprised at the statistic of 20 million Americans identifying as preppers, a number that has doubled since 2017 according to the article. 
• Perhaps more realistic for many Americans: "How to prepare for a huge disaster when you live in a tiny apartment"--Vox. An excerpt of an interview with Anna Maria Bounds, a sociology professor at Queens College in New York, and the author of Bracing for the Apocalypse: An Ethnographic Study of New York’s ‘Prepper’ Subculture. (There is a link to the podcast with the full interview). It has some useful advice on storing food and water when living in a small space. For instance, Bounds related:

    ... Another myth about prepping is that people think that that means that you have to have a whole room dedicated to stacks of toilet paper and rice and spaghetti sauce. Absolutely not. You just need to think carefully about how you live in order to learn how to manage your space.

    In the living room in the corner, I had a white freezer, which looked absolutely ridiculous. So I applied wallpaper to it, and I think it looks really cute. The things that I keep in there are varied. I keep several different types of meat. I have some uncooked, and then I have some that are cooked and sliced and that I’ve cooked and ready to go, and I’ve packaged them. We have vegetables, we have pasta, and we have soup. We have pot pies and extra bottles of water because in the event of a blackout, our food will stay colder longer because we have the frozen bottles of water in there. If we get an injury and I need to place something cold on our leg or on our back, we could use that. 

• "CPAP Battery Solutions" (Part 1) (Part 2) -- Blue Collar Prepping. The author discusses her solution for powering her CPAP is the power should go out. Her solution involved the Rockpals Freeman 600 power bank (which can be charged by solar) and some cords so she would power the CPAP using a 12 V output rather than AC. 
•  "How Long Do Firestarters Typically Last?"--Modern Survival Online. This is discussing ferrocerium rods. There are a lot of variables, not the least being the composition and hardness (or softness) of the rod. However, the author states they generally last between 5,000 and 15,000 strikes. However:

    The rule of thumb is that harder alloy compositions last much longer but they don’t produce as many sparks from a typical strike. That’s because less material is physically being consumed.

    Conversely, your softer alloy blends produce a much larger and more intense shower of sparks but they wear out much quicker due to greater consumption.