The Government's Secret Army

Big Country Expat has an interesting piece on clandestine operations stateside, including some personal stories and observations that make you go "hmm." But he backs this up with reference to a 2021 article from Newsweek, "Inside the Military’s Secret Undercover Army." The article relates, in part:

    The largest undercover force the world has ever known is the one created by the Pentagon over the past decade. Some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a broad program called "signature reduction." The force, more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA, carries out domestic and foreign assignments, both in military uniforms and under civilian cover, in real life and online, sometimes hiding in private businesses and consultancies, some of them household name companies.

[snip]

    The signature reduction effort engages some 130 private companies to administer the new clandestine world. Dozens of little known and secret government organizations support the program, doling out classified contracts and overseeing publicly unacknowledged operations. Altogether the companies pull in over $900 million annually to service the clandestine force—doing everything from creating false documentation and paying the bills (and taxes) of individuals operating under assumed names, to manufacturing disguises and other devices to thwart detection and identification, to building invisible devices to photograph and listen in on activity in the most remote corners of the Middle East and Africa.

    Special operations forces constitute over half the entire signature reduction force, the shadow warriors who pursue terrorists in war zones from Pakistan to West Africa but also increasingly work in unacknowledged hot spots, including behind enemy lines in places like North Korea and Iran. Military intelligence specialists—collectors, counter-intelligence agents, even linguists—make up the second largest element: thousands deployed at any one time with some degree of "cover" to protect their true identities.

    The newest and fastest growing group is the clandestine army that never leaves their keyboards. These are the cutting-edge cyber fighters and intelligence collectors who assume false personas online, employing "nonattribution" and "misattribution" techniques to hide the who and the where of their online presence while they search for high-value targets and collect what is called "publicly accessible information"—or even engage in campaigns to influence and manipulate social media. Hundreds work in and for the NSA, but over the past five years, every military intelligence and special operations unit has developed some kind of "web" operations cell that both collects intelligence and tends to the operational security of its very activities.

    In the electronic era, a major task of signature reduction is keeping all of the organizations and people, even the automobiles and aircraft involved in the clandestine operations, masked. This protective effort entails everything from scrubbing the Internet of telltale signs of true identities to planting false information to protect missions and people. As standard unforgettable identification and biometrics have become worldwide norms, the signature reduction industry also works to figure out ways of spoofing and defeating everything from fingerprinting and facial recognition at border crossings, to ensuring that undercover operatives can enter and operate in the United States, manipulating official records to ensure that false identities match up.

And this was in 2021. Imagine how much it has grown since. 

    With this in mind, BigCountryExpat describes a rather horrific accident involving twin brothers (apparently Syrian) whose car was demolished in a collision with a jacked up truck where both the driver and his passenger were from Langley, Virginia. The driver was apparently never charged, and as far as BigCountryExpat can find, the news stories of the incident have since been scrubbed from the Internet. Anyway, an interesting piece so be sure to read the whole thing. 

Joel Richardson: What Daniel 8 Says About The War In Iran

If you are interested in whether Daniel 8 has any relevance to the ongoing conflict, I'll save you time: probably not. But it is an interesting look at a prophecy that was predictive when made and has relevance to the Last Days.

The prophecy that Joel Richardson is discussing in this video is from Daniel where he is shown a vision of things that were still in his future: a fierce ram (representing the Persian Empire) who is overcome by a goat with a single great horn (Alexander the Great) who defeats the ram. But the single great horn is broken and four horns spring up (representing the division of Alexander's empire after his death) and a small horn that springs up from one of the four, generally believed to be the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Clearly this represents what is now historical periods to us, but Richardson believes it has application to the last days because the Antichrist is also described in Revelation as the little horn, suggesting a connection between the Antichrist of the Last Days and the little horn in Daniel's prophecy. 

 VIDEO: "What Daniel 8 Says About the War in Iran"
Joel Richardson (23 min.)

Major Lithium Deposits Found In U.S.

From Science Alert: "Vast, Untapped Source of Lithium Found in The US Could Last 300 Years." China most disappointed:

    There could be nearly 330 years' worth of lithium hiding beneath the Appalachian Mountains, which stretch like a stony spine across the eastern United States.

    New research from the US Geological Survey suggests that the Appalachians may contain around 2.3 million metric tons (2.5 million US tons) of recoverable lithium oxide locked away in pegmatites, the grainy, granite-like rocks that form as water-rich magma cools and crystallizes deep within the Earth.

    "This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation's growing needs – a major contribution to US mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly," says Ned Mamula, Director of the US Geological Survey (USGS).

    Therefore, mapping US mineral resources may help reverse the country's recent reliance on lithium imports. 

Some Stories About Voting Irregularities In 2020 And This Year

 Just some interesting articles and posts:

• "Trump Calls for Investigation Into Maryland Elections After Mail-In Ballot Disaster"--Townhall.  Short version: "President Donald Trump has called for the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the state of Maryland for sending out mail-in ballots to individuals of the incorrect political party ahead of the state’s closed primary elections." The state mailed out 500,000 illegal ballots and, when they "discovered" the error, they mailed out 500,000 correct ballots with no knowing what happened to the earlier ballots. 
• bumbadum on X: "Some people may not be "hip" to this because it was 6 years ago... But in Georgia the Freedom Caucus people sued the state to recount and audit the ballots. The judge never threw out the case so the ballots were held in evidence for over 6 years, and just recently it was found that over 300,000 ballots were certified without poll worker signatures." This was in response to another tweet that claiming that all the allegations of the fraud in the 2020 Georgia election had been debunked. 
•  The SCIF on X: "After the 2020 Arizona election, Republicans were granted access to examine duplicate ballots and found that 2% off all ballots examined were switched from Trump to Biden or just taken away from Trump all together for no reason. The Biden electors then called a special emergency with the judge in an attempt to only have their attorneys examine the ballots and be kept secret from the public."

A Short Sling Tutorial

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that this guy was a consultant and trainer for the sling for the House of David streaming program. In any event, this is a YouTube short video with a very brief introduction/tutorial on using a sling. 

 

 VIDEO: "Sling tutorial in a short" -- Dash Rendar

Austin Spree Shooter An Illegal Alien

The Battle Swarm Blog notes that the oldest of the three shooters who recently terrorized Austin--17 year old Cristian Fajardo Mondragon--is an illegal alien with an ICE detainer. "He was also on probation through the juvenile justice system at the time of his arrest and has a juvenile detainer," as well as an outstanding warrant for stealing a firearm. 

    I have to say that I am positively shocked as I had been assured by Democrats that immigrants committed crimes at far lower rates than Americans notwithstanding the fact that 100% of illegal immigrants are committing federal crimes.

More Ways Diversity Makes Us Stronger As A Nation

• Helping the elderly: "FBI Shuts Down India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting Hundreds of Elderly Americans"--Gateway Pundit. 
• Helping address the shortage of truck drives: "Illegal immigrant truck driver from India arrested in deadly California hit-and-run after Biden release"--New York Post. 
• Providing child care services: "Minnesota’s ‘Quality Learing Center’ raked in $215K federal payout — senator demands receipts"--New York Post. 
• Boosting the economy: "Study finds over half of immigrant households in U.S. on welfare, including legal immigrants."--What Finger. 
• Their energy: "Hundreds of young people take over NJ beach town, sparking chaos and curfew ahead of Memorial Day weekend"--New York Post.  
• The vibrant night life: "Florida duo allegedly gloated about killing off-duty firefighter for his phone and sneakers: ‘Smiling about it’"--New York Post.
• The spices and flavors of their native countries: "Three dead and first responders rushed to hospital after exposure to mystery substance in New Mexico"--Daily Mail.  
• Some of our best doctors: "The “Pipeline” Problem That Medical Schools Don’t Want to Discuss"--City Journal.  
• Bringing new insights into business practices and university life: "Empty offices, Indian HR calling the shots: ICE uncovers rampant OPT abuse by foreign students"--Financial Express.  
• Participating in civic life: "Chinese communists are infiltrating the US by honeytrapping spies, duping pols, buying farmland, more"--New York Post.

Townsends: Bread On A Stick

Before the outbreak of the War of 1812, the U.S. considered invading Canada. General Hull was sent from Ohio to attack a British fort in Detroit. Hull's supplies were captured by the British, however, so he sent word to Cincinnati for more supplies and men to guard the supplies. A man from Chilikothy, Ohio named Samuel Williams raised a force of 100 men to head to Detroit. They were outfitted with a unifor, tomahawks, knives and guns, but no cooking gear. So they had to improvise. Their food was basic: flour, salt, and bacon. To make the bread they mixed the flour with some salt and water to make dough which they rolled out and wrapped around sticks to cook over an open fire. Townsend follows the details in the letters Williams wrote to his wife, including details on how they prepared and cooked their bread, and gives it a try. An interesting video both for the improvised means of cooking and the overall history. 

 VIDEO: "Bread On A Stick - Campfire Soldier Bread"
Townsends (10 min.)

Jack O'Connor's Classic Article On "Deer And Deer Rifles"

Outdoor Life has reprinted Jack O'Connor's September 1962 article originally entitled "Deer and Deer Rifles." O'Connor discusses his first deer hunt and the rifle he used before moving on to a more general discussion on deer rifles. He writes:

    This hunter thinks there are two very different kinds of deer rifles—one to be used in brush and forest and the other to be used in hilly, open country. For the kind of brush and forest hunting done for whitetail deer in the East, for blacktails west of the Coast Range in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, for mule deer early in the season in thick spruce and fir at high altitude, and for mule deer in the brushier parts of the Sonora desert he likes a light, fast-operating rifle with a short barrel. He thinks such a weapon should be chambered for a reasonably heavy bullet at moderate velocity.

    The reason for this is that the heavy, round-nose bullet that isn’t traveling at breakneck speed gets through brush with less deflection than faster, lighter bullets with sharp points. But he also knows that any bullet can be deflected by brush. ...

[snip]

    Because there is always a possibility that the first shot at a deer in brushy country may hit a limb or a twig and deflect, he thinks that for hunting of this sort a lever action, a pump, or a semiautomatic is a good idea for the woods hunter. All of these are faster than the bolt action. ...

He discusses calibers, rifles, and types of sights suitable for the heavy brush and short ranges of this type of hunting. Then he turns his attention to rifles for more open country:

    For open-country deer hunting at longer ranges, this chap likes a flat-shooting cartridge giving a fairly light bullet a velocity of from 2.700 to 3 200 ft. seconds. Then he likes to sight in for the longest range that will not give him midrange misses. The world is full of good, open-country deer cartridges—the .30/06 with the 150-gr. bullet, the .270 with the 130-gr., the .280 with the 125-gr., the 7 mm. Remington Magnum with the 150-gr., the 7 x 57 Mauser with the 140-gr., the .300 Savage and the .308 with the 150-gr. He has never shot a deer with the .243 but considers it entirely adequate with the 100-gr. bullet. He bases this opinion on a good deal of use of the now-dying .257 Roberts on deer.

    However, he has done more open-country shooting of mule and whitetail deer with .30/06 and .270 rifles than with anything else. ...

 And he recommends a 4X scope as giving the best balance between field of view and magnification. 

Red-Dot Occlusion Training

From American Rifleman: "Red-Dot Occlusion Training: A Performance-Booster for You & Your Optic-Equipped Handgun." The idea here is to force you to shoot with both eyes open and focused on the target by covering up the front of your red dot. That results in you only seeing the red dot with one eye but only being able to see the target with the other eye. 

An occluded sight’s red-dot is still visible; the emitter beams the dot onto the lens and reflects it back to the shooter. Though the front of the sight is blocked-off, when aiming with an occluded sight with both eyes open (and a hard target focus), the human brain will automatically ignore the occlusion.

The author indicates that you can make this work using masking tape, but that "there are several companies that offer molded Kydex or polymer covers that snap on over the front of major red-dot sights." The one shown in the article is Arise Mfg.’s Occluder for its Aegis optics shroud.