June 9, 2016 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

Location of US carriers. (Source: Stratfor). Solomon at SNAFU! wonders why so many of the amphibious warfare ships are at home ports. Lack of repairs/budget problems? Or resupply so they can be all out at the same time?

Firearms and Shooting:

• "Listen to the Doctor: Handgun caliber is largely irrelevant"--The Arms Guide. They have embedded a video of a doctor lecturing other doctors on handgun wounds.
• "The Best Part of the Chiappa Survival Rifle: Inserts Available Individually"--The Firearms Blog. Chiappa makes caliber conversion inserts that work with break action shotguns (12 and 20 gauge) allowing you to shoot particular calibers through that weapon. However, up to now, they have only been sold as sets. Now, according to the article, Chiappa will allow certain of the conversion inserts to be sold individually.
• The American Rifleman has posted online a series of articles on building an AK rifle:

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Introduction."

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Part 1—Selecting Components"

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Part 2—Populating the Barrel"

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Part 3—Populating a Factory-Built Receiver"

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Part 4—Bending and Welding a Receiver Flat"

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Part 5—Refinishing and Reassembly"

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Part 6—At the Range"

• "Build Your Own AK-47: Conclusion"

• "Ballistics 101: What is Form Factor?"--Nathaniel F. at The Firearms Blog. Nathaniel writes: "If ballistic coefficient indicates how well a given projectile resists drag when compared to the model projectile, form factor indicates how much more or less aerodynamic that projectile’s shape is than the model projectile’s. The important difference between the two is that form factor exists irrespective of sectional density (SD). Form factor does not tell you how well a projectile resists air drag, but it does indicate how efficient a projectile with that shape and of a given sectional density will be." Read the whole thing.
• "Modern Big-Game Bullets"--American Rifleman. An article on how bullets are constructed in order to do their job of expanding but not loosing mass (i.e., breaking apart) when they strike a game animal.
• "Midway USA Expands Their Own Brand with 'TACTICAL' Shooting Mat"--The Firearms Blog. On sale now for $29.99 according to the article. 
• "Skill Drills: Mad Half Minute"--Handgun Magazine. 
• "Magpul AK74 MOE 5.45x39mm Magazine"--Loose Rounds. Word is that Magpul will be producing AK74 mags.
• "Motion vs. Action"--The Tactical Wire. Going through the motions versus actually performing an action correctly.

Other Stuff:

• "EBT Card Outage? 8 Days Into June And Many Americans Are Still Waiting For Food Stamp Money"--Zero Hedge. 

• Related: "Watch: This Lady Completely Loses Control After Her EBT Food Stamps Card Is Declined"--Burning Platform. (H/t Anonymous Conservative).

• An Empire in retreat: "America to give up control of the internet: Government backs plans to give away 'gatekeeper' role to independent body"--Daily Mail. 

• Related: "Battle of the Teutoburg Forest"--Wikipedia. This battle in 9 A.D., which saw the loss of three Roman legions, marked the end of Rome's attempts to expand beyond the Rhine, ceding control of the territories it had gained back to the barbarian tribes.

• Because the sheepdogs work for the sheep herder: "Why are journalists being rounded up by police outside top secret Bilderberg gathering of world’s elite? Officers regularly forcing news teams to hand over paperwork despite acting legally"--Daily Mail. 
• "Migrants linked to 69,000 would-be or actual crimes in Germany in first three months of 2016: police"--Reuters. "The report showed that 29.2 percent of the crimes migrants committed or tried to commit in the first quarter were thefts, 28.3 percent were property or forgery offences and 23 percent offences such as bodily harm, robbery and unlawful detention. Drug-related offences accounted for 6.6 percent and sex crimes accounted for 1.1 percent."
• Religion of peace: "REPORT: Migrants Burn Down Asylum Centre After Not Receiving Ramadan Wake Up Call"--Breitbart.
• "DIVIDED AMERICA: In Montana, neighbors at odds over refugees"--AP. Not everyone wants to pay the direct or indirect costs of having refugees. K-selection is picking up.
• "Keep An Eye On This Economatrix Number"--Silicon Graybeard. American productivity has declined over the last two quarters.
• "Technology and the numbers game in warfare"--Bayou Renaissance Man. Discussing how decreasing prices of technology is making it easier for smaller powers to stand up against the militaries of wealthier nations.
• Because they can: "Foreign students are caught cheating FIVE TIMES more often than their domestic classmates in colleges across America"--Daily Mail. I remember one of my university calculus classes had a rather tight knit group of Chinese students that talked to each other in Chinese during exams without interference from the instructor. I'm sure they were just talking about the weather ....
• "K-selection Will Entail A Mad Money Grab"--Anonymous Conservative. Discussing a new system being deployed in Oklahoma that allows law enforcement to immediately seize money from your credit and debit card accounts, the Anonymous Conservative writes:

Right now, I’d assume that this is being used for more or less legit purposes, because we live in a time of r and money is everywhere. But if K-selection hits, and these departments can’t feed their officer’s families, understand that if you have a bank card, it is not impossible your savings account could get zero’d out in a moment by a uniformed unit on a traffic stop, as you drive to your vacation at the shore. Now, under asset forfeiture rules, you then have to go to court and prove that your money wasn’t associated with any crime and in between the agency might offer you 70% of your money back, for expediency. Assuming it could easily cost you more for legal representation to get it all back, you could end up with a 70% haircut on your account for no reason at all.

When the apocalypse hits, the big contest will be to see who can guard whatever wealth they have, and not just from criminals but from the government too. They say procession is 9/10ths of the law, but in apocalypse, it will be everything.

• Evolution in action: "Man, 23, dies after wandering off designated trail at Yellowstone and falling into an acidic hot spring that dissolved his entire body"--Daily Mail.