Exploring practical methods for preparing for the end times, including analysis of end time scripture and prophecy, current events, prepping and self-defense.
"The Riotgun And The Bayonet"--Mason Dixon Tactical. The author suggests that this is the best weapon combination for dealing with mobs and rioters. The shotgun is impressive and quite good at close distances. And the bayonet? It is good for when you run out of ammunition, as well as having an effective psychological impact--no one wants to be cut or stabbed. In his book, Fighting Submachine Gun, Machine Pistol, and Shotgun: A Hands-On Evaluation, author Timothy Mullin related the observation of an acquaintance of his that had served in WWII that a submachine gun with a bayonet was the best weapon for controlling prisoners. Apparently the only shotgun offering a bayonet lug, however, is the Mossberg M590A1.
There is no doubt the impact that Bruce Lee had on the martial arts world and cinema in general. Even though he died in 1973 he still appears on magazine covers and people are still making movies and videos about him and his teachings. There is no doubt that the practice of martial arts would not be so widespread and popular today if it wasn’t for him. For that, we all owe Bruce Lee a debt of thanks.
That being said, I never cared for Bruce Lee. Even though being a lifelong martial artist I’m not only expected to revere him but also get a partial erection at the mention of his name I have never been a Bruce Lee fan, in fact I’m more of a Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris guy.
“When there’s significant seismicity in this area of the fault, we kind of wonder if it is somehow going to go active,” said Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson. “So maybe one of those small earthquakes that’s happening in the neighborhood of the fault is going to trigger it, and set off the big event.”
And that could set the first domino off on the San Andreas fault, unzipping the fault from Imperial County through Los Angeles County, spreading devastating shaking waves throughout the southern half of California in a monster 7.8 earthquake.
“The southern San Andreas is actually seismically fairly quiet. It doesn’t really make noise. So to have something right next to the main strand making a little noise — you have to pay attention to how it might be transferring stress onto the main strand of the fault,” said USGS research geologist Kate Scharer.
And the problem with the southern San Andreas fault — the stretch from Monterey County to the Salton Sea — is that when it goes, it’s probably going to go big, such as with a magnitude-7 or higher quake, Scharer said.
James Duane doesn't think you should ever talk to the police. Not just, "Don't talk to the police if you're accused of a crime," or, "Don't talk to the police in an interrogation setting"—never talk to the cops, period. If you are found doing something suspicious by an officer (say, breaking into your own house because you locked yourself outside), you are legally obligated to tell the cop your name and what you're doing at that very moment.
Other than that, Duane says, you should fall back on four short words: "I want a lawyer."
In 2008, Duane, a professor at Virginia's Regent Law School, gave a lecture about the risks of talking to police that was filmed and posted to YouTube. It's since been viewed millions of times, enjoying a new viral boost after the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer spurred interest in false confessions. His argument, which he's since expanded into a new book called You Have the Right to Remain Innocent, is that even if you haven't committed a crime, it's dangerous to tell the police any information. You might make mistakes when explaining where you were at the time of a crime that the police interpret as lies; the officer talking to you could misremember what you say much later; you may be tricked into saying the wrong things by cops under no obligation to tell you the truth; and your statements to police could, in combination with faulty eyewitness accounts, shoddy "expert" testimony, and sheer bad luck, lead to you being convicted of a serious crime.
It is coming. One day rioting blacks will try to loot the wrong store, burn the wrong house, beat the wrong white man, and hell will cut loose. Talking about law-abiding blacks, law-abiding whites, will make no difference at all. There were law-abiding Protestants, law-abiding Catholics in Ireland. Did that stop the violence?
Three solutions, or ameliorations, offer themselves: Repression of rioting and enforcement of the law. Segregation. And having it go on forever or blow up hugely. Choose. Refusal to choose selects option three.
The problem is not racist police. It is racist blacks. Whites are not burning the businesses of blacks. White people are not sacking the stores of blacks. White people are not calling for the burning of black suburbs. White people do not play the Knockout game.
We are blaming the victims.
Unfortunately, Reed sees no peaceful long-term solution, writing:
The bedrock problem, which most know but none dare speak, is that blacks cannot, or assuredly do not, perform at the level of whites. Exceptions, yes, but the exceptions are exceptions. They never have performed, not in Africa, not in Haiti or Jamaica, not in Detroit. It is a frightful truth, but a truth. They know it. We know it. Liberals know it. Conservatives know it. No amount of pretending can change it. No amount of rabid ideological egalitarianism, of holding our breath and turning blue, will produce different results.
Read the whole thing.
On the other hand, in "Tribes, by Robert Gore," Gore argues that Blacks have been done in by the devotion to tribal politics (i.e., identity politics) and its attendant call for collectivism. He writes:
Unfortunately, the individual rights basis of US law has been eroding since the ink dried on the Constitution, replaced by the only alternative: collectivism. By the 1960s, the legal right of the unproductive to exact goods and services from the productive was well enshrined. However, the war on poverty has actually been a war on the impoverished, including a substantial portion of the black population. Handing people the coerced fruits of other people’s labor makes the recipients parties to theft, and it’s all downhill from there. Incentives for self-improvement are destroyed, dependency takes hold, self-respect vanishes, and social pathologies effloresce.
Legal mandates justified by Orwellian newspeak treat black and other minorities as “more equal” that the unfavored. Based on statistical disparities and as a compensatory measure for “historical injustice,” standards have been lowered and preferences instituted: present discrimination as the remedy for past discrimination. Blameless individuals are penalized and beneficiaries compensated for sins committed before they were born. Risibly, proponents of these measures decry resentment harbored by the former towards the latter.
Receiving the unearned and undeserved hinders rather than helps the recipients, and renders them beholden and subservient to their patrons. Blacks have been the most doggedly loyal supporters of the Democratic Party and its collectivist tenets since the 1960s. As a group their status relative to other groups has not improved; by many measures it has deteriorated. These trends continued during the tenure of the first black president, which should come as no surprise. President Obama is a committed collectivist. Everything he has done, particularly Obamacare, has been consistent with his core philosophy and has had its characteristically destructive impact.
His opinion is that to succeed, Blacks need to abandon collectivism for individual rights (and responsibility).
You need to read an article from Heat Street entitled "Charlotte Horror: How Trapped Drivers Pleaded with 911 to Rescue Them From Seething Mob." The basic take away is that several drivers whose vehicles were targeted by the rioters had called 911 begging for help, and the best that could be done for them was for the 911 operator to tell them to keep driving in order to get out of the affected area. In addition to reporting on specific calls to emergency services, as recorded by the 911 dispatchers, the article also notes:
Truckers also reported that rioters had started fires on the highway. That made a getaway in the truck impossible, and leaving the truck on foot too dangerous.
According to police, the demonstrators held vehicles on I-85 at bay for nearly two hours, shutting down all lanes of traffic and horrifying trapped motorists. Reports indicate the police were able to finally clear the highway a little after 3am, and only by firing tear gas into the rampaging crowd.
Although most of the You-Tube videos on this incident show only the outside security camera footage, the TV news report above also includes some footage inside the grocery store that showed the man and the woman arguing prior to leaving the store. In any event, after their spat inside the store, as they leave, the woman decides to have the last word and gets punched in return. This video illustrates once again that the number one sign you are about to get involved in a fight is that you are being an a**hole.
Generally, a person that incites violence or escalates a conflict, such as through taunting or insulting another person, bears some responsibility for the attack. Even if the incitement does not go so far as to constitute "fighting words," the jury (whether at a criminal trial or subsequent civil litigation) will likely assign some of the blame on the person that incited or escalated the conflict. Perhaps more significantly, in many jurisdictions, using provocative language may be sufficient for the speaker to lose the right to claim self-defense. (See, for instance, People v. Barnard, 208 Ill.App.3d 342, 350 (1991) ("[M]ere words may be enough to qualify one as an initial aggressor.")). This is why a person that carries a concealed weapon must be careful not to provoke or escalate a dispute to violence.
Unfortunately, current society has a double standard when it comes to women, and women are generally absolved of responsibility for inciting violence. If you don't believe me, imagine that the situation had been reversed: that is, the man had been haranguing the woman; the man then walks out of the store and waits for the woman in order to hurl once last jibe or insult, and the woman, in turn, slaps or punches the man. She would be considered brave; comments would be various forms of "go girl," or "he deserved it." This double standard is what remains of prior social rules governing the conduct of gentlemen and ladies that placed responsibilities on both parties to control and restrain their conduct. In today's society, though, women are not held accountable to act as ladies, although men are still expected to act as gentlemen when it comes to their treatment of women.
"Carrying a Pocket Pistol"--Handguns. Although this article addresses carrying a pistol small enough to fit in your pocket, including caliber choices and the pro's and con's to such small handguns, it also discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages to actually carrying a firearm in a pocket. The author writes, in that regard:
For those who may be considering carrying a pocket pistol, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the pros and cons of this carry method. First, let’s consider some of the advantages to carrying a pocket pistol.
Pocket-carried pistols are lightweight, easy to conceal and convenient to bear. Pocket pistol carry doesn’t require the use of an over-garment, nor will you have to endure the discomfort sometimes associated with waistline carry, particularly with extended periods of sitting.
A small pocket pistol can be easily slipped into a pocket regardless of weather conditions and takes virtually no time to don. The convenience of pocket carry means you’ll probably carry your gun more often.
Even when carrying a pocket pistol, however, there are a few clothing-related issues to consider. First, you’ll want to wear pants substantial enough both to accommodate the weight of your gun and to mask the outline of your holstered gun to some degree. Jeans are ideal, dress pants might work, and fortunately, yoga pants don’t have pockets.
Wear pants with a pocket opening wide enough to allow you to access your pocket pistol easily. Even though you won’t need a belt to attach your holster to, wearing a belt with pocket carry is still a good idea because it helps prevent the weight of your holstered pocket pistol from causing your pants to sag, which could garner unwanted attention.
You can also tote a small pistol in a cargo pocket of your pants or shorts. Cargo pockets are larger, and therefore it is easier to get to your gun. But it’s also more likely your holster will move in your pocket in such a way that your pocket pistol is not properly oriented.
Also, since cargo pockets tend to be so much bigger than a front pants pocket, having the holster adhere to the pocket during your draw stroke is more problematic.
In cold weather, coat pocket carry may be a viable option. This is certainly a specialized carry method, often incorporating a double-action snubnose revolver.
If you’re using a snubnose revolver, you can get away without using a holster because of the heavy, long double-action trigger and because there’s no slide to get bound up inside the pocket. The idea here is you could actually shoot through your coat pocket without drawing because you can orient the gun parallel to the ground while in the coat pocket.
If you’re carrying a semiauto pocket pistol in that coat pocket, you’re going to have to use a holster, and of course, you won’t be shooting without first drawing the pistol out of the holster and out of the pocket.
"‘In The Air’ With The CCI 9mm BIG 4 Shotshells"--The Firearms Blog. The author tries, and fails, to shoot a pigeon using these new shotshells with larger shot. The problem, of course, is that the rifling in the barrel destroys any tight patterning needed for killing a bird, and there just isn't enough pellets or propellant for the distances involved. In short, these types of rounds are only effective at a few feet or less. I know that, at least in the past, that there were those that believed that these rounds might be good for self-defense. If you are one of those, put the thought out of your mind. These shotshell rounds lack the power to kill small, thin-skinned animals beyond even a few feet: they will not work against a human.
"NEW Authentic Molot Factory AKs From K-VAR"--The Firearms Blog. Somehow they have figured out how to get parts in notwithstanding the current sanctions against Russia. Perhaps the sanctions don't extend to Molot? Small consolation for those of us that would like to see some of the new products from Kalashnikov be imported.
... it’s worth taking a step back to look at the bigger energy picture here: the world is awash in oil (and natural gas too, for that matter), and those cheap hydrocarbon inputs will be welcomed by all sectors of the global economy besides, of course, the oil and gas industry. Moreover, it bodes well for future global energy security that after all the peak oil hand wringing, suppliers around the world keep finding and extracting more and more of one of civilization’s most important commodities.
Related: "How Cheap Crude Is Hurting Saudi Arabia"--American Interest. According to the article, not only is the sharp drop in oil revenue resulting in job losses in the construction sector of the Saudi market (which is not that significant since most of the workers are foreigners), but also hitting the Saudi middle-class. How so? According to an article from Reuters on the same topic, two-thirds (2/3) of working Saudis are employed by the government, and the government is cutting their wages and benefits.
Researchers analyzed temperature observations from satellites, weather balloons, weather stations and buoys and found the so-called “tropical hotspot” relied upon by the EPA to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant “simply does not exist in the real world.”
They found that once El Ninos are taken into account, “there is no ‘record setting’ warming to be concerned about.”
Gary Lynch, GM at Rising S Bunkers, a Texas-based company that specializes in underground bunkers and services scores of Los Angeles residences, says that sales at the most upscale end of the market — mainly to actors, pro athletes and politicians (who require signed NDAs) — have increased 700 percent this year compared with 2015, and overall sales have risen 150 percent.
The article has some photographs of various features of some of the bunkers, including secret doors to access the bunker, living and recreation quarters, garages, etc.
"US owes black people reparations over slavery and has not confronted its history of 'racial terrorism', UN panel says"--Daily Mail. According to the article, "the UN working group on people of African descent warned that blacks in the US were facing a 'human rights crisis'," that could only be assuaged by reparations "including 'elements of apology' and a form of 'debt relief' to the descendants of enslaved people." Of course, there is no mention of reparations or apologies from the West African nations and tribes that captured and sold the slaves to traders because that would temper the divisiveness of the finding, which is its whole purpose: to further aggravate race relations in the United States. Not that making reparations would do any good. I think that Brett Stevens may have a valid point in a recent op-ed where he wrote:
There is no possible solution for African-American angst in America. No matter what we do — trillions in welfare, lawsuits, benefits, affirmative action and draconian civil rights laws — they will always know that this society was founded by people other than them, designed for people other than them, and that African-Americans are only here because they were sold in Africa to slave traders for use as farm labor here.
Even with a black President, and former black Secretaries of Defense and State, with black Supreme Court justices and Martin Luther King Jr. as our official American Gandhi, black discontent roils. It does so not because of poverty, but because of the denial of pride.
For African-Americans, or any other population, to have pride in their nation they need to know it was founded by them, designed for them, and ruled by them since its creation. They need to have a sense of belonging that comes only from being the group that is the nation, and not one group of many, especially not one whose original utility was as chattel labor.
No matter what we do in response to this latest shooting and the resulting riots, nothing can ever be done that will make African-Americans happy, because the condition of their unhappiness is created by diversity.
Some of you may remember that earlier this year, I had tried handloading the the Hornady FTX Bullet in .44 Magnum for use in a Rossi "Puma" Model 92 lever action (a Winchester 92 clone). When I shot some of the handloads, I discovered evidence of too high of pressures. I planned on reducing the loads and trying again, which required me to pull the bullets from the remaining cartridges (at least from the rounds wherein I had used 2400 powder).
I haven't returned to the project yet, however, because of something else I found when examining the shell casings of the rounds I had fired. I had noticed that extraction was sometimes difficult with this firearm, and was extremely difficult with a few of the high pressure rounds. In examining the cases, which had fire-formed to reflect the walls of the chamber, I discovered some ridges indicating that the chamber was not as smooth and polished as it should be. So, before testing any other loads, I decided to see about polishing the chamber.
Although there are instructions on the internet for making your own polishing tool using emery cloth and a spent casing, in looking around I found a product specifically for polishing chambers: the Flex-Hone.
The Flex Hone (unused).
I purchased my Flex-Hone through Midway, but I'm sure that other sellers carry it. Basically, it is a brush of the appropriate diameter with abrasive beads on the ends of each wire tip. The brushes are available in 400 or 800 grit, depending on the application. I would note that Flex-Hones are available not only for polishing chambers, but also for smoothing and polishing shotgun barrels. Obviously, they are available for different calibers and gauges, as well as different lengths. This particular brush was supposed to be the rifle-length brush for the .44 Magnum, but it is still fairly short.
The Flex-Hone is intended to insert into a drill, with oil applied to the brush, and the brush run at speed in the chamber. The brush needs to already be rotating as you insert it into the chamber, and moved back and forth during the polishing process. The depth that it needs to be inserted depends on the firearm, but you want to make sure you do not contact the rifling in the barrel. I used a spent shell casing to gauge how far I could insert the brush.
The Flex-Hone manufacturer recommended using its proprietary oil, but since I hadn't ordered any with it, I turned to just standard cutting oil. Not knowing how much time I should take, I tried to err on the side of caution and only ran the drill for about a minute, figuring I would test it out and do more polishing if necessary.
Flex Hone in Drill with cutting oil.
In any event, to use the Flex-Hone, I had to disassemble the firearm in order to remove the bolt to allow easier access to the chamber. I won't go into details on disassembling the Model 92, but I relied on a video from Gun & Shot TV entitled "Rossi R92 50 Cent Action Job (Winchester 92 Clone)" that describes the disassembly and assembly process. (I have also embedded the video below). However, I do have a couple comments regarding reassembly of the firearm that are not covered in the video.
The problem with reassembling the firearm is getting the hammer assembly to fit together correctly with a cutout on the bottom of the bolt and the arms of the trigger assembly. The trigger spring on the 92 is also used as the catch on the sear, so it is easy to bind up the trigger if it is not inserted correctly. To make it more interesting, on my particular rifle at least, the fit of the grooves that guide the trigger assembly into place were tight enough that I needed a light mallet to tap it back into place.
In any event, after several failed attempts, I figured out that the correct method of reassembly required that the hammer be in a full upright position (i.e., resting against the back of the firing pin), and the trigger needs to be kept depressed (i.e., pulled to the rear) so the trigger spring/sear catch did not get caught up behind the hammer assembly or in one of the sear cuts. Also, the hammer spring needs to be on its guide rod and compressed so that the tip of the guide rod can be seated into its catch on the trigger assembly/bottom stock tang.
To compress the hammer spring (which is a coil spring), you should note that there is a tiny hole near the end of the guide rod. Insert a wire or pin (a regular size paper clip works perfect) all the way through so it extends past both edges of the spring, then twist the spring so it screws down along the wire. You want to compress it so about 1/8 inch or so of guide rod is exposed. To hold the trigger back, I recommend just wrapping a rubber band around the front of the trigger and run behind the projection into which the hammer spring seats, tightening it until the trigger is fully depressed. I'm sure a piece of string would also work.
If the bolt, the lever and the hammer assembly is positioned correctly, the trigger assembly/lower tang should slide into place without difficulty. Once it is in place and the screw/pin for the hammer and trigger assembly replaced, just remove the paper clip and the rubber band and everything should operate correctly. Then you can replace the butt stock and be done.
"Self Defense as a Motorist in a Riotous Attack"--The Truth About Guns. The author of this piece has embedded a video showing some of the rioters in Charlotte attacking people in vehicles. He goes on to discuss Glenn Reynolds comments about driving through a crowd (and the blow-back Reynolds has received--hopefully Reynolds has read Vox Day's book SJW's Always Liewhich discusses how to protect yourself against the thought police). Finally, he suggests a couple of articles on the topic from a criminal defense attorney and Greg Ellifritz. Although he does not mention this humble blog, I would note that I recently posted on this topic, quoting from Mas Ayoob's discussion of this topic in one of his books.
"Equipping and Training: 4 Tips for Getting Good With Your Concealed Carry Weapon"--PJ Media. Basic considerations: (1) buy a good gun and one that is right for you in terms of how accurately you can shoot it (not necessarily what is least expensive or biggest caliber); (2) spend time at the range training/practicing; (3) buy snap caps and practice on loading/unloading your firearm (and, I would add, drawing and reholstering); and (4) move your practice from simple to more complex situations, including drawing and shooting from different positions.'
"Oregon Can’t Postpone Judgment Day Forever"--American Interest. According to the article, Oregon has $22 billion in unfunded pension debt, and is facing an $855 million budget hit after the Oregon Supreme Court struck down proposed pension reforms.
GOP nominee Donald Trump and Republicans might be counting on an "October surprise" of embarrassing material about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton obtained through Russian espionage against the Democratic Party, but what if the real October surprise is public disclosure of, or intelligence leaks about, the true extent of Russian espionage and, very possibly, possible Russian or pro-Russian Ukrainian financial relationships that could be a game-ending disaster for the Trump campaign?
Nick Cohen warns in the Guardian that the "new elite" for so long unchallenged is now facing its self-generated Nemesis: "the often demagogic and always deceitful nationalism ... of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and Vladimir Putin." He explains that while part of the blame must lie with orthodox leftists "who respond to the challenge of argument by screaming for the police to arrest the politically incorrect or for universities to ban speakers," things have gone altogether too far in the other direction to ignore. "Only true liberalism can thwart the demagogues" now he writes. Otherwise the upstarts might gain power and treat the globalist elites exactly the way they treated others.
The strategy of "by any means necessary" appeals to the militants confident they possess the truth and are on the "right side of history." For them the rules are made to be broken. They could cheat because history gave them license to. "By any means necessary is a translation of a phrase used by the French intellectual Jean-Paul Sartre in his play Dirty Hands. It entered the popular civil rights culture through a speech given by Malcolm X at the Organization of Afro-American Unity Founding Rally on June 28, 1964. It is generally considered to leave open all available tactics for the desired ends, including violence."
The problem is that the strategy works when only one side employs it. When both sides employ it equally, they become locked in a race to the bottom. ...
The Firearms Blog has posted a review of the Matador Arms SKS Sabertooth Chassis. (There are photos in the TFB review, or more photos at Matador Arms' website). Basically, this is an aluminum "chassis" designed to hold the guts of an SKS, and provides a fore-grip that sports Picatinny rails. The system is designed to accept AR pistol grips (none are provided with the system) and take an AR butt stock (I assume you will have to also purchase the buffer tube). As you can see, it is designed to take the "duck-bill" detachable magazines designed for the SKS (I presume, but don't know, that it can be used with the fixed 10-round magazine) (Update: after reviewing the information on the distributors website, the chassis will NOT work with the original fixed 10-round magazine)**. (Matador Arms has a Mark II model that works with the original 10 round magazine).*** Other accessories are available, including a top sight rail to fit over the bolt assembly for mounting a scope or moving a red-dot back closer to your eyes, and an extended magazine release. The chassis is available in black, flat-dark earth, and woodland digital camo according to Matador's website. Weight is 2.2 lbs., and the price is about $250 from the company's U.S. dealer.
Based on appearances, this appears to be the best after-market stock system I've seen for the SKS, offering a solid platform for mounting optics or other items on the front end of the weapon, and opening up a large field of different options as to the rear stock and pistol grip. The magazine well is probably a nice feature, as I imagine it assists in correctly aligning the magazine for seating.
However, as I noted in my earlier review of the SKS, from the perspective of survival preparations, I question the value of spending substantial amounts of money upgrading the SKS in order to turn it into something that it is not--a modern sporting rifle. The exception I see would be if you had a substantial amount already invested in the weapon system (ammunition, extra magazines, and so forth). In that case, the potential for increasing accuracy due to the rigid chassis* and the added options that this chassis offers might be worth the investment. Otherwise, I would stand by my original assessment in my review of the SKS that you would be better to save your pennies and upgrade from the SKS to another weapon system.
On the other hand, if you like tinkering with rifles (and the SKS has quite a bit of unexplored potential in that area), and don't mind the cost, this may be just the thing.
*Unfortunately, the TFB review does not discuss whether the chassis would increase accuracy, instead focusing on ergonomics.
A call for censorship: "Lessons From the New York Bombing"--IEEE Spectrum. "That easy availability of bomb-making information [on the Internet] is believed to be a factor in the New York and New Jersey events."
"US cities are becoming much more dangerous places"--Bayou Renaissance Man. The author indicates that this is so because of (1) increased risks of terrorism, (2) the Ferguson effect (i.e., the de facto ceding of control of certain areas to urban gangs), and (3) "growing criminal violence, in terms of both inter-gang conflict and attempts to make certain areas 'no-go zones' to both rival gangs and the authorities." As to the latter point, Grant writes that the philosophy behind it is being imported from Latin America. He explains:
The great danger, one that too many Americans don't yet recognize, is that people who've grown up with such gang violence and criminal terror are now present in this country in large numbers. The activities of the MS-13 gang are relatively well-known, but it's only one gang. There are many others, some of them even more violent. Criminals from almost every country in South America have crossed our borders with impunity, and set up operations here. Cartel hit-men have been active in Phoenix, Arizona and elsewhere. Hispanic gangs - both home-grown, and infused by 'talent' from south of the border - are trying to drive out black residents from areas in Los Angeles they consider 'theirs'. Conflict between hispanic and black communities in general, and criminal gangs in particular, has been growing for a long time. I'm waiting for the 'example' of BLM (which has almost certainly been inspired by the success of gangs in South America at making certain areas of cities 'ungovernable' by the authorities) to motivate such gangs to do likewise in their areas. It's a common progression all around the world. I saw it in South Africa during the years of the struggle against apartheid, where gangs of one political persuasion or another would seek to make a particular township 'theirs' and exclude all other shades of opinion. With certain suburbs now seemingly being downgraded by police, thanks to the 'Ferguson Effect', how long can it be before the same thing happens in some US cities?
Grant also recommends that readers also consider a 2007 Vanity Fair article entitled "City of Fear" describing how gangs were nearly successful in obtaining complete control over São Paulo, Brazil, through a concerted attack on police and other government installations. As I've noted before, I foresee a convergence between terrorism and organized criminal gangs that will overshadow anything that has come before.
"Ruger DISCONTINUING 77-Series of Bolt-Action Rifles"--The Firearms Blog. The 77-series of rifles are predominantly offered in rim-fired calibers, as well as .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum. The article makes it sound as though the end of production could be temporary, but I doubt it. The rifles are priced at right around $1,000 to $1,100, which is pretty steep price for a bolt-action (but not target grade) rim-fire rifle, especially when other manufacturers and, even, Ruger itself (in its American Rifle line) offer bolt-action rim-fires for much less.
"Fate or Fashion: Why Some Calibers Live Forever"--The Truth About Guns. The author muses about what makes a caliber popular and widely adopted, versus others that may pop-up, experience a short term interest or popularity, and then fade into obscurity or oblivion.
Of course, one the factors seems to be whether a cartridge was a military cartridge since this leads to not only many men becoming familiar with the weapon through their military service, but also the availability of abundant, cheap surplus rifles and ammunition. (Of course, this factor cannot be all to it: rifles from Axis powers were inexpensive and widely available in the United States following WWII, yet, with the possible exception of the German 8 mm which has a small following, the military calibers from Japan and Italy are difficult to find and never achieved any lasting popularity. So this cannot be all there is to it.
The author suggests the other factor is more of culture and fashion. As an example, the author points to the .300 AAC Blackout as a cartridge that is popular because of it possessing both the attributes of being .30 caliber (an American favorite) and designed to be used in the AR-15 platform (currently America's favorite rifle), even though the round is ballistically substandard. The author also, for this reason, predicts that the current interest in 6.5 cartridges, including the Grendel, will fade.
I suspect a lot of the popularity of the .300 AAC is due to its ability to be used with a silencer, rather than the fact that it is .30 caliber. From my observations and reading, it seems that more Americans are participating and more interested in practical long range and precision shooting sports than previously, and, for that reason, I believe that the 6.5 calibers are here to stay.
"Review: Remington R-51 Gen 2 1000 Round Test"--The Firearms Blog. It passed with flying colors (other than not liking the Tula steel cased ammunition). However, the comments are still filled with those who apparently will never be willing to forgive Remington for the problems with the R51 when it was first released (although I doubt that these commentators would have bought one in any event). Glock has had its share of recalls; and I've never owned a pistol (and I've at one time or another owned copies of most of the popular police and military pistols used during the past few decades) that would reliably feed and shoot anything and everything I gave it. That is why you should test all new (or new to you) handguns out with your defensive ammunition before trusting you life to it.
Two years ago it was reported that Venezuela needed oil prices to reach $120 per barrel in order to balance its budget. At ~$45 per barrel, oil prices a far cry from that so-called breakeven level, and bargain crude is sending the petrostate’s economy into a death spiral. Power shortages are forcing producers to cut output and oil services companies are refusing to cooperate with country’s state-owned oil company because they aren’t being paid for their work. Crises beget crises, and it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has acknowledged the horror. A 2014 report from that office says that inside of North Korea "crimes against humanity" have been committed as a result of the state's policy. These include "extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation."
Crimes against humanity generally cost a regime its legitimacy, if not its sovereignty. And yet most national security professionals would regard the collapse of the North Korean slave state as a calamity. The reason for this is simple: all the nuclear weapons and material. A 2015 study from the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies estimated North Korea possessed 10 to 16 nuclear weapons, and will possess 20 to 100 such weapons by 2020. This says nothing of the highly enriched nuclear fuel the state has produced or the mobile rockets and longer-range missiles to launch the warheads.
Trying to secure all this after a chaotic collapse or overthrow of the Kim regime would be a nightmare. General Raymond Thomas, who heads U.S. Special Operations Command, called a regime collapse in North Korea a "worst case scenario," at a conference hosted last week by the Institute for the Study of War. "In the event of the implosion of the region, we'd have the loose nuke dilemma on an industrial scale," the general said, describing it as a "vertical track meet between the Chinese and the South Koreans in terms of securing the nukes."
I'm sure that South Korea, the U.S., and China all have plans about what to do--at least I hope they do. The problem, as I see it, is that as the North Korean regime becomes increasingly unstable, the risk of launching a preemptive strike increases. Unfortunately, the nation in the best position to step in and prevent this is China. This is unfortunate because I don't see China wanting to take a proactive role in this growing mess.
"Weaponizing Smallpox"--West Hunter. The author relates that small pox is one of the most potentially effective biological weapons to develop because it is very contagious, yet the country using it can easily immunize its own population against it. However, as vaccinations became widespread in the industrialized world, it value as a weapon declined. The author suggest that now, however, since small pox has long been eradicated and hardly anyone has been vaccinated for it in the past several decades, it is once again a viable biological weapon.
"Wake The F[**]k Up, Already!!!"--Mountain Guerrilla. In response to the recent bomb attacks in New Jersey and New York, and the stabbing in a Minnesota mall, Mosby strongly suggests that readers get training to deal with wounds and carry a trauma kit of some sort.
"Why Water Bladders are Essential Backcountry Hunting Gear"--Outdoor Life. The author warns that, in the wilderness or countryside, sources of water can be scarce, so you should be prepared to stock up on water when you have the opportunity. The best method, he has found, is carrying water bladders (i.e., collapsible water bottles) that can be filled and used to replenish drinking bottles or canteens.
A sweeping new survey by researchers at Harvard University and Northeastern University finds that roughly half of the nearly 300 million firearms in the United States are concentrated in the hands of a tiny sliver of the U.S. population: Just 3 percent [7.7 million] of American adults own some 130 million guns, according to The Trace and Guardian US, two news organizations that first reported on the survey. (The full survey has not yet been released; Guardian US and The Trace reported plans to publish a series of stories about the findings throughout the week.)
This 3% of "super-owners," according to the study's authors, own on average 17 firearms apiece. (Of course, that is assuming that there are only 300 million firearms in the United States, and that there are only 75 million gun owners).
I am deeply suspicious about surveys about gun ownership because most everyone I know follows a practice of not disclosing that the fact they own firearms to strangers for any reason, let alone disclosing how many they own. Consequently, I have a hard time believing that pollsters could find a meaningful sampling of gun owners that would answer their questions truthfully.
On the other hand, many of the people I know that do a lot of shooting or hunting also own multiple firearms. Just like you can't golf effectively with but a single club, you can't have a single firearm to fulfill all your shooting needs. So perhaps there is some truth to the researchers' findings.
When the Apocalypse hits, and this becomes more common, the rabbits will realize why nations traditionally had borders, and only allowed individuals of like disposition to reside within them. This is why the third world remains the third world when technology and foreign aid is so ubiquitous. Statistically, there are just too many imbecilic savages which crop up within their populations.
The only question will be, after the cleansing, will the populace realize why the punishment for treason by countrymen was traditionally death.
You've been warned: "Hillary Hates You"--by Kurt Schlichter at Townhall. Schlichter writes:
There is one key fact to understand about Hillary Clinton, one unarguable truth that explains all of her terrible policy positions and her dishonest, self-defeating behavior. Everything she believes leads to this conclusion. Everything she does, even the stupid things that have hamstrung her, stem from it.
Hillary Clinton hates you.
She doesn’t dislike you. She is not irritated with you. She does not merely prefer the company of others, though she certainly does prefer the company of those who will either pay her or suck up to her.
She hates you.
You’re deplorable. You’re irredeemable. With a wave of her limp, clammy hand, this sick old woman dismisses you from the company of those whose opinions have value, whose interests matter, who have any moral claim to participation in self-governance. You are less than nothing. You are vermin to be, at best, driven from society.
Schlichter also warns what this will mean to "the Deplorables" if Hillary should be elected:
... But if she wins, just imagine it. Imagine her hatred backed up by an energized federal government packed with her partisans.
Will the Justice Department check her? No, it will be a club to bludgeon her enemies into submission – and we know who her enemies are, don’t we?
Will the IRS check her? No, the IRS uproar will be not a cautionary example of government gone rogue but a template for the future.
Will the FBI check her? Get real. Comey is too busy counting his 30 pieces of silver while wearing a loincloth made from the pelt of his legendary integrity.
She hates us. We are deplorable. We are irredeemable. And so neither she nor her loyal minions have any self-imposed moral limits on what they may do to us to ensure that we are utterly crushed. Take away our rights? Strip away our livelihoods? Prevent our participation in our own governance? It’s open season on us, all because she hates us.
"The proof a vitamin pill really CAN help you see better: TV's Dr Michael Mosley tried it himself"--Daily Mail. Mosley was trying to replicate findings from the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, at the Waterford Institute of Technology. It had performed research indicating that taking a supplement containing a mixture of the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin can improve your vision by protecting and even boosting the health of the macula, repairing damage from blue light, allowing you to see color better and increasing night vision.
In doing some research into this matter, the consensus (independent of the Mythbusters) is that pepper won't throw off a dog that is trained to track. From another New York Times article:
Dr. Horowitz, who directs the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College and is writing a book about dogs’ sense of smell, explained that as people move, they slough off dead skin cells, and the scent from those cells lingers both in the air and on the ground.
If someone dumped pepper in his tracks, she said, “that might disrupt the dog’s ability to follow the track, but the dog can ‘air-scent’ and get the track from the air.
But this is "very unlikely," Paul Waggoner, associate director of Auburn University's Canine Research Detection Institute, told Business Insider by email.
Pepper — whether it be black, white, or cayanne — would not throw off a trained tracking dog.
First of all dogs have an incredible sense of smell that is much more sophisticated than a human's and operates thousands of times more acutely than our own noses.
Not only that, their noses are divided in two. Breathing air goes to one side, while the air the dog wants to smell goes to a separate area where the dog's 300 million receptors sort through the aromas.
Using their super noses, tracking dogs are trained for years sniff out missing people, fugitives, bombs, narcotics, and even cadavers and even whale poop. That's right, dogs can sniff out a dead body. And they can even be trained to seek out scents given off by drowned people.
Dogs are trained to deal with a huge variety of scents — for example at disaster zones — and successfully find their targets, Waggoner said.
Compared to that pepper shouldn't be a problem.
"A strong odorant might momentarily interrupt tracking, but modern training of tracking/trailing dogs is such that it provides dogs with experience in working 'through' such circumstances," said Waggoner.
But the US Air Force teaches an anti bloodhound tactic that works on its Aircrew Escape and Evasion course. First, find a position where you can see the dog and its handler coming.
Then, when you see them coming, shoot the handler - it’s not the dog that’s going to kill you.
Other advice that I came across that might work is to be more athletic than the dog handler (basically, make the dog handler reach a point where he is too exhausted to continue with the chase), cross difficult terrain that the dog and/or his handler cannot travel, or set back fires.
Despite claiming their lives woulds be at risk if they were forced to return home, many migrants are nonetheless taking social trips back to these danger spots.
An investigation revealed the “repulsive” problem is rife at a number of Berlin-based employment agencies, who are seeking support in dealing with the problem.
Asylum seekers currently risk an investigation and the possible revocation on their refugee status if they are discovered to be returning home. However, they are not currently required to inform authorities as to their destination, making the problem hard to solve.
"It Doesn’t Affect You, But It Does"--The Political Hat. Every once in a while, there is a commentary or analysis that stands out and needs to be read and re-read to be fully absorbed. I think this is one of those writings. The basic theme is that even practices that you don't believe can affect others does affect them. In explaining his reasoning, the author explains the role of conservationism in a culture:
John Donne once said that “no man is an island”. Society has evolved, does evolve, and will evolve, with the actions of each to one degree or another affecting it and being affected by it. Society isn’t some abstract idea or social construct of the conspiratorial vein. The libertarian ideal that everyone can do what they want and anything not affecting others in the strictest 1st degree will not have a depreciative or dilatory effect others, and thus society, is based upon a blind faith that the way, the truth, the light, of Randian enlightenment can not, and will not, be snuffed out a la Anthem because the choices of others does not, in the strictest 1st degree, command another.
But this is based on an overly idealistic view of mankind. It is the idealistic view that once a great evil is purged, that a true utopia will arise once properly established; it is the idealistic view shared by Communists, Progressives, and other assorted socialists.
A society where people are free to choose as they like, but where the great swath of the populace have the wisdom to choose correctly, is a rare one. It can not be constructed. It, indeed, is a result of a strange and unlikely confluence of history. America is that confluence. It can not be rebuilt ex nihilo. It can not overwrite an existing bias or set of mores. It can not be written upon a tabula rasa, as such hypothetical musings are antithetical to human reality. Despite the intentions otherwise, “their passions forge their fetters”.
It is something that must be conserved. It calls not for magicians [or] alchemists who can bring forth purity of essence from some invented and contrived trick. It calls for stewards to keep and protect our civic inheritance, and to protect society’s evolution from the hands and machinations of intelligent design by unintelligent designers.
“Other teachers say that this is a common practice in their schools: Students will be issued a referral for misconduct and then ‘counseled’ before being returned to class without being formally disciplined,” O’Donnell reports. Why? Two levers the federal government is pulling, both related to school districts’ discipline numbers.
First, inside the Every Student Succeeds Act, which House Speaker Paul Ryan recently sped through Congress to replace No Child Left Behind, the federal government now includes measures besides test scores—such as annual suspension and expulsion rates—in ratings that influence funds and federal probes. Schools are technically supposed to report to the federal government every disciplinary action they take, and now they have more reasons to juice the numbers.
Second, back in 2011 former Education Secretary Arne Duncan and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told schools that consequences for bad behavior, not the behavior itself, was to blame for the “school to prison pipeline.” In 2014 the pair issued regulations telling schools they would be liable for federal investigation if they recorded data showing black or Latino students had committed more infractions than white or Asian students.
“Schools also violate Federal law when they evenhandedly implement facially neutral policies and practices that, although not adopted with the intent to discriminate, nonetheless have an unjustified effect of discriminating against students on the basis of race,” their subordinates wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter (emphasis added).
The author goes on to report:
In response to these federal rules, states including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota, California, and Washington have declared they will remove fewer violent students from classrooms through suspensions and expulsions.Children are not stupid. They have figured out that they can terrorize their peers and authority figures and get away with it now.
Schools are replacing stricter consequences with touchy-feely therapy sessions for troubled kids, which are less of a deterrent to bad behavior and often explicitly excuse it.
According to the bombshell lawsuit, a transgender “girl" student, who participated on girls' sports teams, “twerked,” “grinded” and engaged in other sexually suggestive acts in the girls’ locker-room, leaving some of the girls in tears. After numerous ignored complaints, the lawsuit's plaintiffs say they were allowed access to other locations, including a boys’ locker-room, which the transgender “girl” also made his way into and extended his sexually suggestive behavior. The girls claim they were left with no place to go to secure their privacy in the most intimate of settings.
Amid troubled oil markets and a more than two-year oil price downturn that has seen oil prices plunge from $115 per barrel in the summer of 2014, to now trading in the paltry $40s range, well below the production break even point for many major producers, news came from China on Tuesday that the country’s crude oil output fell nearly 10% in August from the same period a year ago – to the lowest in more than six years.
The issue for China is that dependency on foreign sources of oil brings a myriad of its own problems, including, as the author explains: "[from] a massive transfer of wealth, to securing vital supply lines and shipping lanes to other geopolitical considerations."
University of Florida researchers have identified a patient in Haiti with a serious mosquito-borne illness that has never before been reported in the Caribbean nation.
Known as "Mayaro virus," it is closely related to chikungunya virus and was first isolated in Trinidad in 1954. Most reported cases, however, have been confined to small outbreaks in the Amazon. Whether this case signals the start of a new outbreak in the Caribbean region is currently unknown.
The wages of sin socialism: "Venezuela: Over 15% of People Eat Garbage to Survive"--Breitbart. A study found that 15% of Venezuelans claim that they must feed themselves with “food waste discarded by commercial establishments,” and nearly half indicated that they had to take time off from work to find food.
Demographics is destiny: "Japan Has A Worrying Number Of Virgins, Government Finds"--The Independent. A study found that "[a]round 42 percent of men and 44.2 percent of women admitted that they were virgins." This is just further evidence of the steady decline of the number of people in Japan that are even interested in sex (which is interesting, because I would have described Japan as hypersexualized in the late 1980's when I lived there). The article notes one "positive" point: the study also showed that the number of women returning to work after having a child rose to over 50%. I don't see that as a "positive" from a demographic perspective, as it merely underscores the number of women who, even with a child, have no desire to be a homemaker and probably will never have additional children.
The largest prison strike in U.S. history has been going on for nearly a week, but there’s a good chance you haven’t heard about it. For months, inmates at dozens of prisons across the country have been organizing through a network of smuggled cellphones, social media pages, and the support of allies on the outside. The effort culminated in a mass refusal to report to prison jobs on September 9, the anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison uprising.
Oh no. Whatever shall government do if it can't buy over-priced furniture from the prison industries?
In any event, the issue is what to do with your firearm when you need to use the toilet (i.e., actually sitting down rather than using a urinal). As the TTAG article points out, the worst thing to do is put your gun on the toilet or on top of the toilet paper dispenser, a shelf or some other place where you might forget it. The author also notes a few solutions. He writes: "Some of you sought out that semi-private handicapped stall in the corner. Others wrapped the waistband of your undergarments around the butt of the pistol to keep Larry Craig-style looky-loos from noticing it." He also suggests that "[i]f concealment is truly a priority for you, and you believe that the lavatory is a high-risk zone for whatever reason, perhaps a smaller, .380 pistol carried in a pocket holster might be more appropriate."
What you do will likely depend a lot on what handgun you carry, how you carry it, how often you use the toilet and the type of restroom. Certainly, if you work in a place where the restroom is intended for use by one person at a time and you can lock the door, there is probably little risk of others seeing the firearm as you go about your business. On the other hand, public restrooms open to multiple users might present more of a risk of someone spying your firearm.
Frankly, to me, even the more public restrooms generally are not an issue so long as there is a private stall to use. I have learned that, when dropping my pants, to keep the waistband above my knees when sitting down. Typically, unless I'm using a pocket holster, I will have a holster at a 3 to 5 o'clock position (depending on the holster and what I'm carrying), so when I sit the handgun will be under my thigh and out of sight of someone that might try to peer through the cracks between the door and the wall panels. So long as I don't turn so my back is to the stall door, the gun is pretty much out of sight the whole time. Now, with a heavier handgun (such as a full size service pistol or revolver), you do need to be careful that your belt doesn't slip through the first loop or two and dump the belt and holster on the floor, but it is not a significant complication: just hold onto the end of the belt with your hand, or trap it between your elbow and thigh.
I haven't tried the trick of covering the handgun with the waistband of my undergarments, but I suppose that would be the best method if you carry the firearm on the front of your body (10 to 2 o'clock positions).
Mass Ayoob had noted in one of his writings that someone that has to use the toilet frequently may want to invest in a shoulder holster, a la the "Fish" character from the Barney Miller TV show (see photograph above).
In any event, don't remove the firearm from the holster and risk losing it, and don't let it hang down onto the floor where it can be seen under the stall door or wall.
