January 25, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Does 12ga birdshot behave just like a slug at close range?" by The Chopping Block. The answer is "no" because it still lacks penetration. See also "Does Birdshot Turn Into a Slug at Close Range?" by Home Defense Gun, which discusses the video, above, and delves into the issue more deeply.

Firearms/Self-Defense:

• "Slide Fire Belt Fed AR-15"--The Firearms Blog. Currently only sold as complete firearm, it combines a slide-fire stock with an upper modified to use a belt (using the standard M27 links). MSRP is $3,500. 
• "Obama CDC Study: Silencers Best Option for Noise Reduction at Gun Ranges"--The Truth About Guns. The CDC study found that noise levels at gun ranges were dangerously high, but that the only reliable way to reduce the noise would be to employ sound suppressors on the firearms.
• "Hill & Mac Gunworks CETME-L and CETME-LC Update"--The Firearms Blog. The company is apparently selling complete CETME L kits for $800, including a receiver flat and the barrel. A folding and welding jig is sold separately.
• "Mini-14s clocking in on terror threats around the world"--Ruger Talk. For those who like the Mini-14, you might enjoy this brief overview of the many law enforcement agencies who have been spotted using the weapon after terrorist incidents.
• "THE 5.56 X 45MM 'TIMELINE': A Chronology of Development by Daniel E. Watters" has been moved to Loose Rounds. This is a great research tool for those interested in the development and use of the 5.56 round. (H/t Weapons Man).
• "Another handmade revolver seized in Australia"--Impro Guns. Cast aluminum frame and inspired by the Colt Single Action Army (SAA).
• "Cheap Russian .308 Win for Home Defense?!?"--Home Defense Gun.  The test involved shooting 165 grain Soft-Point into gelatin resulting in 16 inches of penetration with 92% weight retention. The debate between the terminal effectiveness of 7.62 NATO versus 5.56 NATO has always and remains a comparison between full metal jacketed ammunition. If you are able and willing to use an expanding bullet, then "bigger is better" actually can be applicable.
• "Get to cover? A requiem for common sense."--Monderno. This is an article from March 2016, so I may have cited to it before. But it is always good to review principles of cover and concealment.
• "Working Offhand"--Art of the Rifle. The author discusses developing "unconscious competence" in trigger manipulation. He writes: "What I decided was to stop trying to control the trigger.  Time to move into Zen in the Art of Archery territory.  I just held the rifle up with my finger on the trigger for the final 2 shots.  Guess what happened…" 

Other Stuff:

• "Trump's migrant crackdown: The President will start building Mexico border wall TODAY -and is set to BAN people from Syria and six other 'dangerous' Muslim countries from entering America by signing executive orders"--Daily Mail.
• "6 ‘deskercises’ you can do at work"--Total Jobs. Animated gifs showing how to do six simple exercises while at work: step aerobics (using the stairs in your building), "star jumps" (jumping jacks for us Americans), leg lifts while at your desk, wall push ups, wall sits, and shoulder shrugs.
• "How a discarded laptop proves terror network behind Brussels and Paris attacks had links with ISIS in Syria, planned another atrocity and had been targeting Jewish plane passengers"--Daily Mail. 

     A laptop discarded by the terror network behind the Brussels and Paris attacks revealed how they had links with top ISIS commanders in Syria - and were planning another attack.

     The computer was found two hours after a team of ISIS suicide bombers murdered 32 people at Brussels Airport and on the city's Metro system on March 22 last year.

     Files painstakingly retrieved from the laptop, belonging to one of the airport suicide bombers, Najim Laachraoui, show how the unit had been in contact with bomb-making experts in Syria.

• "Al Gore Dodges a Question About Why His '10 Year' Warning Was an Inconvenient Falsehood"--PJ Media.  From the article:

Al Gore had predicted, in his highly disproven Inconvenient Truth, that we had only ten years to figure out the climate change disaster, before the sea levels engulfed the coasts and the temperatures rose so much that we would all face annihilation. That was over ten years ago. So, while at the Sundance Film Festival, Gore was confronted about this "ten year" lie, and he dodged the question. Not only did he dodge it, but he did so while getting into a gas-guzzling SUV in the middle of a snowy winter.

• "New gut microbe study may lead to potential autism treatment"--UPI. It reports:

     Study participants were given a treatment of antibiotics, a bowel cleanse, and daily fecal microbial transplants over an eight-week period.

     The study showed an average of 80 percent improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms common in people with autism and a 20 to 25 percent improvement in certain autism behaviors including social skills and sleep habits.

• Liberals are evil: "Don’t Attack Nazis, and Don’t Praise Those Who Do"--Mediaite. Alex Griswold was shocked and dismayed to discovery his fellow liberals are fascists. He explains (emphasis in original):

     ... For hundreds of years, American society has proudly embraced the conceit that other citizens can say things that shock us, disgust us, infuriate us, even say things that we believe are fundamentally dangerous, but we will not retaliate outside of the law. Crazier yet, those who most strongly believe in democracy have often gone out of their way to defend the rights of those who would dismantle it, having faith in the strength of their fellow citizens’ convictions to prevent the unthinkable. Spencer had every right to spout his beliefs unmolested, no matter how evil or sick.

     I made a miscalculation earlier today. I suspected that many of the people cheering Spencer’s attack did so innocently, and by minimizing the assault– that is, they think that’s okay to hit him but not go much further than that. I made a pretty simple point on Twitter: even a single punch can disable or kill a man, and therefore Spencer’s attacker conceivably could have killed him.

     The tweet took off, and not in a good way. Literally hundreds of people responded, all saying that they would have loved if the attacker had killed Spencer. Some went further, calling for the extrajudicial killing of all Nazis.

* * *

     It was an eye-opening reaction. The reason I penned the tweet was because I thought the liberal consensus that serves as the bedrock of the American society was intact. I had this whole spiel planned about how if we as a society endorse violence against one Nazi, we’re responsible if it leads to worse violence, maybe even murder, where do you draw the line, blah blah blah. I thought it was more or less self-evident that you don’t murder people on the street for expressing views you don’t like. I thought we were all the same page, and I was wrong.

     What was most depressing is that the pro-violence responses came almost uniformly from liberals. ...

•  I've noted before that if it weren't for Johnson's "Great Society" and the trillions vainly spent to achieve it, we could have had our bases on the moon, space stations, and underwater trains between New York and Paris. Instead: "The Diversity Tax"--Those Who Can See. A look at the real monetary and social costs of diversity and affirmative action. (H/t Chateau Heartiste).