February 21, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"The Truth About Sweden"

Paul Joseph Watson 

Prepping/Firearms/Self-Defense:

• "5 Year Barley Test"--Security and Self-Reliance. An article on the storage and use of barley in your bulk food storage. One of the points that the author makes is the ability to use barley without processing: what he refers to as "foundation foods". That is:

• They can be properly packaged and stored for years (preferably at least 10 years)
• They are available locally at a low price
• They can be used as is or as a “foundation” ingredient in meals
• They can be further processed down into flour.

Other foods that match this description are rice, dried beans, and rolled oatmeal. Anyway, read the whole thing.

• "How to Build a Basic Food Storage for $10 a Week"--Store This, Not That! Self-explanatory, I think.
• While we are on the subject of food storage: "25 Must Have Survival Foods in your Pantry"--Emergency Outdoor Blog. A good check-list for a lot of minor items that are easy to overlook, including cooking oil and spices.
• "5 Myths about Apartment Break-Ins"--Apartment Prepper. These (the myths) being: 

(1)  Most burglaries happen at night. Truth: most burglaries are during the day time when criminals know that you will be at work. I would note that even more occur after school hours but before the end of the work day. 

(2) The thief is a stranger. Truth: in many instances, the burglar is known to the victim. 

(3) They will come through a window. Truth: more likely they will kick the door in. Strengthen the frames, locks and hinge screws on your outside door(s). 

(4) Burglars will take TVs and appliances. Truth: in many cases, they will take smaller items that are easily carried or concealed. (However, I would add, burglars may simply roll up with a moving van and load up anything and everything of value). 

(5) The thief won't hit the same place twice. Truth: if it was an easy target the first time, they might well return.

• "Growing and using peppers"--by Jackie Clay-Atkinson at Backwoods Home Magazine. I would note that peppers are higher in vitamin C than most fruits.
• "Egg Storage"--Blue Collar Prepping. Another article providing tips on storing eggs without refrigeration--particularly applicable if you are raising chickens to lay eggs.
• "How to Take an Old Fashioned Bird Bath"--Perky Prepping Gramma. Tips on bathing yourself out of a bucket. I had a bit of experience with this while serving as a missionary in Japan. One of places I served, the apartment did not have a shower, but only a traditional Japanese soaking tub (ofuro) with a gas heater to heat the water. We didn't soak in the tub however. We (there were four of us) took turns getting up at 4 am to start the heater so the water would be heated by 6 am. Bathing was pouring a small bucket of water over oneself, lathering up, and rinsing off with another bucket or two. 
• "28 Spices & Seasonings to Avoid Food Fatigue"--Preparedness Advice. Another good list of spices and seasonings, and cooking oils, to keep on hand. I think that spices are too often overlooked in prepping, both for flavoring and preserving foods, but also for trading. Amongst my other reading, I've started Charles Corn's The Scents of Eden: A History of the Spice Trade. While many spices are no longer limited to a small geographic range (such as the Spice Islands), neither are they something that can be grown in North America. In the event of conflict with China, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, et cetera, may suddenly be in short supply, and become a valuable trading commodity.
• "FAB Defense +4 Glock 43 Magazine Extension"--The Firearms Blog. The author takes a look at FAB Defense's magazine extension for the Glock 43, which brings the total magazine capacity up to 10. This probably is not useful if you want to keep the firearm for concealed carry: it is hard to tell from the photograph, but to me it appears to extend the grip farther than a full size Glock 17. The author notes that problem, but envisions it for a secondary magazine (similar in idea to carrying a Glock 26, but carrying a Glock 17 or 19 magazine for a reload).
• "BREAKING: Fourth Circuit Upholds Maryland Rifle, Magazine Ban"--The Truth About Guns reports that an en banc panel (of all judges) of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned an 3-judge decision that had held that restrictions of the Second Amendment are subject to strict scrutiny--the highest standard of review. The en banc decision has held that the proper level of review is intermediate scrutiny (basically any half-a**ed excuse that the government can use to justify its decision).
• I've noted before the general rule of self-defense: don't do stupid things, with stupid people, in stupid places (and times). So, you remember the news about a girl abducted from a Las Vegas hotel? The Daily Mail reports on that: "EXCLUSIVE: Stepdad of Utah girl who was rescued by the FBI reveals the 17-year-old was with her boyfriend who left her to use the john when she was snatched by 'human traffickers' from a Las Vegas hotel." First off: who knowingly lets their 17 year old daughter go to Las Vegas with their boyfriend? That, by itself, violates all three of the rules.

Other Stuff:

• Multiculturalism: "Rioting erupts in immigrant-dominated Swedish suburb"--Fox News reports:

       Riots erupted in a heavily immigrant Stockholm suburb Monday night, as masked looters set cars ablaze and threw rocks at cops, injuring one police officer, Swedish officials said.

       The violence in Rinkeby began around 8 p.m., when officers arrested a suspect at an underground station on drug charges, The Local reported. A group soon gathered, hurling rocks and other objects at officers and prompting one cop to fire his gun “in a situation that demanded he use his firearm,” police spokesman Lars Bystrom said.

• Related: "Trump may have garbled the message but Sweden IS experiencing a migrant crime wave, according to cop accused of 'inciting racial hatred' after online rant about 'criminal immigrants'"--Daily Mail. From the article:

       On February 3, Springaire posted a rant against criminal immigrants that began 'I'm so f**king tired.'

       Warning that his words were 'not politically correct,' he went on to list the crimes his team had faced that week.

       They were five rapes, three counts of assault - including one against police - two drug offenses, multiple threats, extortion and attempted murder. 

       Then he offered a list of 'suspected perpetrators': 'Ali Mohamad Mahmod, Mohammed, Mohammed Ali, again, again, again...

       'Christoffer ... huh, it is true. Yes a Swedish name crept into the outskirts of a drug offense, Mohammed Mahmod Ali, again and again.'

       Springaire said with the exception of the lone Swede, those criminals either had no documentation or came from a series of Islam-majority countries, naming Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia.

       'Now we are only talking about Orebro,' he added. 'And these crimes occupy our investigative capacity to 100%. This is how it looks and has looked for the last 10-15 years.'

• Not wanting the immigrant criminals to be at a disadvantage, "Sweden Tries To Ban Bulletproof Vests"--Anonymous Conservative. He explains:

       r-selection occurs when there are free resources and no selective pressure favoring fitness. That means the free resources can come either from a glut, or from a uniform predation that culls back everyone equally, leaving excess resources. So long as the hawk has complete dominance over the rabbits, and kills them all equally, the remaining rabbits have unlimited fields of grass they will never strip bare, and you have r-selection.

       The second one rabbit evolves a shell that protects it from hawks, expect all the other pathetic rabbits to gang up on it and try to strip its shell off so it will die just as readily as they will. Anything which produces genetic advancement is K-selection, so to have r-selection, the rabbits need to prevent anyone who is superior from enjoying an advantage.

       It is no coincidence leftists want everyone to have an equal chance of dying, and that they are repulsed by the idea of select individuals carrying arms for self defense, or even wearing bulletproof vests. It is also no coincidence that the rabbits are preferentially importing low IQ killers from a religion of death as fast as they can.

• Diversity is our strength: "Pictured: The face-tattooed gangster who shot LA cop dead in murderous rampage as officials insist he was NOT released from prison EARLY"--Daily Mail. The perp, Michael Mejia, had shot two officers, one of whom died, after the officers had responded to a traffic accident involving Mejia. 
• The wages of sin socialism: "Venezuela Is a Ticking Time Bomb"--Real Clear World. From the article:

       Mismanagement of the economy has created a humanitarian disaster beyond comprehension. The capital city of Caracas is now the most dangerous non-war zone in the world, with 120 murders for every 100,000 residents. Venezuelans live in fear knowing they are more likely to be kidnapped in their own country than are the citizens of Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.

       To combat the epidemic of food scarcity, the government put the military in charge of the country’s food management and distribution systems. Yet that only seems to make matters worse. The AP recently reported that the military is taking advantage of the country’s food shortages by profiting from food trafficking.

       The deteriorating conditions in health care show just how serious the crisis is. Chronic shortages of medicine have rendered hospitals essentially useless. The World Health Organization estimates that there are shortages for 75 percent of necessary medications and medical supplies such as antibiotics, vaccines, and scalpels.

       Blackouts resulting from a crumbling energy infrastructure are a daily occurrence. The death of newborns has become a common phenomenon, with one doctor saying “the death of a baby is our daily bread.” Infectious diseases once kept under control have surged. Cases of diphtheria and malaria are re-emerging, and the number of Zika infections is estimated to be “nearly 700,000,” according to a Venezuelan health organization.

       ... Venezuela is now the leading country for U.S. asylum requests, ahead of even war-torn countries.

       The country’s imminent collapse will have far-reaching implications for the region. In addition to a refugee crisis, there will be a spread of communicable diseases. Moreover, regional criminal organizations such as Colombia’s FARC are sure to exploit the power vacuum. The situation would undermine the United States’ largest foreign aid investment, “Plan Colombia,” valued at more than $10 billion and many U.S. lives.

• "The Real Division in American Life Isn’t About Trump"--American Interest. This ties in nicely with the various descriptions of "the Ruling Class" versus "the Country Class," or descriptions of the elite as "Cloud People." From the piece:

The division is between those who think that, before Trump, things were going just fine and the American elite was doing an excellent job and those who blame the rise of Trump on the failures and blindness of the so-called “meritocratic elite” who, they would argue, have been running the country into the ground.

• Related: Glenn Reynolds cites excerpts from a 2013 article by Megan Mcardle, who compares our "Ruling Class" to the Mandarins of China:

       That system produced many benefits, but some of those benefits were also costs. A single elite taking a single exam means a single way of thinking:

       The examination system also served to maintain cultural unity and consensus on basic values. The uniformity of the content of the examinations meant that the local elite and ambitious would-be elite all across China were being indoctrinated with the same values.

       All elites are good at rationalizing their eliteness, whether it’s meritocracy or “the divine right of kings.” The problem is the mandarin elite has some good arguments. They really are very bright and hardworking. It’s just that they’re also prone to be conformist, risk averse, obedient, and good at echoing the opinions of authority, because that is what this sort of examination system selects for.

       The even greater danger is that they become more and more removed from the people they are supposed to serve. Since I moved to Washington, I have had series of extraordinary conversations with Washington journalists and policy analysts, in which I remark upon some perfectly ordinary facet of working-class, or even business-class life, only to have this revelation met with amazement.

Relevant to the observation I noted from the American Interest, Mcardle also noted: "In fact, I think that to some extent, the current political wars are a culture war not between social liberals and social conservatives, but between the values of the mandarin system and the values of those who compete in the very different culture of ordinary businesses–ones outside glamour industries like tech or design."