June 2, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

The video above (3 min.) is a trailer for a documentary called "Is Genesis History?" I watched the full documentary last night--it is available via Netflix--and found it very interesting, although a little basic for those that have read up on creationist theories. Essentially, however, the documentary asks the question whether we can take Genesis (particularly the first 14 or so chapters) as literal history, and attempts to answer that question by talking to scientists about evidence that supports a young earth, creation, a flood, etc., which, necessarily, has to look at flaws or gaps in current theories (although they don't mention my favorite one, which is that it is statistically impossible for life to have evolved, let alone reached its current complexity, within the accepted lifespan of the universe).

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• TGIF: Active Response Training's Weekend Knowledge Dump for this week. Topics this week are a little broader than normal. Beyond the self-defense and firearms links, there are also links to articles on how to avoid burnout with your job, addiction, safely traveling to foreign countries, and survival tips for teaching your children. Not to worry, however. He also has links and comments on articles about firearms training and performance, developing situational awareness, how to prevent a home invasion, and others. Check it out.
• "Coonan Compact .357 Magnum: Carries Small, Packs a Big Punch"--Personal Defense World. A little pricey at $1,700, but it gives you 6+1 rounds of .357 Magnum in a compact, 1911-style semi-auto, package.
• "How To Build Your Own Chicken Coop for Less Than $20"--Real World Survival. It has rough plans for a chicken coop. The low price mostly comes from using scrap plywood. This is an elevated design that takes advantage of the fact by fencing in the area under the coop and allowing the chickens to access that area, which is, obviously, mostly shaded and can be protected to a certain extent from inclement weather.
• "10 Steps to Building a Glock Using a Polymer80 PF940 Frame Kit"--Tactical Life. An overview, presented in a slide-show format, of building a "ghost gun" Glock.
• "Are Your Instincts Putting Your Child in Danger?"--Active Response Training. Our natural instinct--developed for dealing with natural predators--is to typically physically shield a child or spouse from attack. However, when facing a predator armed with a gun, Greg Ellifritz suggests that it may unwittingly place the child in greater danger by keeping them in the zone of fire should shots be exchanged. He suggests, instead, teaching them to flee or get away from you should you need to use your firearm. On the other hand, if your wife is a trained sniper, you might want to keep her close by.
• "Berdan to Boxer conversion kits"--Something Wicked Comes. The author describes the kits available from Russian Reloads that allows you to convert steel cased Berden primed cases so that they will accept Boxer primers (and, thus, allow you to reload them using standard reloading components). There appear to be caliber specific, and only for Russian calibers. The only questions is, at $160 to $200 dollars per kit, is it worth it? The only caliber for which you can't get reloadable brass is the 5.45x39mm.
• "A Different Approach To Handgun Recoil Management"--The Firearms Blog. A somewhat different technique to managing recoil while shooting a handgun using both hands. It is explained via an embedded video.

Other Stuff:

• Stuff the politicians and immigration supporters aren't telling you:

• "48 out of 50 Moroccan Migrants Who Claimed to Be Underage Were Adults"--Breitbart. 

• "Tests Show 76% of Suspicious ‘Child Refugees’ in Sweden Are Actually Over 18"--Heat Street.

Some of these "children" are attending schools with actual children. However, it will probably be deemed "racist" or "insensitive" to expel them from the schools, let alone whatever European country they are in.

• "The UK's Libyan Jihadist Problem"--Sultan Knish. Daniel Greenfield discusses the strong links between Libyan immigrants in Manchester and jihadists in Libya, primarily under the auspices of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which is associated with terrorists, but has also had a history of support from Western governments. Thus, Greenfield argues, "[t]he old manufacturing city had become a safe space for Libyan Islamic terrorists with the knowledge and complicity of British authorities." 
• Diversity is our strength: "I Scream for Ice Cream"--Gates of Vienna. Reporting that a man was stabbed to death on the streets of Oldenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany, for eating ice cream during Ramadan, which is a Muslim celebration that requires Muslims to fast. As the author points out, "the murderers were executing a religiously-sanctioned judgment under sharia law, which Muslims are required to enforce against Muslims and non-Muslims alike."
• A liberal's inclusiveness only goes so far: "Desired for their labor, rejected as neighbors. Farmworkers in California face hostile communities"--Los Angeles Times. 

       Increasingly fond of locally grown produce, Californians are far less enthusiastic about locally housed farmworkers. They have deployed lawsuits, hastily written regulations — and, apparently, the torch — to segregate thousands of seasonal workers to seedy roadside hotels and crowded housing in cities where affordable shelter is already limited.

       “They love the strawberries, but they don’t like the farmworkers,” said Lucas Zucker, policy and communication director for Central Coast United for a Sustainable Economy, a labor advocacy group in Ventura.

Although a few growers are willing to provide housing for their "guest workers," the majority want affordable housing to come from the public coffer (thereby, subsidizing their business); and, of course, schooling and other costs are going to be borne by the tax payers.

• "The Future of the Mormon Church? It’s Latino"--NBC News. From the article:

      Professor Ignacio Garcia of Brigham Young University told NBC News that the Mormon Church is not growing in Europe or among white Americans as it once did.

       "The growth of the LDS church, other than from natural births, comes from people of color: Asians, Africans, and Latinos," said Garcia. "One day, this will be a church for people of color. And once the tipping point arrives, it will be a freefall."

       According to the Pew Research Center, seven percent of U.S. Mormons are Latino. However, Latinos are the fastest-growing group in the Church. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Spanish-language wards (congregations) more than doubled, while Latin America has the highest rate of growth of Mormons worldwide. Mormons are active in every Latin American country except Cuba.

       "The white population around the world is not converting - so the LDS Church, like other churches, is counting on immigrants to fill the pews," he said. "I don't think there is anyone in the church hierarchy - who can see anything but a church of color in the next 25 years."

       Garcia believes that the customs and leadership of the church will eventually have to reflect this reality. He terms the number of Latino baptisms "staggering."

It concludes:

       "One of Mormonism's great challenges is that it emphasizes the church's founding on the American landscape," said García. "So right now Mormonism from the top looks very white, with a very stable sense of cultural unity. But right below, you see a bubbling energy that will reformat much of Mormon culture - and Latinos will be central to that transformation."

• Fabulous! "Mumps outbreak declared in LA County after more than 40 diagnoses"--Los Angeles Daily News. The outbreak originated within, and is mostly limited to, the gay community.
• Refugees welcome! "Somali Muslims Spreading Measels"--Anonymous Conservative. They brought it with them. WHO had declared in 2016 that measles had been eradicated in the Americas. The article quoted by the author indicates that health officials are concerned that it will further spread due to the Ramadan celebrations this month.
• Que the world's smallest violin: "Pregnant girl, 18, who was barred from her Christian school's graduation, reveals her family has been attacked by hateful locals and how an assembly was held for her to tell students about her 'sin'"--Daily Mail. This girl is still whining that she is suffering consequences because she violated the moral code required of all students. She shows a response that seems shared among the teens girls that I've know who have become pregnant: surprise that it happened, and acting as though it had nothing to do with their behaviors or choices, but struck randomly, like a lightning bolt. You can see the same attitude in this video recently posted on the Mormon Channel on YouTube. I suppose that the school assembly too much, but the story doesn't really explain why it was held: whether because the girl was on the student council and so some explanation was owed to the student body, whether she requested it so she could attempt to justify herself to the other students, or what. I'm torn over this topic because of the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" thing, but I also know that public shaming is one of the most effective ways of reigning in this type of behavior. It may seem cruel to the young woman that is the subject of the social approbation, but it may dissuade others from following the same path as she.
• "Puerto Rico's Exodus Is Speeding the Island’s Economic Collapse"--Bloomberg. The skilled professionals and workers are fleeing to the mainland.
• Caution: liberals at work: "Chicago Experiences Bloody Memorial Day Weekend Despite Police Presence"--The Daily Caller. 52 shot, 7 dead.
• The proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia continues: "Yemen facing total collapse as war continues, UN warns"--BBC. See also this article for background.
• "John McCain and the POW Cover-Up"--Unz Report. An article discussing the evidence and clues suggesting that McCain was part of a conspiracy to conceal the fact that American POWs continued to be detained by Vietnam following the U.S. withdrawal from the conflict. In his book, Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counter Terrorist Unit, Eric L. Haney indicated that the U.S. had received actionable intelligence of POWs still being held up into the 1980's--so much so, that Delta Force had twice begun training (including building mock ups of camps) to raid the POW camps and rescue the POWs. However, each time, they were forced to stand down due to a combination of resistance from Congressional quarters and the antics of Bo Gritz, who would coincidentally start making very public pronouncements of their being camps and causing Vietnam to move prisoners and increase their military alertness. 
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "This start-up is offering $8,000 blood transfusions from teens to people who want to fight aging"--CNBC. Blood replacement therapy has been one of the most promising lines of research into anti-aging, although it has only been tested (to my knowledge) using animals. However, I wouldn't be surprised if this has been going on, albeit in a more clandestine manner, since the viability of blood replacement therapy was first realized ... and perhaps earlier. After all, there is a long history of people that believed that they could extend their lives by bathing in the blood of virgins (e.g., Elizabeth Báthory).