August 22, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"De-Google-ify Yourself"--Black Pigeon Speaks (7 min.)

Google , YouTube, and other popular social media platforms have been busy with censoring conservative and libertarian speech of late, including pro-gun channels. Black Pigeon discusses the problem and some alternative browsers, search engines, and apps to those commonly use.

Firearms/Prepping/Self-Defense:

• The  proprietors of the Security and Self-Reliance blog have black elderberry seeds available for sale, as well as detailed instructions on how to germinate the seeds. If you can pick them up in person, they also have cuttings and potted plants.
• "21 Classic Camping Tips from Field & Stream" and "40 Vintage Fishing Tips and Tricks You Should Know." These are just the short tips you would read about such as how to use soap to prevent glasses from fogging, using (classic) Listerine as an insect repellent, tips for repairing fishing lures, preserving fish, maintaining equipment, etc.
• "Five Reasons People Quit Prepping"--All Outdoors. (1) Burn out over either working on preps all of the time and/or getting worked up over news stories of potential risks; (2) lack of time; (3) overwhelmed by all that needs to be done; (4) lack of money; and (5) general loss of interest. I would also add a sixth reason: lack of room. 

       The author encourages readers to persevere, but that may not be enough. First off, I think it is much easier to do preparations if you and your spouse are both engaged in working to prepare for disasters. But, even if your spouse is involved, there may still be the problems cited above, including a lack of motivation or burn out. 

       I don't hold myself out as a perfect example or expert--hence the reason for my choice of moniker--but from my experience, it seems that it is easier to prep over a long term if it is approached as a hobby, or linked to a hobby. For instance, I've been interested in and used firearms all my life, which is a natural corollary to self-defense and prepping, and I've also had a long interest in wilderness survival. My oldest son has an abiding interest in hunting, fishing and primitive living/bushcraft, which naturally leads to prepping. I have a friend whose family (both immediate and extended) is very active with camping using RVs and trailers, and that hobby/activity is one that very naturally extends into general prepping. I know many people are avid gardeners, and that, too, is a hobby that can be tied to prepping. My home teacher dove into a new hobby last year--beekeeping--and presented us with a couple pounds of honey from his first harvest. 

• "Low Light Shooting and Your Variable"--The New Rifleman. He discusses a few issues: (1) if your scope uses and illuminates just a small dot or other small reticle, it is easy for it wash out in bright light, so he recommends modifying the reticle or using a scope with a larger reticle; (2) on the other hand, if your reticle is larger and completely lit up, you can bleed light out the front of the scope; and (3) the proper magnification for low light conditions. 
• "This Is Why Taking Fish Medicine Is Truly a Bad Idea"--Smithsonian (h/t Woodpile Report). This article is intended to scare you away from fish antibiotics with warnings that it isn't regulated so you don't really know what is in it, and, alternatively, you don't know how to properly decide what antibiotic is being used. But, for preppers, the more important take-away from the article should be that the FDA has taken notice that people are resorting to fish antibiotics and may move to regulate them. This has, according to the article, led to one maker changing the way they make their product so that it can only be used by dissolving in water; and prompted Amazon to remove the products from its site.
• "TFB Review: The Neomag Improved"--The Firearms Blog. The Neomag is a clip/holder for concealing an extra magazine in your pocket. It relies on a pocket clip and a small rare earth magnet. The original model had a couple problems--not working with certain magazines and a poor finish--which appears to have been corrected in this newer model.

Other Stuff:

• A new Woodpile Report is out. Among other things, he has a pretty good list of articles of leftists seeking to destroy historical monuments and statues. He also discusses the storage of coffee, tobacco, and hard candies as trade goods in a post-SHTF situation.
• "U.S. Has 3.5 Million More Registered Voters Than Live Adults — A Red Flag For Electoral Fraud"--Investors' Business Daily.
• Heh. German Chancellor Merkel recently doubled down on her plans to import more malleable voters by defending, in the face of an angry crowd, "her decision to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country." Subsequently, however, "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... called Germany's ruling politicians 'enemies of Turkey' who deserve to be rejected by German-Turkish voters." The latter article notes that there are approximately 1,000,000 ethnic Turks in Germany that are eligible to vote.
• As you probably already know, the destroyer U.S.S. John S. McCain was unable to detect and avoid an oil tanker a few days ago, leading to a tragic collision and loss of life aboard the McCain. The Navy has paused operations while it tries to determine why it has suffered a rash of collisions this year. Some believe they already know the answer. For instance, Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret.)--a military consultant for Fox News--has stated concerning the McCain collision: "Those sailors did not have the basic seamanship skills, but by God, they got their sensitivity, race relations and sexual harassment training."
• Russian sources contend that members of Antifa are traveling to Venezuela to receive insurgency and guerrilla training. [Update: I have been unable to confirm any sources for this; nevertheless, the following comments on intel and counter-intel is still relevant]. Commenting on this development, Anonymous Conservative notes the problem is Antifa develops the better intel skills:

        If someone shows up to a protest, thinking they will just bang heads there using phalanx tactics and go home, and somebody else is viewing the protest as an opportunity to gather intel on those who show up, so they can be dealt with later at a convenient time of their choosing, one side has an immense battlefield superiority over the other. One side will be followed home, ID’d, watched and monitored, and die, and they will likely never even see what happened to set the stage for their demise.

          If Antifa starts setting up intel cells, running surveillance, following people home from protests, gathering IDs, cataloging vulnerabilities, and creating detailed files on the right, we will have a steep learning curve to catch up, and we will probably lose people in the process, because the US government is not getting involved or protecting anybody these days. They are too busy cataloging everything they can on everyone, and preparing their own control of their battlefield at the collapse.

Although not discussing training of Antifa, the author of "Charlottesville Was a Massive 4GW Failure" lays out what Conservatives need to do to effectively combat the Left. For starters:

One of the cardinal principles of 4GW is that before you ever set foot on the battlefield you should already be tilting the battlefield in your favor.  Don’t fight the kind of battle the enemy wants in the place that the enemy wants to do so. So my first piece of (probably unheeded) advice would be to stop having rallies in the first place, at least of the kind that are likely to degenerate into brawls with antifa and BLM.

However, for those insistent in continuing to have rallies, he offers advice for planning such activities including serious thought on escape routes should (as has happened) the police attempt to funnel your group into clash with the Antifa, gathering intelligence, and documenting and getting the news out of what is really happening at such rallies. Read the whole thing.

• As you know, the last suspect in the Barcelona attack decided to go out in a hail of bullets while screaming "Allahu Akbar." I'm sure that liberals will wonder for years to come what motivated the group's actions. In any event, the feisty Latin spirit has shown itself by someone (or some persons) tagging a mosque in Sevilla with warnings of what could happen to Muslims if these attacks continue. I thought that latter story would get more play than it has--you know, as "proof" of the horrible backlash against Muslims that everyone warns about but never appears--but I think the media is perhaps too afraid of copycats. In any event, I suspect that the message at the mosque may do more to reduce Islamic terrorism than anything the security services will accomplish.
• From the annals of corruption: "The Very Strange Indictment of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s IT Scammers"--National Review. No mention of the Pakastani IT experts and family smuggling money out of the U.S., taking a very limited scope of the alleged "conspiracy," and the DoJ not trumpeting its indictment in press releases like all its others. It is like the Obama-holdovers prosecuting this thing want to keep it out of the public eye.
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "The Coming Revolution in Micro Robotics"--The Silicon Graybeard.