Pages

▼

Friday, November 24, 2017

November 24, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"The Dark Matter Fail | From Someone Who Predicted It"--Suspicious Observers (11 min.). For those of you that don't follow the news on such things, the dark matter and dark energy theories have had a run of bad luck the past several weeks. Basically, every experiment or other attempt to detect dark matter has failed, and there have started to trickle out a string of papers suggesting that dark energy is not needed to explain cosmic expansion. This video specifically addresses the failures to detect dark matter, that some of the missing matter is probably in normal matter we can't easily detect, such as rogue planets and red dwarf stars. The author also touches on the "electric universe" theories that ascribe more importance to electricity and magnetism on a macroscopic level than have traditionally been ascribed to such phenomena.  


        I hope that all of you had a good Thanksgiving! As our thoughts turn toward Christmas, and the Christmas shopping, I thought I would highlight a couple of vendors with which I've recently dealt and had a good experience:
Properly used, the shooting sling binds the rifle to the upper body in such a way that, if the supporting elbow is rested on something solid (like the ground or the knee), the piece is held firmly in the horizontal plane by bone and leather rather than by muscle. In any firing position in which the elbow is supported, the shooter can "go dead"—relaxing all muscles—and the sights will not sag off target. This is accomplished by tying the rifle to the supporting hand and to the upper arm simultaneously, so that the angle of the elbow is positively locked by the strap between the two. The higher the loop is on the arm, the more positive is the lock.
        The best known of such shooting slings is the U.S. 1907 sling. It has a loop that is tightened down around the bicep. Unfortunately, it can be slow to get into position with it: one article on the subject noted that it took Jeff Cooper about 5 seconds to get into the loop and tighten it down. A couple alternate designs were eventually developed to speed the process by eliminating the need to tighten the loop around the bicep by using two straps to create a large loop through which the arm is thrust, and then wrapped around the front hand to create the same effect as tightening down the loop on a 1907 sling. 
         The first of these was the CW sling, which was based on a British big game hunting sling system, and an updated version called the Ching Sling (go here for a good photograph of someone using a Ching sling). The Ching sling was developed by Eric Ching and quickly adopted by Jeff Cooper for his Scout Rifle.  The problem with the CW and Ching slings, however, is that they requires three sling attachment points to work.
         The Rhodesian sling addresses this issue. Instead of running separate straps to the middle and forward sling attachment points to create a permanent "loop" for the bicep, the Rhodesian sling uses a large loop that connects to the front sling position through which the shooter must thrust his arm. (Andy's Leather has a good set of photographs showing someone getting into the Rhodesian sling--scroll to the bottom of the page; see also this article at The Outdoor Channel).  
         The slings produced by Riflecraft are a version or style of the Rhodesian sling. However, the Riflecraft sling is made out of I.R. treated webbing, available in different colors and patterns, and much less than the similar item from Andy's Leather. You can also get high quality sling swivels of various types from Riflecraft, and he will even allow you to mix and match if necessary for your rifle. I put mine on my Savage Mark II .22 rifle while testing it and getting use to it, but intend on moving it over to a .243 eventually (or, more likely, buying another). 
  • Second is a new knife store that has opened in this area, but also has internet sales: Northwest Knives.  If you live in the Boise, Idaho, area, I really recommend stopping by the store because not only do they have a good selection of kitchen, outdoor, and tactical knives, but they also offer sharpening services--and do a very good job doing so. Their prices are very competitive (in fact, most often, less) to what I've found elsewhere.

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:
  • I don't want to be late this week, so here we have it: TGIF--another Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training.  Links to articles on situational awareness, AR magazines, children and gun safety, and every-day-carry medical kits, plus a lot more.
  • "Red Dot Revolution"--Guns & Ammo. The author discusses using a red-dot on an carry pistol, recommending that you have a slide especially milled for a red dot as this offers the possibility of a back up sight and co-witnessing. The author raises a good point, however, for the younger shooters that also play single-person shooter video games:
Before I finish, I want to address something I’ve discovered as a parent. I have an 11-year-old boy who likes to play video games when he’s not in trouble. Because some of the first-person shooter games involve characters using firearms equipped with an RDS, I’ve found that the psychomotor skill of placing a reticle on the target and pressing the trigger has carryover from video games to the range. My son has shot different guns all his life, but I recently took him out and had him work steel on the move from 15 to 100 yards with an RDS-equipped Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22. After about 20 minutes of instruction on movement and shooting, he was downright deadly. Sure, it was only a .22, but this carryover from the video games can’t be discounted when it comes to training the next generation of military and police personnel. I think the military is a bit ahead of LE, mostly because it deals with a younger recruit and faster training turnaround, but this is something that modern LE needs to embrace. 
These radios have the capability of receiving everything that a shortwave radio AND a scanner can receive. They normally cover .1 MHz to 1300MHz, some go up to 3000 MHz (with the usual FCC required gaps in coverage). This includes the Shortwave bands, both AM and FM broadcast radio bands, CB, GMRS, MURS, Ham, Aviation, Analog Police, Fire, EMS and analog business radio.  There are wideband receivers that can pick up Amateur Sideband and Morse Code as well.
The downside, the author notes, is that they are generally more expensive than buying the radio and scanner separately. Read the whole thing.
        Fine tuning this machine took me some time. For those of you that imagine that you will be able to just slap this thing together in a half hour, you’re in for some disappointment. It took me, an accomplished gun builder and former gunsmith, several days of trial and error to get the tolerances correct using this set of parts. The devil is in the details on this project. Taking a little off at a time is what makes all the difference.
            The gun that I ended up with at the end is a far cry from a true Glock. Because I started with more material, I was able to selectively take down certain areas around the guide rod, slide rails, and trigger housing. I was able to play around to make certain that the gun had solid slide-to-barrel fit and tighter tolerances. The reward was in the accuracy department. The reliability came second and I came to realize that Glock-pattern guns don’t like to be tight. Forcing it to work was a chore, but once it got running it was both reliable and accurate.

      * * *

               To break it in further, I loaded some high-pressure handloads in and smeared the internals with jeweler’s abrasive polish. The high-pressure loads ensured movement and the polish allowed the gun to work itself in ways that I couldn’t with a file. It is important to note that you must not allow this polish in the trigger assembly. I cleaned up the weapon and removed the abrasive. The gun ran smoothly and had no further issues. At the time this was written there are around 1,500 rounds safely fired.
        • "Business Is Booming for America’s Survival Food King"--Bloomberg. Wise Company--a major producer of freeze dried foods--is doing very good business. Besides booming business from preppers, the article notes that the company has been called upon FEMA to provide emergency food to Puerto Rico, as well as from other organizations. The article notes, however, that the company doesn't really want or seek these emergency orders, but prefers the steady sales to regular consumers:
        The company’s first customers a decade ago were anxious about inflation, economic collapse, and terrorist attacks; today, the major concern is environmental instability. “It’s not just the freak events. We get calls from people saying, ‘I live in Miami, and flooding is now routine. I’m worried Florida is going to be under water in two years,’ ” he says. “Or from people in upstate New York who experienced a 1-in-a-1,000-year blizzard and couldn’t get out of their driveway for two weeks. People who lived through the California drought, the forest fires of Texas and the Northwest, and who think maybe the government won’t come to their rescue when a disaster hits.”


        Other Stuff:
        In response, Baltimore Police reacted with ‘fire and fury’ turning the neighborhood where Suiter was shot into an “open-air prison”, shutting down city streets and enabling checkpoints for citizens while officers in tactical gear went door to door, according to Baltimore Brew. Residents were prohibited from entering their own neighborhood unless they showed proper identification, these extreme measures have been in place for 4-5 days.
        Herschel compares the operation to the Marines taking Fallujah in Iraq:
                They didn’t drive the foreign fighters out of Fallujah.  They found and killed them all.  This kind of tactical approach is highly effective, and the Marines were masters of it.  The Baltimore police want control over the city.  By control, I mean complete control, with knowledge of everyone, information on their comings and goings and their whereabouts at all times, updates on their intentions and predilections, and full freedom to maneuver or respond as necessary to meet the perceived threat.
                 They learned this from the U.S. military.  Expect to see additional elements of this COIN / stability operations in Baltimore, like UAVs or drones to help them “see” the terrain.  Expect JTTF and robust Fusion center activity, and expect to see the U.S. justice system to go right along with everything that happens.
                    It’s where we are.  It’s the state to which we’ve been driven.  America has created third world countries in large cities like Baltimore, Chicago, L.A., Atlanta, Houston, and St. Louis, by means of handouts and fatherless families.  Opening the borders hasn’t helped.  The result is third world hell holes that scare even the police, but given that the police are the largest gang in America, they will respond in kind.
                     DEA agents say recent arrests reflect an emerging pattern, as Mexican trafficking groups ­attempt to turn New York City into their Northeast distribution hub. They operate with ­quasi-corporate sophistication and an inconspicuous, transient presence, sending sales teams to deliver staggering quantities of drugs and then quietly disappear.
                        This year, narcotics agents have seized more than 350 pounds of pure fentanyl in New York City, 10 times as much as they did in 2016. A calculated business decision appears to be behind the boom. 
                          “The cartels realize that fentanyl is much more profitable than heroin,” said James Hunt, head of the DEA’s New York Division.
                             Unlike heroin, whose raw opium base must be collected from poppy growers in remote mountain valleys, fentanyl can be made in clandestine labs using relatively inexpensive chemicals. And because it is so much more potent, it can be diluted with cutting agents to make exponentially more street-level doses, whether in powder form or ersatz pills pressed to resemble brands such as OxyContin and Percocet.

                             “These guys are evil businessmen, but they are still businessmen,” Hunt said. “I don’t know of any other product where you could invest $3,000 and make millions.”

                        * * *
                               They smuggle it across the border in fake vehicle panels or commercial loads of produce, furniture, auto parts and other cargo, driving it across the country from California and Arizona.
                               The loads arrive at industrial parks in New Jersey, where cartel emissaries are sent to meet the shipments and oversee wholesale transactions. Then they must figure out what to do with bricks of cash that are even bulkier than the drugs.
                         
                                The Bronx and northern Manhattan are choice locations for the traffickers, agents say, because their proximity to major bridges and highways offers the same logistical advantages sought by any commercial distributor.
                              Most recently, Campbell has confided to close friends that he’s afraid that he won’t be able to testify today. The informant explained that during a routine hike in the hills behind his home, he met an armed man. The two gentlemen held each other’s gaze with weapons drawn. 
                               After an intense moment the man walked away. Campbell believes this was an attempt on his life, caused by the Department of Justice’s release concerning his testimony.
                            Anonymous Conservative writes:
                              Mark my words, the most chaotic, violent, dangerous times in politics are coming back again, and we will live through them. Think another Holocaust can’t happen? Think a politician can’t be assassinated by a government conspiracy? Think a small group of elites would never maneuver a nation into a global war for personal profit? Think that despite your posting on 4Chan that you are too small to be taken out by an elite government agency at the behest of some shadowy political player whose name you have never even heard of?
                                       A wealthy Democratic mega-donor who co-founded the Ready for Hillary PAC, which helped launch Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for the White House, has died of a gunshot wound to the head after “a sudden onset and battle with a mental health issue,” his family says.
                                         Steve Mostyn, a 46-year-old Texas trial lawyer who reportedly contributed millions to pro-Clinton super PACs, was found dead in his Houston home on Nov. 15. Mostyn was a member of the George Soros-founded Democracy Alliance.
                                  at

                                  No comments:

                                  Post a Comment