June 13, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Is CHINA Using SOUND WEAPONS Against the US?"--China Uncensored (7 min.). According to this video, probably not. Rather, what is suggested is that the Chinese are employing ultrasonic surveillance equipment, and people are having side effects from exposure to that equipment--perhaps multiple devices interacting at certain nodes.

Prepping/Self-Defense/Firearms:

• "Shoot/Don’t Shoot"--Active Response Training. Greg Ellifritz reminds us that just because we may find an intruder in our home doesn't mean that we need to, or would be justified in, shooting him or her. He gives a recent example where he had to apprehend a goth girl that had a psychotic break and literally didn't know what she was doing. She was non-violent, but had attempted to enter a random house. I would also remind readers of the incident in Washington where the home owner shot someone in his home, taking a shower. Apparently taking a shower was not justification for shooting the intruder, and the home owner is being prosecuted for murder (I can't find anything about a jury verdict, and his trial was postponed several times, so he may not have been tried).
• "Guerrilla Gardening: Our Successes and Failures"--Baugo Blades. The author reports:

This experiment was mostly a failure. We ran into every type of problem that could be imagined. Typically the plants would be devastated by insects but we had other problems such as seeds not germinating or the other wildlife would get to what little produce that did manage to grow. Over a period of 3 years we attempted to get a regular vegetable to grow in a wild environment. It was frustrating to say the least. The closest we came to a harvest at all was a collection of “Three Sisters” plantings that were placed on the northwest slope of a retention pond. The plants grew well but were absolutely recognizable from a distance. As the sweet corn was nearing full size, the stalks were knocked down by raccoons and the ears were eaten.

• "What exactly are “preppers” prepping for?"--Ars Technica. A boffin from Britain decided to find out by actually meeting with preppers in the U.S. From the article:

       "Prepping," or getting ready to live without societal support, is apparently a largely American activity, and a recent one. Companies that cater to people who want to be self-reliant for food, water, and power have grown their revenue by about 700 percent over the last decade, and prepper products are now offered in places like Costco, Kmart, and Bed Bath & Beyond.

       But it's not at all clear what's driving this growth—why are more people getting ready for society's collapse? Some explanations focus on a tendency toward paranoia in American society or fears of terrorism or natural disaster. But actual evidence that directly supports any of these ideas as the main reason is pretty sparse.

      So Michael Mills at the UK's University of Kent decided to correct this gap in our knowledge. Mills went on an American road trip, spending time talking to (and butchering animals with) 39 preppers in 18 different US states. Rather than rampant paranoia, Mills suggests, preppers are motivated by non stop media coverage of natural disasters, as well as a government that encourages them to prepare for the worst.

• "5 Ways to Refinish a Gun Stock Yourself, Plus Other Touch-Up Tricks"--Outdoor Life. Some tips on removing a dent, fixing a gouge, restoring faded wood, sprucing up the color, and products generally used to protect the stock.
• "Beginners Guide To Reloading, Part 2: Inspection, cleaning, and resizing"--The Firearms Blog. You can find Part 1--discussing equipment--here.
• Well, what d'ya know: "Dancing FBI agent charged with assault after dropping gun during backflip"--Denver Post.
• "Phil Murphy's attorney general fires warning shot at 'ghost gun' makers"--NJ.com. The New Jersey attorney general has sent cease-and-desist letters to manufacturers of 80% lowers, alleging that they are parts for an "assault weapon" and prohibited under New Jersey law.
• "Mastering Your AR — Getting the Most Out of Your Rifle"--Guns Magazine. Glen Zediker offers some tips on trigger pull and resting the foreend to maximize your accuracy. An excerpt:

        Triggering mechanics are very important to good groups. Without good technique and, mostly an awareness of technique, sight movement, which of course is also rifle movement, can be introduced. Better control comes when only the first pad of the index finger touches the trigger face. Of massive importance is that the trigger finger touches nothing else! Don’t let it push in on the pistol grip. Because of the relatively very short distance from trigger face to the leading edge of the pistol grip, it’s a challenge for those with even mid-size hands to get handhold position. Most find they have better command when they have to “reach” their finger a little to engage the trigger––thicker front to back pistol grips help.

       Press the trigger using only pressure from the finger, and move the trigger straight back. It’s a completely isolated movement when done right. Watch for movement or tension in the first finger joint (the one nearest the hand). This first joint should be dead still. If you dry fire a rested rifle and watch sight movement, this should teach you all you need to know. Make adjustments in technique until it quiets down. Watch especially for side to side or tilting—or both—sight movement, usually caused by either the trigger finger pressing against the pistol grip, or first-joint finger movement or having the finger too far “across” the trigger face.

• This article was linked to in yesterday's Woodpile Report. If you haven't read it, you should: "The Coming Civil War (United States), Cool Maps, and Uncomfortable Truths"--Wilder, Wealthy & Wise. The author references a map from Colin Woodward and Tufts University, and Brian Stauffer, depicting the 11 cultures that they contend make up the United States, and compares it to a map showing the Trump/Clinton results (on a county level), and how well they correspond. He also writes:

       So, we have a civil war.  What’s the end look like?

       Breakup.

        I don’t think that the things that have held us together as a nation will continue to hold us together.  What values do we have in common anymore?  It seems like . . . none. 

Other Stuff:

• "They're Here, They're Queer, and Now They're Coming for Christians — and for Our Jobs"--PJ Media. Reacting to Crossfit firing one of its executives, Russell Berger, for defending a franchise gym that refused to host a gay pride event, the author observes that we should expect the left in the United States to behave like communists have everywhere:

Eventually, probably sooner rather than later, Christians (and Jews and everyone else who holds to the biblical view of sexuality and marriage) will be asked to cheer for the cultural revolution—with gusto. And for many, their enthusiasm (or lack of it) will determine whether they'll be able to keep their job. How will you choose? Will you obey God rather than men? If you choose to be obedient to God, there will be a price to pay for your faithfulness.

• Related: A comment at Vox Day's blog on this issue: "The sodomites moved from 'gay marriage won't affect you!' to 'celebrate us or we'll destroy your livelihood!' faster than tuberculosis in an AIDS-ravaged immune system."

• Undermining the Constitution: "National Popular Vote Movement Continues to Quietly Neutralize the Electoral College"--PJ Media. Progressives, including some nominally on the right, want to further diminish the role of states and the protections for less populous states enshrined in the Constitution, and instead base presidential elections on the national popular vote. Of course, it would take a Constitutional amendment to get rid of the Electoral College. In an attempt at an end run around it, the movement has been seeking to get states to voluntarily assign their electoral votes according to the national popular vote, regardless of the outcome in the particular state. So far 10 states plus the District of Columbia have agreed to such a compact, with Connecticut the latest state to sign up. This is how you get civil war.
• A plan to turn California into three "blue" states: "Plan to divide California into THREE states will be put to voters in November after billionaire's petition gains more than 400,000 signatures"--Daily Mail. If you look at the map, the northern proposed state would be dominated by San Francisco and Oakland, thus rendering it a democratic stronghold. The proposed coastal state is essentially L.A. and its environs, and would also be blue. The third state, comprising the interior and southern part of California, would be dominated by San Diego. So, in reality, this is merely an attempt to boost the number of electoral votes that California would have in Presidential elections, while making sure that those votes still go to the Democratic candidate.
• "A Modest Observation About Suicide"--Andrew Klavan at PJ Media. Suicide rates have climbed over the last few decades, even as anti-depressants are being prescribed in record amounts. Klavan writes:

This is what I believe. The over-prescription of anti-depressants represents a trend in scientific thinking away from a true understanding of human life as a spiritual matter, and toward the idea that we are walking chemistry sets that can be adjusted to taste. I think this trend is utterly mistaken, the idea completely wrong.

• Blacks can be serial killers: "Former nurse is charged with murder as cops probe his involvement in A THOUSAND unexplained deaths and attacks"--Daily Mail. There seems to be a myth that serial killers are white, whereas, in reality, it pretty much shakes out like other crime statistics.
• "White Missouri waitress, 20, is fired after she was caught bragging in a Snapchat video about going 'n****r-hunting'"--Daily Mail. But if she had been black and bragging about going polar bear hunting, it wouldn't have even merited a single paragraph in the local newspaper. From the latter article:

       Attacks of this sort [the "knockout game"] have been rampant in St. Louis. But they have also occurred in Massachusetts, Wisconsin and elsewhere. In Illinois the game has often been called “Polar Bear Hunting” by the young thugs, presumably because the targets are white.

       The main reason for many people’s surprise is that the mainstream media have usually suppressed news about the “knockout game” or about other and larger forms of similar orchestrated racial violence in dozens of cities in every region of the country. Sometimes the attacks are reported, but only as isolated attacks by unspecified “teens” or “young people” against unspecified victims, without any reference to the racial makeup of the attackers or the victims — and with no mention of racial epithets by the young hoodlums exulting in their own “achievement.”

       Despite such pious phrases as “troubled youths,” the attackers are often in a merry, festive mood. In a sustained mass attack in Milwaukee, going far beyond the dimensions of a passing “knockout game,” the attackers were laughing and eating chips, as if it were a picnic. One of them observed casually, “white girl bleed a lot.”

• Bad news for the 30-year old spinsters: "Good luck, ladies: Nearly HALF of men admit their ideal woman would have a BELOW-average weight - and the older they get, the younger they want their partners to be"--Daily Mail. 
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "Was The Guy Who Championed Fracking Murdered With A Car Cyber Attack?"--Anonymous Conservative. Police rules out suicide as the car's "black box" showed that he attempted to break before the crash, but the brakes apparently did not work. Interestingly, the car didn't appreciably slow, either, even though the vehicle was in a grassy median.