September 17, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Cleaning Black Powder Rifles and Cartridges"--Iraqveteran8888 (27 min.)

• "NSSF: AR-15/AK numbers top 16 million"--Guns.com. Note that this number does not include firearms built or imported prior to 1989, and does not include those built from 80% lowers or parts kits by home builders are not included. 
• "Why Are Gun Sales Up in the U.S.?"--The Survivalist Blog. The author points out that "[b]ackground checks on firearms (only a partial indicator of purchasing activity) are up around 5% from the same time period in 2017." The question is "why?"  Over the last 15 or 20 years, the primary reason for spikes in gun sales have been fear that certain firearms (or firearms generally) will be restricted by Congress. This can be prompted by mass shootings that dominate the airwaves, comments or legislation introduced by gun grabbing politicians (Obama was the greatest gun salesman of all time), or major elections. Unfortunately, the author does not explore why sales are up this year, in particular. I would guess that it is probably a mix of several factors: fear of a "blue wave," low prices on many firearms, buyers still releasing pent up demand for firearms other than the AR from the Obama years, improved economy. However, the author makes a valid point: the time to buy is now when firearms and ammunition is plentiful, rather than later during another panic.
• "The New Handgun Combatives Target: Shot placement is paramount!"--Handgun Combatives. The author discusses the three main methods by which a bullet wound can cause incapacitation of a target: the psychological incapacitation, destroying something important (heart, spine, base of the brain, etc.), and blood loss. The author continues:

       Regardless of what you believe about handgun stopping power theories, bullet caliber/size/weight, velocity or any of the other related topics, the one thing most everyone agrees on is that shots to vital body parts is the best way to stop and fight and the more rounds delivered, the more likely this is to occur. This is why I spent a sizeable amount of time in my classes on shot placement and recoil control before moving on to tactics and techniques like movement, one hand manipulation, cover, etc. Stopping the threat before it can do you harm might be the ultimate tactic!  It will require solid shot placement…

       In order to accomplish this essential skill, I spend a great deal of time shooting 3 x 5 cards in my classes.  A 3 x 5 card is about the same size as the heart and aorta and is likely the best focus region for handgun incapacitation as it is centered in the high chest.  I like to use a series of paste overs in my courses that emphasize the vital parts of the body along with 3 x 5 cards to get my students to “zero in” on the vital zones. ... 

 ... I am a big proponent of what Todd Green calls “negative taping” in which only misses are taped. By doing so, less time is spent taping and more time is spent shooting.

• "Classic Guns: Japanese Type 99 Arisaka Rifle"--Shooting Illustrated. Japan entered the 20th Century with one of the most modern rifles of the era: the Type 38 rifle using a 6.5 mm projectile. However, there were some shortcomings to the Type 38--primarily the length (especially as more countries moved to "carbines" or short rifles) and concerns over the adequacy of the cartridge. Japan decided to update the Type 38 by shortening the overall length, and switching to a larger caliber cartridge, the 7.7 mm (although the author doesn't discuss it, the Japanese 7.7 mm used the same caliber bullet as the British .303--a .311 diameter bullet--and provided about the same power and performance. It is best thought of as a rimless version of the .303 Enfield). Unfortunately, as the article describes in more detail, the rifle gained a reputation for poor quality due to late war models that suffered from lack of materials and simplification of manufacture, and unfortunate incidents of American soldiers attempting to shoot live rounds through training rifles never intended to fire full power rounds.
• "Precision Rifle: Getting Zeroed"--Shooting Sports USA. This is a little more involved than zeroing a rifle for hunting or getting a combat zero:

First chronograph at least five rounds of your load, and average the velocities. Next, use this average velocity, along with your bullet’s ballistic coefficient (BC), to develop a trajectory table for your load using your ballistics software of choice. Some programs include BCs for many bullets. Other programs may require you to enter a BC value, which can be obtained from the manufacturer’s website or catalog.

• "Taking Care of Dental Emergencies Post-SHTF"--The Survivalist Blog. This article concentrates on various herbal remedies that can be used to alleviate tooth or gum pain, information on growing some of the herbs or plants, and making your own mouth wash. You can also buy emergency dental kits of various prices and capabilities (see e.g., here, here, here, here, here and here, respectively).
• Another from Handgun Combatives: "After almost 30 years…thoughts on gear." After reviewing and using different equipment over the past 30 years, the author lists the brands that he has found to be the best, including: Glock pistols, Ruger revolvers, older Remington shotguns and rifles, Milt Sparks and Alessi Leather holsters, Under Armour, Spyderco and Kershaw knives, Surefire, Maxpedition, Merrell shoes, Aimpoint, Magpul, and Federal ammo. The author offers some thoughts as to each.

"The Polish German War - 001 - WW2 September 1 1939"--World War Two (12 min.)

The narrator/creator of this channel, Indy Neidell, is also the host of The Great War Channel--a week-by-week history of World War I. In this channel, he and his team will be giving WWII a similar treatment, discussing events and developments on a week-by-week basis, together with other videos providing additional information on particular topics. The Great War series has been great, and I expect this series to be just as good. And for those interested in the inter-war period, Indy recommends this short series.

• The swamp fights back: "Kavanaugh’s Accuser Has Now Come Forward"--The Daily Wire. The latest attempt by the left to derail the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings is a claim by Christine Blasey Ford that she was sexually assaulted in high school by Kavanaugh and a friend. Something that Ford didn't think to tell to anyone for 30 years and, of which, she admits that she "doesn’t remember key details like exactly when the incident occurred or where specifically." There are many reasons not to believe the account, starting with her lack of memory: if she was too drunk to remember the details of where and when the alleged assault took place, why should we trust her to remember who was involved. Tellingly, a large number of women that knew and dated Kavanaugh have also come forward to state what a gentleman he was. Assaults like this are rarely one-time affairs, so if it happened to Ford, it should have happened to other women that Kavanaugh knew. There is also the fact, as Vox Day has pointed out, that SJW's always lie. Ford is a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, a Democrat supporter, and an opponent to Trump's attempts to reduce illegal immigration, so she definitely falls into the SJW camp. And, finally, there is the unfortunate fact that women make up stuff like this all the time. For instance, just today, the Daily Mail reports on an "Ex-girlfriend, 25, 'who bought a fake baby bump after her boyfriend dumped her sent their clients emails claiming he had raped her'." And it doesn't even have to be sexual assaults: there was also a report of woman arrested for filing a false police report after it was determined that she had made up the story of a hate crime allegedly committed by Trump supporters. In short, none the of the prior accusations against Kavanaugh have stuck, so this is the last desperate attempt to besmirch the man's reputation.
• "Amazon staff are 'taking bribes of more than $2,000' from online merchants to delete bad reviews, restore banned accounts and reveal customers' private buying trends"--Daily Mail. From the article:

       Sellers, predominantly based in China, are buying the data in a bid to gain an edge over competitors and boost sales on the online store, according to a new report.

      Amazon confirmed it was investigating these new allegations, which also accused employees of offering to delete negative reviews and restore banned accounts for cash.

       Fake customer reviews written by the merchants themselves were also among the probe's chief concerns, the company said.

(Underline added).

• "The Heartbreaking Message Disguised as Female Empowerment"--Meridian Magazine. The author of this article asks how aggressive flaunting of sexuality leads to female empowerment. The author writes:

       However, the twentieth century saw the focus of feminism turn from fighting for women to fighting against family. With the emersion of radical feminism, feminist theory blamed marriage and family life for creating sex roles that perpetuate the oppression of women. Consider these quotes from early twentieth century feminists: the family is “simply an institution for the more complete subjugation and enslavement of women and children;” marriage is “an institution which robs a woman of her individuality and reduces her to that of a prostitute;” motherhood “is a calamity to be avoided” at all costs; and “The family goes back to the age of savagery while the state belongs to the age of civilization.”

       Their thinking was, and is, that men have an unfair biological advantage in the workplace. Therefore, in order for women to rise to their highest potential, they need to be free to have sex without the consequence of childbearing, and free to engage in the workplace without the burden of family. This is a decidedly male-centric worldview. How exactly does it advance the place of women and womanhood, who still overwhelmingly value marriage and motherhood, if, in order to find equality in society, they must refashion themselves in the image of non-childbearing men?

Well, there are other lies that have been taught to women as well. One of those being that women are somehow owed a "good man" simply by virtue of being a woman. Dalrock has addressed the problem of this attitude in many posts, but raises it most recently in a post entitled "It turns out they *both* want a tall man." The subject of the post is a short YouTube video ostensibly made by two women who travel to a different town to try and meet Mr. Right. They were unsuccessful. But as Dalrock notes, "[n]either of the two women give any indication in the nine and a half minute video that they understand they aren’t the only ones choosing, that they are being silently rejected by men just as they are silently ruling nearly all men out."

•  "9 Things I Consider When Prophets Disagree with My Politics"--Latter-Day Saint Philosopher. This is a good article that raises a point that I've brought up before: that in regard to commandments that we don't understand, we may not know, and may never know, why it was beneficial to us. The author writes, in part:

When we evaluate the teachings of God’s servants against our ideological worldview (whether it be liberalism, libertarianism, conservatism, or any other perspective), we risk elevating our own ideas over God Himself. In other words, the problem is not libertarianism, liberalism, conservatism, or any other belief system. The problem was with –isms entirely, when those –isms lead us to prioritize abstract ideas over ongoing revelation.

Where the author falls down, in my opinion, is applying this to the Church's recent statement issued in opposition to Proposition 2, which aims to legalize the use of medical marijuana in Utah. And the failure is because the Church's opposition rests, not on inspiration or revelation, but on a legal opinion that appears to be written by a first or second year associate attorney. The author apparently recognizes this weakness in his argument, because he explains:

 If the First Presidency’s reservations about Proposition 2 are inspired, I wouldn’t expect them to come with reasons attached. So it stands to reason that the Church must turn to knowledgeable third parties to supply those reasons, if it is to supply any reason at all. The arguments supplied by these third parties (Kirton McConkie, in this case) could be quite flawed, or even spectacularly wrong — and yet the reservations of the Church could still be divinely inspired. Even if I disagree with some of the arguments made by Kirton McConkie, it doesn’t change my opinion that the Church’s warning should be heeded.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, there are numerous flaws with the Kirton McConkie firm's legal memorandum. But, more tellingly to me, is that there is nothing in the Church's official statement that even suggests that the leaders relied on revelation or inspiration. Rather, the statement ends by suggesting that members read the memorandum and "make their own judgment." Well, I did as the Church instructed, and made my own judgment.

•  "How Brazilian Coyotes Get Their Customers Into America−It Starts With Bribing A Mexican"--V Dare. A Brazilian coyote gave an interview discussing the steps he takes to smuggle people into the United States. It starts with bribing immigration officials in Mexico, but the final step of smuggling people into the United States relies on information and cooperation of in the Unites States, including, possibly, those working with ICE (it specifically mentions getting information on when shelters for children were full or when guards changed along the border). The cost is about $20,000 to be smuggled. And, as the coyote explains: 

According to him, about ten percent of the Brazilians that hire his services are caught by the police. For these cases he's got a network of lawyers who try to release the person through bail while the judicial process runs its course. "Even if the person is deported in the end, there's enough time till the final decision for he or she to amass a good amount of money."

• "The Fundamental Question"--PA. The author notes the fundamental difference between the left and right in American politics: "... appeals to higher values and self-interest are foreign language to libs. There is no communication because we live in different worlds, like black-square and white-square bishops on the chessboard: proximate but never connecting. Namely, the Right follows Truth, the Left follows Power." And the fundamental question facing the republic, according to the author, is whether to increase or decrease immigration. I think it is too late for that question. Even if all immigration, legal and illegal, were stopped tomorrow, white Americans will be disenfranchised within the next one to two decades.

• Related: "Mexican national pleads guilty to illegal voting in Harris County"--Houston Chronicle. 
• Related: And from Florida: "‘This is Hialeah!’ Taco Bell employee refuses to help client [sic] who doesn’t speak Spanish"--Miami Herald.  

• "The long retreat"--Vox Day. He begins: "I always find Americans who insist that ethnic cleansing isn't possible to be amusingly clueless, considering how much of it took place there in the last century, from Detroit, where the blacks ethnically cleansed the whites, to Compton, where the Mexicans ethnically cleansed the blacks."
• "ISS hole saga's new twist: More drill scratches discovered on outside hull"--RT. The article indicates that the drill holes and scratches were found on a Russian built module, and the result of a negligent workman. I'd be looking really hard at the workman as a possible saboteur.
• "Heat Analysis of NOAA Data Suggests the US Is Not Seeing Increased Warming"--Watts Up With That. "The overall net temperature change is 0, which means the net change in heat content is also zero (ΔQ = ƒ{ΔT} = ƒ{0} = 0)."