January 8, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"End of Silicon Valley, IT BEGINS"--Classiarius (3-1/2 min.)

The producer notes the massive devaluations of the stock values of some of the largest tech companies, including Facebook and Apple. Warren Buffet owns a significant amount of Apple stock. The producer believes that Buffet may self off his shares, further depressing the prices of Apple stock, and possibly starting a cascading effect of declining stock prices among these companies.

• Don't forget to check out this week's Woodpile Report.
• "Stock Removal Tool / Not-A-Bumpstock"--Loose Rounds. 
• Greg Ellifritz has some thoughts on why hybrid (Kydex and leather/nylon) holsters are a bad idea, no matter the brand, because they don't hold up over time (the backing material softens and loosens up), interfering with reholstering a weapon, and can fail if someone tries to grab your holstered weapon.
• Hornady has now stepped up and is selling 5.56 NATO by the barrel--nearly 14,000 rounds.
• I want one: "Hellfire Unleashed: XL-18 Flamethrower Full Review"--Guns America. It has a maximum range of 100 feet. Per the article, "The system is designed using CO2, which acts as a fire suppression system and keeps the flame from moving back into the gun. As the fuel is used up, the CO2 occupies the empty space in the gas tank making it impossible for a lit flame to enter the tank. It is also a closed loop system meaning atmospheric air cannot get into the system." Weight is 45 pounds. It can use just a fuel (the article states that diesel fuel is the best), or a fuel and napalm mixture. Napalm can be purchased from the manufacturer. In WWII, napalm was used for the coup d'grace against defenders pinned down in a fixed defensive emplacement. It was also a terribly effective psychological weapon.
• "Boys More Likely To Be Victims Of Teen Dating Violence Than Girls, Study Shows"--Study Finds. Although dating violence has been declining, "[i]n a surprising twist, recently published research indicates boys are more likely to report being victims of dating violence committed by partners who hit, slap or push them."
• "The Small Rifle vs Large Rifle Primer Debate"--Rifle Shooter Magazine. There is an increasing interest in using small rifle primers in cartridges that normally would require a large rifle primer. The pros of using the small rifle primers is a more consistent burn shot-to-shot, all other things being equal; the cons is that there is less consistent ignition or burn in cold weather.
• "Reloading Without a Bench"--Guns America. Most of you have probably heard of Lee Loaders, which allowed you to reload a single caliber (per set) at a table with nothing more than the kit and a mallet. I didn't know that Lee was still making it Loader kits, but apparently it it. However, if you want to step up your game a bit, but without having to invest in a bench mounted reloading press, Lee also makes a hand reloading press, designed to be squeezed in the hand, and which takes regular dies. Even if you have a reloading set up, I could see using this to help with developing loads while at the range.
• "We Have All Waited a Long Time for This… The Colt King Cobra Returns!"--The Firearm Blog. Apparently this was going to be announced at Shot Show, but the information leaked. It appears to be a medium-frame, 6-round .357 Magnum revolver sporting a 3 inch barrel. No other details available yet.
• A good argument for using an AR15 for home defense: "Grandfather of Oklahoma teen killed by homeowner in burglary says AR15 made for 'unfair' fight"--The Blaze. From the article:

        Three Oklahoma teenagers were killed last week when they broke into a house and were met by a homeowner with an AR15. Now the grandfather of one of the teenagers is speaking out about his grandson's death.

       According to KTUL-TV, Leroy Schumacher, grandfather of 17-year-old Jacob Redfearn, believes the death of Redfearn was unjustified because the homeowner's AR15 gave him an unfair advantage over the three burglars.

• "House Democrats to Introduce National Universal Background Check Bill Today"--The Truth About Guns.
• "Crimes of Survival: A new trend in criminal-justice reform rationalizes stealing."--City Journal. From the article:

The theory holds that the homeless, the poor, and people of color commit property crimes and low-level infractions in order to secure their basic survival. Any enforcement of these laws is thus a violation of their basic human rights and should be relaxed—that is, local governments should stop enforcing any laws that “criminalize homelessness” and “criminalize poverty.”

It is, as the author notes, the opposite of the broken windows theory of policing. Moreover, the theory has no place in the United States where "[t]he federal government currently spends more than $1 trillion a year on anti-poverty programs, including general assistance, food stamps, housing vouchers, SSI, and WIC," and every city has numerous additional public and private programs and organizations to assist the poor and homeless. 

       The theory is also not being implemented to protect those that steal a loaf of breach or some such, but to decriminalize crime. 

 Over the past five years, the classification of survival crime has expanded well beyond stealing the proverbial loaf of bread. In California, for instance, Proposition 47 downgraded theft of property valued at less than $950 to a misdemeanor, meaning that the police are unlikely to pursue even habitual shoplifters and thieves. The predictable result: a statewide rise in petty theft. Seattle and King County recently released new guidelines calling on police officers to stop arresting individuals for all “homelessness-related crimes,” with the goal of “eliminating racial disproportionality” and ensuring that policies “do not penalize homelessness and poverty.” Meantime, city and county prosecutors have dropped thousands of misdemeanor cases against “vulnerable populations.” All this has caused widespread frustration among residents and law enforcement officers. As one veteran Seattle cop told me: “We have basically stopped enforcing the law against the homeless population. Political leaders don’t want it and prosecutors won’t pursue charges. It’s a waste of time.” In New York City, the NYPD has backed off from arresting people for subway fare evasion, on the grounds that enforcement has a disparate impact on the poor; farebeating has risen sharply since the new policy was enacted.

The author warns that proponents of decriminalizing these crimes are increasingly suggesting that criminal laws should not be enforced against "marginalized" or "oppressed" communities or identity groups. Guess who that would leave.

"We Are The Minority And We Get Nothing"--Red Ice TV (2-1/2 min.)

Some working class Brits sound off on how immigration has made them minorities in their own neighborhoods, but because of discrimination by minority owned businesses and landlords, they have an increasingly hard time finding work or even a place to live; yet, there are no government programs to assist them.

• My wife and I have watched a few episodes of the Netflix series The Kominsky Method starring and directed by Michael Douglas. It is about an aging acting coach, Sandy Kominsky (played by Douglas) and his best friend, Norman Newlander (a wealthy agent for actors, played by Alan Arkin). The series begins with Newlander's wife (played by Susan Sullivan) dying of cancer, to which she quickly succumbs, after eliciting a promise from Kominsky to look after her husband. The show is chock full of highly rated Hollywood actors giving good performances and the writing is good. 

         My initial impression of the program was that it was meant to capture the anxieties and fears of the Boomer generation as they now are nearing the end of their lives, and it seems to do a very good job at that. But there is more to the show.

        First, not only is it a Baby Boomer show, it is also a very Jewish show. In fact, I don't think that Netflix could have produced a television program that more effectively conveyed the idea (real or not) that Jews control Hollywood, what with so many characters being both Hollywood elite and Jewish. But that brings me to the second point, which is that Douglas drops "Jesus" as an expletive constantly, so much so that I had a sudden epiphany: as Jewish actors and directors, they see nothing wrong with constantly using the Lord's name in vain, nor suggesting that we should do the same. 

• Laws are for the little people: "Another Black Man Has Died in the Home of Democratic Donor Ed Buck"--Advocate. The article reports:

Buck, a white man in his 60s, was investigated previously by authorities after the death of Gemmel Moore, who died of a methamphetamine overdose in Buck's home in July 2017. Since Moore's death was classified as an accidental overdose, numerous young black gay men have alleged that Buck has a fetish for shooting drugs into black men he picks up off the street or on hookup sites. Moore had written about Buck injecting him with dangerous drugs before his death.

Buck was never charged in Moore's death, and the latest death is being characterized as an accidental overdose.

• Our facial recognition software isn't working: "France cracks down on Yellow Vest protests with plans to BAN demonstrators from wearing masks"--Daily Mail. 
• Let them eat cake: "New UN Boss Tells Europe Migration Unstoppable, Says Politicians Should Ignore Voters"--Breitbart. The incoming Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, told policy makers that "that migration is inevitable and will not stop," and "urged lawmakers to prioritise 'values' over respecting voters’ wishes." The article concludes by noting:

        Far from being linked to wealth, data from different European countries support the idea that non-European migrants are a net cost to nations’ treasuries. In the Netherlands, 65 per cent of non-European migrants who arrived during the 1990s are still living on welfare.

       The research of University College London psychology professor Dr. James Thompson shows Europe is being harmed by mass migration from poorer countries, as on average the newcomers’ intellectual competence is much lower than that of natives.

      Partly as a result of their culture and partly due to genetics, he notes that the difference in intelligence results in migrants having “lower status, lower wages and higher resentment at perceived differences.

       “On the latter point, if the West cannot bear to mention competence differences, then differences in outcome are seen as being due solely to prejudice,” Thompson warns.

• You may know of the news accounts of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes being shot in Walmart parking lot in Houston. Witnesses swore that the shooter was white, and Barnes families and other insisted that the killing was a hate crime. Well, the perpetrator was apprehended and he is a 20 year old black man named Eric Black Jr.
• The consequences to motor-voter registration: "Did non-citizens vote last year? California officials still can’t say"--Sacramento Bee. "California officials still can’t say whether non-citizens voted in the June 2018 primary because a confusing government questionnaire about eligibility was created in a way that prevents a direct answer on citizenship." Translation: we didn't want to include a question about citizenship.
• The usual suspects: "'Mall brawl' involving hundreds of youths yields 4 arrests: 3 adults and 1 teen, police say"--Fox News.
• Things heating up in Germany, with reports that "Frank Magnitz, chairman of Germany’s AfD party, was badly beaten by three alleged assailants on Monday." The attack is believed to have been politically motivated.  
• An inconvenient truth: "Deep Pacific Waters Are Cooling Down Due To Centuries-Ago Little Ice Age, New Study Suggests"--Inquisitor. The article indicates that "[a]ccording to a report from Science Daily, a team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and Harvard University discovered that there has been a 'lag' of a few centuries in terms of temperature change in the deep Pacific. This part of the ocean, the report stressed, is still seemingly cooling and adjusting to the temperature drops of the Little Ice Age while the rest of the Pacific gets warmer as a result of modern factors." This is unfortunate for the global warming cabal because it was these very deep ocean waters that were supposed to be absorbing the heat that led to the global warming hiatus. 
• "Sunspot update December 2018: Decline to solar minimum continues"--Behind the Black. Key part:

          One interested detail however: When NOAA issued this graph last month, it finally extended it out beyond the end of 2019 to the end of 2022. In doing so, it also extended out the 2009 prediction of the solar science community, as indicated by the red curve. I hadn’t commented on this last month, but if you look at that curve it drops to zero and then flatlines for the entire year of 2022.

        If this is what the solar science community now expects for this upcoming minimum, it means that community is now expecting a record-breaking minimum, lasting far longer than any previous minimum, two to three years at least. It also means that they have not dismissed the possibility that the Sun is about to enter a Grand Minimum, where no significant sunspot activity is seen for literally decades.

       Should such a grand minimum occur, it bodes ill for global warming advocates. The track record of the Earth’s climate consistently shows that when sunspot activity declines, the global climate gets colder. Why this happens is not clearly understood, though there is at least one theory backed up by good experimental data. Should this happen, we shall discover that global cooling is a far worse thing to fear than global warming.

• Mark of the Beast: "Leave no dark corner"--Australian Broadcasting Company. "The Communist Party calls it 'social credit' and says it will be fully operational by 2020. Within years, an official Party outline claims, it will 'allow the trustworthy to roam freely under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step'." Read the whole thing.

Update: Corrected date in title. I'm so worried about not putting 2018 instead of 2019, and then put 9 instead of 8 for the day. Ugh.