A Quick Run Around the Web (6/3/2020)

"Guns 101 - Home Carry with Massad Ayoob"--Polite Society Podcast (11 min.)

An interview about the basics of home carry and why you want to do so.

• Just what every neighborhood watch needs right now: "THE TIPPMANN ARMORY GATLING 9MM GUN"--Guns Magazine. You should visit the website just to see the photographs of the thing. But here is a short description:

The magwell on the Tippmann Armory Gatling Gun sprouts at a jaunty angle about the 10 o’clock position and accepts standard GLOCK magazines. Unlike some of the rare cartridges driving the originals, this modern Tippmann version runs on cheap 9mm Parabellum. The whole shebang rides atop a pair of pneumatic wheels apparently borrowed from a furniture dolly. The synergistic result is cool beyond the capacity of the language to adequately describe.

The gun and carriage weigh in at 62 lbs., so it could probably be easily towed with a bicycle or small motorized vehicle. $5,000, though, although that is actually a low price for something that mimics a fully automatic weapon.

• "AR15, AK47, and SCAR have a Baby: Meet the M10X World Rifle"--Guns America. Essentially an AK for the 21st Century, incorporating features from several different rifles, to make a reasonably accurate (~2 MOA) rifle with a top rail, easily cleaned, and a decent thumb actuated safety.
• "Law Tactical – The Story of the AR Folding Stock Adapter"--AR Build Junkie. How this product came about and developments and improvements in different generations.
• "3 Methods of Barrel Rifling: Pros vs. Cons"--NRA Family. A look at cut, button, and broach methods of rifling.

• More: "Hammer-Forged & Cation Rifling"--NRA Family. A follow up article looking at two additional methods of rifling.

• "How to Disappear for Good"--Modern Survival Online. The author begins:

      I disappeared almost two decades ago. I did it to leave behind abusive so-called family and supposed friends. I had to take extreme measure to protect my physical health and wellbeing, my sanity, to reach goals, and experience personal growth and development.

      I cringe at who I would be if I had remained in the company of people who were so cruel, and focused on holding me back. I moved to another town, lived there for a bit, and then moved to another state, without telling anyone.

     I changed my appearance. I got colored contacts, a new haircut, grew a beard, and got a new wardrobe, a new job, and a new car that I paid cash for. I do not have a social media presence under my real name. I have numerous pen names and screen names.

     My landline phone is unlisted. I do not have a cell phone or mobile device. I am opted out of people finders. If anyone tried googling me by my real name, they would find volumes of false information.

     As I also have one neurotically determined family member stalking me from time to time (it has been six years since I have had her intrude on me), I never take the same route anywhere twice in a row, or I depart and arrive at different times.

     I shred all documents with my name and address, or any other personal identifying information. I never respond to surveys of any kind, and I do not let anyone take my photo. I don’t talk about myself and keep to myself.

      In this article, I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do to completely disappear without a trace.

The remainder of the article discusses the hows and whys of disappearing. 

• "How to Cop-Proof Your Phone Before Heading to a Protest"--Gizmodo. From the article:

      Enabling a strong PIN or password (not “1234" or “password,” please) instead of face or fingerprint login is the safest course of action. On iOS, navigate to Settings then scroll down and choose Face ID & Passcode to deactivate Face ID. Different versions of Android will have the settings for biometrics located in different areas, so you’ll want to check with your specific phone and version of Android. Look for Face Unlock or Fingerprint Unlock under Settings.

     You’ll also probably want to disable any digital assistants on your phone, as you don’t want Siri, Alexa, or the Google Assistant potentially snitching on you. This, again, depends on which phone and apps you use. On iOS, go to Settings and then choose Siri & Search and then deactivate both Listen for “Hey Siri” and “Allow Siri When Locked.” On Google devices, again, navigate to Settings and look for Google Assistant to deactivate it. For other voice assistants like Alexa and Cortana, you’ll want to navigate into the apps themselves or be safe and delete them altogether. You can always download them again later.

Know how to force-enable PIN/Password entry

      Most people have their phones set to require a PIN or password after five or 10 minutes of inactivity, which normally is fine. In a protest, though, you don’t want someone to be able to access your phone without a password because you just had it unlocked. To change that on iOS, navigate to Settings and then Face ID & Passcode and change Require Passcode to Immediately. It’s again, more difficult to do on Android, but can usually be found in Settings under Security or Passcode.

     If you’re in a situation where your phone could potentially get confiscated and you haven’t already changed the passcode requirements, it’s important to know how to force your phone to require a PIN or password the next time anyone tries to unlock it.

     The first way is to simply restart your phone, as on both Android and iOS devices, as long as you have a PIN/password set, the operating system will require a PIN/password upon restart.

     But if you’re in a pinch, there are even faster ways. On modern iPhones, you can hold the lock button and either one of the volume buttons for a few seconds. If things are really dire, you can trigger a call to emergency services by pressing the lock and volume buttons together quickly five times.

     On Android, there’s a special Lockdown setting that can appear anytime you hold the phone’s power button down, but before you can use it, you need to enable the option in your device’s settings first. On most versions of Android, it’s found by going to Settings and then choosing Security & Location. Next, choose Lock Screen Preferences and Show Lockdown Options.

Turn on Airplane Mode to prevent government tracking

      As we’ve seen in China, governments have started getting more sophisticated when it comes to using technology to monitor people, including the use of tracking devices that connect to nearby cell or wifi nodes. So if you really want to bring a smartphone to a protest to record videos or snap pictures, you may want to consider turning on your phone’s airplane mode to help hide your digital footprint.

       Note: In iOS, turning on Airplane Mode only disables cellular data, which means you’ll have to disable wi-fi separately. 

      Unfortunately, turning on airplane mode comes with the downside of your phone not being readily usable to communicate with others, so if you do temporarily enable airplane mode, it’s important to know how to quickly turn it off again. On Android, open the notifications tray with a swipe from the top of the screen and choose Airplane Mode. On iOS, swipe from the top right of the screen and press the Airplane button.

Back up your data

       If you’re heading out for some civil disobedience, you have to face the fact that you could lose all the data on your phone. So if you’re serious about making sure that doesn’t happen, you’ll want to back up your phone before you leave.

      On Android, you can back up your phone’s data to your Google account, so that later you can restore the back on on your phone, or even an entirely different Android device.

      Meanwhile on iOS, there are simple ways to backup your device to iCloud or a local Apple computer, so you can safely restore everything in case your iPhone gets lost or damaged.

Set up Personal Safety in Android or Emergency Contacts/Medical ID in iOS

       Another thing to configure before you head out is any personal medical info and emergency contacts. In Android, Google’s Personal Health feature has a dedicated place to list emergency contacts, along with place to list pertinent medical details such as allergies, blood type, and more.

      Meanwhile, on iOS devices, Apple provides a similar system as part of Apple Health that lets you create a Medical ID and health profile, with the option to add emergency contacts under the Emergency SOS settings.

Consider Screen Pinning or Guided Access

       While these features may only be useful in niche situations, it’s important to know that both Android and iOS have a way of displaying one app while locking everything else behind your PIN or password. This can be useful in case you need to hand over your phone to show a virtual insurance or ID card, but don’t want the police to have full access to your phone.

      In Android, this feature is called Screen Pinning, while in iOS, it’s called Guided Access. While the setup varies slightly between platforms, both versions allow you to configure a way to provide limited access to an app or a file on your phone without giving someone free rein over the entire device.

      Finally, the other main thing you should do before leaving for a protest is make sure your device is charged up and has lots of available storage. Almost every phone nowadays has a way to access its camera without fully unlocking the phone, so you can capture photos or videos more securely. Furthermore, the built-in voice recorders on most phones will continue to record audio even when locked, so if anything goes down, you’ll want to make sure you have room to record everything you can.

• "What to Do If You've Been Pepper Sprayed"--Life Hacker. 

      Pepper spray is called that because it contains capsaicin, the chemical that makes chili peppers taste spicy. If you’ve ever rubbed your eyes after chopping jalapeños, you get the idea. It can irritate other parts of your body as well, including the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and vulva (wash your hands very well before going to the bathroom and wiping).

      Capsaicin is oily, and you may remember from chemistry class (or from kitchen experience) that oil dissolves best in other oils or in emulsifying mixtures like soap or milk. Soap is best for removing capsaicin from skin, but you’ll need to be a bit more delicate with your eyes.
How do you get pepper spray out of your eyes?

      Remove contact lenses—ideally with clean hands—if you have them in. Do not rub your eyes. (Do not rub or touch anything, if you can help it.) Blink repeatedly.

      As with tear gas, flushing your eyes with water is an effective and safe way to get pepper spray out. (Having a friend help you is ideal, since you may have trouble seeing.) Though water doesn’t bind to the chemical, a stream of water can still physically push the capsaicin out of your eyes. For this reason, make sure to squirt the eyes directly, and not other parts of the face—if there is pepper spray on your forehead, you don’t want to send it into your eyes.

      Aside from water, you can also use saline or a bit of no-tears baby shampoo mixed into water (mix this up in a spray or squirt bottle ahead of time).

      Less commonly recommended are milk and a 50/50 mixture of an antacid  such as Maalox and water. It’s unclear if these actually work better than the options above, and in general it’s best to avoid putting anything unnecessary into the eyes. If you do use an antacid, make sure it is unflavored. Mint flavoring, especially, will irritate eyes further.

      In cold weather or in places where you do not have access to water, a cloth or paper towel soaked in vegetable oil may help; wipe your eyes with it. Frontline Wellness, a group that provides medic support at protests, has a more complete guide to dealing with pepper spray here.

      It’s also worth noting that Mace makes their own brand of decontamination spray, although they don’t say what’s in it. You can buy it here. They say it “dramatically reduces pepper spray decontamination time.”

The article goes on to discuss the need to decontaminate your skin and clothes. For skin, washing with soap and water is recommended. Clothing can be washed, but you will want to put contaminated clothing in a sealed container or plastic bag to keep it from contaminating other items. Change out of clothing as soon as you can; you will probably want to have extra clothing with you.

• Related: "What to do if you’re exposed to tear gas"--Popular Science. From the article:

       Contrary to its name, CS gas—the technical name for tear gas—is actually a crystalline powder that is converted into a fine spray and propelled from a grenade or canister by a small pyrotechnic explosion. This chemical was first developed in 1928 by American scientists, and after years of studies, it eventually became a weapon widely used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Nowadays, tear gas is part of the crowd control arsenal of police and law enforcement agencies around the world, because it’s an easy way to disperse masses without the use of direct force.

     "People just assume it's safe, [but] it's important to know that these weapons actually do cause injuries,” says Dr. Rohini Haar, an emergency physician, and a research fellow at the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

      The active component in tear gas—2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile—targets a specific receptor in the body called TRPA1, which serves mainly to send pain signals to the nervous system. When a tear gas canister explodes, CS powder sprays into the air and adheres to any moisture it can find—that means the tears in your eyes, the sweat on your skin, the grease in your hair, and the saliva and mucus that covers your mouth and airways.

     When you’re exposed to tear gas, your eyes sting, your vision blurs, and you cry and blink uncontrollably. It gets worse the longer you’re in the gas: After a few seconds, you won’t be able to see, which will disorient and confuse you, potentially to the point of emotional and psychological distress.

     But that’s not all. The powder also irritates your airways, making it hard to breathe, and causes your chest to tighten. You’ll start coughing automatically and your nose and mouth will secrete copious amounts of mucus and saliva, respectively. It’s a defense mechanism, but it will, paradoxically, make the symptoms even worse. Some people report feeling like they’re drowning in their own secretions and, if you don’t move out of the cloud, more mucus will only give the powder more to stick to.

     “The body produces all these fluids and responses to expel this toxic irritant. In the case of tear gas, the response is very much exaggerated, and if people cannot escape, they get basically incapacitated,” says Sven-Eric Jordt, Ph.D., a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University School of Medicine, and part of the team responsible for discovering TRPA1’s role in tear gas response.

     Yes, this is scary, but taking minimal precautions will help you reduce these symptoms, move to safety, and, hopefully, help others along the way.

The article goes on to discuss preparations to take if you think you are going to be tear gassed, how to put out tear gas canisters (which rely on pyrotechnics to spread the tear gas), and what to do if you have been exposed. From the latter section:

      Hong Kong protesters carry around spray bottles with a baking soda and water solution (three teaspoons of powder for every 8.5 ounces of liquid), which they spray in their face and mouth to neutralize the effects of tear gas particles. Chilean protesters adopted this countermeasure and added it to their arsenal of traditional defenses against the chemical, which already included lemon wedges they suck on to clear their throats and airways.

      Protesters swear by these techniques. But the only home-made countermeasure that may have some sort of scientific back-up (only one study so far), is the water and baking soda solution. According to the 2003 study, CS molecules are rather unstable and eventually break apart in a process called hydrolyzation. Basic, or less acidic pHs, such as baking soda, seem to accelerate the process, which would help stop the symptoms produced by tear gas.

      "But there's really no evidence behind any of this, and I would be very careful about advising anything other than just lots of fresh air and a lot of water,” Haar says.

• "6 Ways To Defeat Facial Recognition Cameras"--Survivopedia. 
• Some light reading: "Schwartz's Principles of Surgery, 9th ed." (139 Mb) (courtesy of Survival UK).
• "Camoflauge Pattern Comparison"--Blue Line Sheepdog. A look at the following: Ranger Green, Tan, Multicam, ATACS-AU, Lupus, a Pakistani take on Rhodesian Brush Stroke, and Tigerstripe. I thought that the Tigerstripe actually did the best given the vegetation and lighting used in his examples.
• "Running the Gun: Double-Action Revolvers Revisited" by W.F. "Bill" Vanderpool at American Rifleman. A good primer on grip, sight alignment, trigger control (both single- and double-action), stance, and reloading.
• "Threat Anatomy: 6 Examples of How Bullet Placement Can Stop Danger"--by Massad Ayoob at Tactical Life. An excerpt:

     DeYoung’s Threat Anatomy course emphasizes aiming at the parts inside the opponent’s body that have to be shut down to keep him from killing the officer or anyone else. With cardiac hits, he pointed out, there may not be an instant stop. He told us of Case One: “We had one man stabbed with a long knife through the heart, right atrium through septum through left ventricle. He walked downstairs with the paramedics and talked with them in the ambulance until he slowly lost consciousness. They were performing CPR by the time they arrived at the hospital. He died on the table. There was almost 12 minutes between him receiving that wound and losing consciousness.” He added, “The Department of Justice determined that aiming level with the armpits (which is level with the heart) was about 36 percent more effective than aiming at ‘center of mass.’”

     I was reminded of Case Two, in which an American soldier in the Middle East had to fire all 16 full-metal-jacket 9mm rounds from his issued Beretta into a jihadi before the opponent’s AK-47 fell silent. I asked him where he aimed; he replied, “Center of mass, like I was trained.” I asked him to show me where center of mass was, and he pointed to his abdomen.

• "How Guns Work: the Firing Sequence"--NRA Family. 

1. The hammer rotates forward until it hits the firing pin, driving it forward; alternately, the striker (firing pin) moves forward if there is no hammer.
2. The tip of the firing pin strikes the primer cup, deforming it and crushing the priming compound inside against the anvil underneath.
3. The priming compound explodes, sending hot, rapidly expanding gas through the flash hole and into the case. This gas rapidly raises the temperature and pressure inside the cartridge case, thus igniting the propellant.
4. As the propellant burns, it generates hot, expanding gas at a temperature of about 5,600 degrees Fahrenheit. This quickly raises the pressure inside the cartridge case to peak levels up to 62,000 pounds per square inch (p.s.i.). The increasing pressure irons the cartridge case sidewalls outward against the chamber walls, creating a seal the prevents hot gas from escaping to the rear.
5. At shot-start pressure (normally 2,000-10,000 p.s.i.), the bullet overcomes case neck tension, allowing the expanding propellant gases to accelerate it down the bore. 
6. After traveling a short distance in the chamber throat, the bullet contacts the rifling and engraves. As the bullet accelerates down the bore, the rifling lands grip the bullet's surface, imparting spin. About one-third of the way down the barrel, the bullet breaks the sound barrier.
7. As the bullet accelerates farther down the barrel, internal volume increases...which, in turn, causes chamber pressure to begin to drop. Progressive burning of the propellant offsets the pressure drop to some extent, but does not prevent it.
8. As the bullet clears the muzzle, a jet of hot, high-velocity propellant gas, still at 10 to 30 percent of peak chamber pressure, is released. As the gas jet escapes, it compresses the air surrounding the muzzle, thus creating a loud "report." 
9. The pressure inside the barrel and chamber quickly drops back to ambient levels, allowing the cartridge case sidewalls to spring back from the chamber walls for extraction. 

• "Photo Essay: Lawmen, Actors, and Gunleather"--Revolver Guy. A look at classic gun leather, and the lawmen, actors and actresses that used them. Interesting bit: "Sammy Davis Jr. was a highly accomplished shooter and often performed his spectacular gun spinning act on TV variety shows. He appeared in a host of movie westerns and starred in several on television. Johnny Cash claimed that Davis could draw and fire his Colt SAA in less than a quarter second."
• "New Yorkers fleeing coronavirus shamed, shunned by ‘pissed-off’ locals"--New York Post. Another article about people in rural communities not wanting New York City coronavirus refugees, even if they own vacation homes in the area. Another shunned group were people fleeing from Louisiana.

"Tibet is China's ticket to hegemony"--Caspian Report (16 min.)

The nations to the south of China rely on water from rivers that originate in Tibet. The author of the video argues that this gives China significant leverage over those countries as it works on developing hydropower resources and building dams. But it could also prove a source of friction and war, in my opinion. 

• "Millions of cicadas are expected to emerge after 17 years underground because, of course, it's 2020"--CNN (warning: auto-play video). The article indicates that "[a]s many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre may emerge, and people living in Southwest Virginia, parts of North Carolina and West Virginia could witness this unique phenomenon, Virginia Tech says in a news release."
• "Encore: Tomorrow"--Raconteur Report. A bit of fiction on how a small group could turn a protest into a disaster, in the same vein as Fry The Brain.

• Related: "One mag dump away"--Confessions of a Street Pharmacist. "The amount of violence is dependent upon the LEAST stable person there. Sooner or later, a person will do a mag dump into a crowd, and things will escalate beyond anyone's control."

• Phoning it in: "Michael Baden Did Not Perform Autopsy But You Are Being Told He Did"--Law Officer. Baden was the pathology expert hired by Floyd's family to do a second autopsy. Only, according to this article, he did no such thing. His opinion that there was asphyxiation by compression was simply based on what he viewed in the videos of the incident, not an examination of the body. As you may remember, "the autopsy [performed by the medical examiner] showed that Floyd had no trauma on his body whatsoever. His ingestion of fentanyl and methamphetamine combined with a pre-existing heart and hypertension history contributed to his death." The article points out: "The truth is Michael Baden didn’t do an autopsy. He couldn’t have because if he did, he would not have been able to give the opinion that was needed by the media and the attorneys. You see, the determination of asphyxia or strangulation is not difficult to see. It takes just a few seconds of looking at the eyes and Baden may be a hired gun but he’s not stupid and he proves that in his carefully crafted statements."

• More: "Minneapolis Disaster: Fentanyl, Methamphetamine & Excited Delirium"--Law Officer.

• "431 Law Enforcement Officers Were Injured in the Black Lives Matter/Antifa War"--Front Page Magazine.
• "Shocking Evidence Suggests Coordinated Effort To Orchestrate An Uprising Inside The United States"--Loose Rounds. Nice round-up of news stories that taken together show a similar modus operandi of rioting materials (pallets of bricks, piles of bottles, etc.) being pre-placed in a coordinated manner around the nation. The author begins:

Violence has erupted in major cities all over America yet again today, and we are being told to brace ourselves for more rioting, looting and civil unrest in the days ahead.  The death of George Floyd was a great tragedy, and the vast majority of Americans agree that we do not want to see that sort of police brutality in our nation, and so this should actually be a moment that brings our country together.  But instead, America is being torn apart.  The protests against police brutality have been hijacked by sinister forces, and they are attempting to channel the outrage over George Floyd’s death in a very violent direction.  As you will see below, law enforcement authorities all over the U.S. are telling us that they have identified a highly organized effort to orchestrate violence, and this appears to be happening on a nationwide basis.

• Related: "Chicago's biggest jail has released almost a fourth of its population over coronavirus fears"--CNN (4/17/2020).

• Related: "NYPD’s Terrorism Official Says Unnamed Groups Planned Protest Violence in Advance"--NBC New York.

• Related: "Police describe anarchists' extensive prep for violence, including 'bicycle scouts'"--NBC News.

• Related: "Police Chief: Arrested Looters in NYC Are Immediately Released Because of Bail-Reform Law"--National Review.

• Related: "NYPD chief of department speaks out, ‘outraged’ at Gov. Andrew Cuomo"--New York Post.  From the article:

      Despite the cops’ efforts, “just about all” of those arrested will be back out on the streets because of bail reform, Monahan said, noting that some people arrested for guns might remain behind bars.

     “But when it comes to a burglary, which is a commercial store, which is looting, they’re back out,” he said. “Because of bail reform, you’re back out on the street the next day. You cannot be held on any sort of bail. I spoke to (Manhattan District Attorney) Cy Vance about that. He told me there was nothing he could do.”

• Related: "Rudy Giuliani: De Blasio Is Calling Individual Police Chiefs and Telling Them Not to Enforce the Law or Make Arrests"--Gateway Pundit. 

• Related: "Warning: Reports of groups canvassing residential neighborhoods, taking photos of homes with police cars in driveways"--Law Enforcement Today.

• "Antifa arrests coming, concerns over riots heading to suburbia, government source says"--Fox News. From the article:

      Agitators behind the rioting that has paralyzed the country over the past week want to move into more suburban areas, a government intelligence source has told Fox News.

     Much of the worry stems from the notion that many in well-armed, suburban, and rural neighborhoods won't hesitate to exercise their Second Amendment rights and elevated anxieties could lead to heavy confrontation.

     "Antifa knows this," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Local and state authorities have to get a grip on this because if it moves to the suburbs, more people will die."

     Several analysts pointed to places that have served as something of "testbed" locations – including Madison, Wis., which was ransacked Saturday night, along with quiet pockets of Charleston, S.C.

     While it remains murky as to who exactly is behind the ongoing turbulence taking place in dozens of cities nationwide, much of the finger-pointing has been directed toward Antifa, a radical left-wing anti-fascist outfit.

• Related: "Neighbors Organizing, Arming Themselves to Stand Guard, Keep Their Neighborhoods Safe"--The Truth About Guns.

• Related: "Gun Stores Jammed Across the Country After Days of Riots, Looting"--The Truth About Guns.

• "Barr: Violence from Antifa, other groups 'is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly'"--Fox News. The left wing media (e.g., this CNN story) scream that Trump is crazy for wanting to declare Antifa a terrorist organization because it is contrary to the First Amendment (which it is not--criminal organizations have no First Amendment associative rights) and because only foreign groups can be so designated. But it was under the Obama Administration that officials started to look at Antifa as a terrorist organization. Politico reported in September 2017:

Federal authorities have been warning state and local officials since early 2016 that leftist extremists known as “antifa” had become increasingly confrontational and dangerous, so much so that the Department of Homeland Security formally classified their activities as “domestic terrorist violence,” according to interviews and confidential law enforcement documents obtained by POLITICO.

The article also relates:

      Previously unreported documents disclose that by April 2016, authorities believed that “anarchist extremists” were the primary instigators of violence at public rallies against a range of targets. They were blamed by authorities for attacks on the police, government and political institutions, along with symbols of “the capitalist system,” racism, social injustice and fascism, according to a confidential 2016 joint intelligence assessment by DHS and the FBI.

* * *

      More recently, the antifa groups, which some describe as the Anti-Fascist Action Network, have evolved out of the leftist anti-government groups like “Black bloc,” protesters clad in black and wearing masks that caused violence at events like the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests. They claim to have no leader and no hierarchy, but authorities following them believe they are organized via decentralized networks of cells that coordinate with each other. Often, they spend weeks planning for violence at upcoming events, according to the April 2016 DHS and FBI report entitled “Baseline Comparison of US and Foreign Anarchist Extremist Movements.”

     Dozens of armed anti-fascist groups have emerged, including Redneck Revolt and the Red Guards, according to the reports and interviews. One report from New Jersey authorities said self-described antifa groups have been established in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.

     Some of the DHS and FBI intelligence reports began flagging the antifa protesters before the election. In one from last September, portions of which were read to POLITICO, DHS studied “recent violent clashes … at lawfully organized white supremacist” events including a June 2016 rally at the California Capitol in Sacramento organized by the Traditionalist Workers Party and its affiliate, the Golden State Skinheads.

     According to police, counter-protesters linked to antifa and affiliated groups like By Any Means Necessary attacked, causing a riot after which at least 10 people were hospitalized, some with stab wounds.

     At the Sacramento rally, antifa protesters came looking for violence, and “engaged in several activities indicating proficiency in pre-operational planning, to include organizing carpools to travel from different locations, raising bail money in preparation for arrests, counter-surveilling law enforcement using three-man scout teams, using handheld radios for communication, and coordinating the event via social media,” the DHS report said.

     The intelligence assessments focus less on guns than handmade weapons used by antifa, with photos of members brandishing ax handles and shields, often with industrial-sized bolts attached to create crude bayonets. A senior state law enforcement official said, “A whole bunch of them” have been deemed dangerous enough to be placed on U.S. terrorism watch lists.

     The FBI and DHS had no comment on that, or on any aspect of the assessments, saying they were not intended to be made public.

     By the spring of 2016, the anarchist groups had become so aggressive, including making armed attacks on individuals and small groups of perceived enemies, that federal officials launched a global investigation with the help of the U.S. intelligence community, according to the DHS and FBI assessment.

     The purpose of the investigation, according to the April 2016 assessment: To determine whether the U.S.-based anarchists might start committing terrorist bombings like their counterparts in “foreign anarchist extremist movements” in Greece, Italy and Mexico, possibly at the Republican and Democratic conventions that summer.

     Some of the antifa activists have gone overseas to train and fight with fellow anarchist organizations, including two Turkey-based groups fighting the Islamic State, according to interviews and internet postings.

     In their April 2016 assessment, the DHS and FBI said the anarchist groups would likely become more lethal if “fascist, nationalist, racist or anti-immigrant parties obtain greater prominence or local political power in the United States, leading to anti-racist violent backlash from anarchist extremists.”

     The assessment also said the anarchist groups could become more aggressive if they seek to “retaliate violently to a violent act by a white supremacist extremist or group,” they acquire more powerful weapons or they obtain the financial means to travel abroad and learn more violent tactics.

     Several state law enforcement officials said that all of those accelerating factors have come to pass. And recent FBI and DHS reports confirm they are actively monitoring “conduct deemed potentially suspicious and indicative of terrorist activity” by antifa groups.

     But one of the internal assessments acknowledged several significant “intelligence gaps,” including an inability to penetrate the groups’ “diffuse and decentralized organizational structure,” which made it difficult for law enforcement to identify violent groups and individuals. Authorities also “lack information to identify the travel patterns linking U.S. and foreign anarchist extremists,” the assessment said.

     The two agencies also said in their April 2016 assessment that many of the activities the groups engaged in “are not within the purview of FBI and DHS collection” due to civil liberties and privacy protections, including participating in training camps, holding meetings and communicating online.

And this recent article from TRT World, "Antifa: Trained by terrorist PKK in Syria, may end up outlawed in the US," relates that "the group has been in Syria since 2014 and its violent record well documented after a series of controversial decisions taken by the Obama administration in 2015." Read the whole thing. But if it is shown that there is a connection between Antifa members and the PKK or the YPG (the Syrian affiliate of the PKK terror group) that might be enough of a hook to declare Antifa a foreign terrorist organization.

• Free men do not kneel: "Video: Woman Kneels on Demand in the Street to Apologize For Her 'White Privilege'"--Summit News. "A video clip shows a woman immediately obeying a black man’s request to kneel on her feet in the street and apologize for her 'white privilege'."

• Related: "Get Up Off Your Knees" by Michelle Malkin at American Renaissance. An excerpt:

      Proud and good people hold their chins and guns up in a crisis. It is how Korean grocers responded when the police abandoned them during the Los Angeles riots in 1992. It is how armed small-business owners of all colors are now facing an onslaught of crazed, greedy and evil barbarians hell-bent on destroying every enforcement bulwark that protects our civil society — from our borders to our neighborhoods to the White House.

     Weakness is not strength. Confessing sins for which you bear no guilt is not noble. It makes me sick to my stomach to see virtue-signaling police chiefs kneeling before barking rioters calling them “pigs.” I am nauseated by the sight of sobbing white people groveling for forgiveness before sadistic Black Lives Matter demagogues — as if this will appease the unappeasable. It will not and never will.

     America, straighten your spines. Unbow your heads. No home or nation was ever saved by kowtowing to invaders or ransackers. Unless you are praying to God, get up off your knees.

• More riots on the horizon: "Amid Protests, LGBTQ Activists Seek To Return Pride To Its Radical Roots"--Huff Post. From the article:

      “The first Pride was a riot and an outpouring of anger and frustration, led by transgender women of color who threw bricks at police and sparked the beginning of the queer liberation movement,” New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who is gay, wrote in an open letter to the organizers of New York City Pride.

     He called on the organization to refocus its celebrations, such as the virtual Pride to be staged this month, and return to the “radical roots” of the LGBT+ movement.

• Black lives matter? "BLOODY CHICAGO: 24 Killed, 66 Wounded Over a Violent Weekend"--The Truth About Guns.  
• "Your one job? Be a good person."--Wilder, Wealthy and Wise. An excerpt:

      Our political reality is therefore created in part by media (now a tool of the Left) and academia (also a tool of the Left).  And now the Founding Fathers are, instead of being revered for attempting to create a whole new type of country are regularly bashed in schools.

     This attempt of the Left to steer culture obscures the real message.  As a human, we have one (and only one) job.

     That job is to be a good person.

     It’s that easy.  We waste a lot of time and effort wondering what it is we should be doing, when the answer is laughingly simple.  You can’t control your height.  You can’t control your intelligence.  You can’t even control society.  What can you control?  Your actions and attitudes.

     So, be a good person.  That’s it.

     The Left tries to obscure that simple truth because it has to.  The Left doesn’t want you to be a good person.  The Left wants you to be a Leftist.