A Quick Run Around the Web (11/27/2020)

 

VIDEO: "Testing old body armor - bullet proof vest."--30 Second Tactics (7 min.). Greg Ellifritz has pointed out that body armor can retain its effectiveness well beyond its manufacturer's guaranteed life (assuming it hasn't been damaged by moisture, exposure to the sun, or chemicals), and that is what this video demonstrates using soft armor from the 1980s.

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• "Weekend Knowledge Dump- November 27, 2020"--Active Response Training. First, I want to thank Mr. Ellifritz for the shout-out. Second, of course, I recommend that you check out the links to great articles and the commentary. Articles include, but are not limited to, a couple articles on knives and self-defense issues, why BB shot (or any small pellet shotgun load) should not be your first choice for a defensive shotgun load, an article and comments from Greg about melatonin including that it seems to offer some protection against COVID-19, building a get-home bag tailored to your needs, the M-1 carbines being imported from Ethiopia, the success in the 1970s of New York's stake out squad, and a lot more.
• "B-52 Reconnaissance Tips Of The Trade, Vietnam"--American Partisan. Great tips for working in the bush. You probably should print this up.
• "Skill Set: Crawl, Walk, Run …"--Tiger McKee, Tactical Wire. McKee explains that "[u]ntil one has learned how to manipulate the weapon and fire it accurately, there’s no reason to even think about progressing into any defensive work. You have to 'crawl' first." And by "crawl" he means learn the basics of firearm safety and principles of marksmanship.
• "New K-PAK and J-CLIP-R Loaders From Zeta-6"--Revolver Guy. One of the products the company had previously released was the J-Clip which is a flexible speed-loader for the S&W J-frame revolvers. The J-CLIP-R is a version designed for the Ruger LCR revolver. The K-Pak is a speed strip style reloader but with round slightly offset making them quicker and easier to use in reloading over a straight speed strip.
• "Henry Announces 29 New Rifles & Shotguns"--Guns Magazine. Including a bunch of new lever action models with side-loading gates. 
• "Featured Gun: The Marlin model 70P 'Papoose'"--Tincanbandit's Gunsmithing. A review of the history and features of this weapon. The first .22 rifle I bought was a Papoose because I wanted something that could be broken down easily for travel--at the time, I was living some distance from home attending college. I loved that rifle. In fact, later, when I was forced to sell some firearms due to money concerns, I opted to keep the Papoose over a Ruger 10/22 I had simply because the Papoose was just as accurate, was more reliable, and had the take-down feature. I passed it on to my oldest son.
• "The ATF’s False Narrative Surrounding the Legality of SB Tactical Pistol Braces Exposed"--The Truth About Guns. An excerpt:

Then, as we neared the election, the ATF dropped an October surprise, declaring some braced pistols were actually SBRs — NFA-regulated short barreled rifles — only to later back off that determination under pressure. That declaration was in direct disobedience to the Department of Justice’s edict (which happened, in a big part, thanks to Rep. Gaetz with help from brace manufacturer SB Tactical) that ATF could not pursue any new rulings or regulations on pistol braces without first setting clear standards for the accessories in cooperation with the firearm industry.

• "10 Tools Every Prepper Should Have"--Urban Prepper. He gives some very specific recommendations: (1) a tool box; (2) Black & Decker LDX Drill; (3) DeWalt Grinder; (4) Dremel 4300; (5) hatchet; (6) an Ontario machete; (7) an Eastwing crowbar; (8) a Gerber eTool; (9) a Stanley handsaw; (10) and an arc welder. I'm assuming that this list is in addition to having basic carpenter, mechanics, and gardening tools. I'm also assuming that the handsaw he is recommending is a rip saw, although he doesn't say. I'm not sure about the arc welder--it takes training and practice to be able to use one effectively. I think a beginner would do better with a smaller acetylene welder, which could be used for welding, brazing and cutting with the appropriate tips. In any event, a wire-fed arc-welder will be better for the beginner than one using welding rods.
• "Are You Prepared? 2020 Winter Holiday Travel Prep Tips"--Survival Life. The author lists 7 things to make sure you have with your care: (1) first aid kit; (2) get home bag; (3) seasonal weather preps such as heavy blankets or sleeping bags, hats, gloves, and emergency communications; (4) a jump starter; (5) something to inflate you tires, whether a bottle of fix-a-flat or compressor; (6) fire extinguisher; and (7) road safety kit. I would add having some sand for traction and tire chains/cables, and probably a tow strap. Even if your vehicle would be incapable of towing another car, it is possible that someone with a truck might stop to help, but not have a tow strap or tow chain. Having your own remedies this problem.
• "How To Choose The Best Wool Pants For Winter Comfort, Camping And Survival"--Survival Common Sense. An excerpt:

Get a couple inches or so bigger around the waist. They will shrink with use. You may want to wear polypropylene long underwear underneath, or synthetic pajama bottoms if wool makes you itch. Never wear 100-percent cotton thermal longjohns – they will get damp from perspiration and suck the heat away. Also, you’ll want plenty of room in the seat and thighs of the pants if the plans include vigorous snow sports, such as snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.

• "Cold Weather Training Considerations"--Shooting Performance. One of the author's points:

When the weather turns cold it forces us to modify how we dress, and sometimes how we carry.  While I recommend one carry method consistent for all seasons if you do switch how you carry I recommend limiting it as much as possible.  The main thing that you will want to do is begin to train with the same clothing garments that you will be wearing most of the time.  If you wear gloves, then you need to train with those gloves on to ensure that you will be able to manipulate and shoot your weapon without any problems.  Don’t forget to practice some reloading and malfunction drills with them on, you will find that thick gloves will seriously impede your ability to work the smaller manipulation devices on your handguns like the slide and magazine release. 

Read the whole thing.

• "Top 10 Things Preppers Forget"--SHTF Preparedness.  (1) a sewing machine to mend clothes (get a mechanical powered one if you envision a lengthy grid down situation); (2) paper towels; (3) baking soda (used for much more than baking); (4) plastic sheeting; (5) paper maps; (6) fire starters; (7) BOBs for each family member; (8) a bicycle or bicycles; (9) spare eyeglasses; and (10) bullion cubes for rehydration (see the B-52 reconnaissance tips article above as well). The author also goes on to list items that people forget to include in their BOBs.
• "A Long-Term Survival Food That Actually Tastes Good"--Apartment Prepper. The product is NutrientSurvival: Homestyle Scramble dehydrated food made with hash browns, eggs, peppers and cheese. The author particularly liked it in a wrap as a breakfast burrito. 
• "Alkaline or Rechargeable?"--Blue Collar Prepping. The author writes:

    ... While there is no denying the efficiency and savings of rechargeable, there's also a huge convenience in the ability to quickly swap out exhausted batteries for fresh ones. What's a prepper to do?

    My answer is to take the best of both worlds by purchasing rechargeable AA and AAA batteries to put inside your electronics, along with a recharger unit and a solar panel. This allows you to take advantage of the ready availability of alkaline batteries while also having a semi-renewable* source of power.

She goes on to explain that her set-up is an Eastshine Universal Smart Battery Charger and uses AmazonBasics High-Capacity Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries. 

• "Work Glove Size Chart – How To Find Glove Size"--Modern Survival Blog. The author explains:

    Measure the circumference of your dominant hand (right handed or left handed) which tends to be slightly larger.

    Use a soft flexible tape measure (sewing tape measure) around the palm. Wrap it around the fullest part of your palm – excluding the thumb – as shown.

    Then measure from the tip of your middle finger to the bottom of your hand.

    Your glove size will be the larger of the two measurements.

He also includes tables showing how this translates into sizes for men's, women's, an unisex gloves. 

• "What’s the Difference Between Preppers and Survivalists?" by Tim Makay, Modern Survival Online. The author contends:

... Though the terms can be used as synonyms, there’s a difference between a prepper and a survivalist. A prepper seeks to get the tools and supplies needed to react to disasters and emergencies. A survivalist changes their lifestyle according to what response they anticipate would be required to survive the same situation. Preppers are more concerned with accumulating provisions and gear, where survivalists are more concerned with skillsets and lifestyle choices.

• "SELCO: Timing Is EVERYTHING When the SHTF"--Organic Prepper. Selco begins: "For a starting point, you need to understand something that I mentioned in previous posts. When SHTF occurs, the situation is fluid – it can change quickly, and you need to recognize those changes so you can react in time, and in the proper way." Also, he notes that the real danger is other people.
• "Top Common Misconceptions About Volcano Eruptions"--Nation.lk (h/t KA9OFF). The first misconception has to do with the role of molten rock in powering eruptions. The article explains:

    About 25-30 kilometers (15-20 miles) below our feet, there is intense heat and pressure. Some kinds of rock melt under these conditions, forming magma.

    That red-hot liquid rock has enough buoyancy to rise towards the surface through cracks in the overlying crust. It might not get there but if it does, there will be an eruption.

    There’s a long way to go, though. Surely the weight of the overlying rock helps squeeze the magma along?

    Nope. It’s running on gas — not fossil fuel, the gases dissolved in the molten rock. These include water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.

    Gases bubble out of the magma as it gets higher, since the pressure is decreasing because there is less rock. You can safely get the same effect by opening a carbonated beverage bottle; the contents are under pressure, but carbon dioxide bubble appear when the seal is released.

    But our magma conduit is still capped, so the gases have nowhere to go but out into the conduit. This speeds up the rising melt, and a chain reaction starts that can lead to an eruption, if the gases don’t run out and the magma doesn’t encounter a barrier of some sort that it can’t pass.

    If it does stop, then the magma will begin to cool, eventually freezing in place as a dike, sill, or pluton. Erosion sometimes uncovers these structures, revealing their beauty in places like Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.

 

There are 9 more points discussed in the article, so read the whole thing.

VIDEO: "Canting Your Rifle with a Red Dot"--Tactical Hyve (3 min.)

Demonstrating how canting your rifle slightly when using a red dot allows you to keep your head straight and makes it faster and easier to use the rifle.

The Current Unrest:

• "Study: Absolutely NO excess deaths from COVID-19"--Behind The Black. Quoting from the study:

    Surprisingly, the deaths of older people stayed the same before and after COVID-19. Since COVID-19 mainly affects the elderly, experts expected an increase in the percentage of deaths in older age groups. However, this increase is not seen from the CDC data. In fact, the percentages of deaths among all age groups remain relatively the same. “The reason we have a higher number of reported COVID-19 deaths among older individuals than younger individuals is simply because every day in the U.S. older individuals die in higher numbers than younger individuals,” Briand said.

    Briand also noted that 50,000 to 70,000 deaths are seen both before and after COVID-19, indicating that this number of deaths was normal long before COVID-19 emerged. Therefore, according to Briand, not only has COVID-19 had no effect on the percentage of deaths of older people, but it has also not increased the total number of deaths.

    These data analyses suggest that in contrast to most people’s assumptions, the number of deaths by COVID-19 is not alarming. In fact, it has relatively no effect on deaths in the United States.

This jives with other reports indicating that there have been no flu deaths in 2020--i.e., flu deaths were attributed to COVID-19.

• "It turns out that the Moderna vaccine, which was just shown to be 95 percent effective, was actually developed by the company in just two days in January 2020. That’s right, they developed the vaccine in two days in January, but then needed to spend the following ten months performing tests in order to meet the FDA’s standards for vaccine safety and efficacy."
• Hear, hear! "Anger, Not Fear Is The Correct Response"--Helen Smith, Instapundit. "Anger is a response to injustice and conservatives have been dealing with this injustice for years with the rigged election being the final straw. Fear is helpless, unless perhaps it moves us to action. So rather than fear, stand up in righteous indignation, like Andrew Breitbart, who never gave up."
• Related: "Colorado County Refuses to Enforce Lockdowns as Civil Disobedience Spreads Across America"--Foundation for Economic Education. The county in question is Weld County.
• "Judge Blocks Further Certification of PA Election Results Over Mail-in Ballot Fight"--PJ Media.

    “To the extent that there remains any further action to perfect the certification of the results of the 2020 General Election for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States of America, respondents are preliminarily enjoined from doing so, pending an evidentiary hearing to be held on Friday,” read the injunction from Judge Patricia McCullough.

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has promised to appeal the decision but also claims the order has no bearing on the results, as the election was already certified and electors chosen.

• Related: "Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney: ‘This is the start of a counter-offensive’"--NOQ Report. Money quote: "'In Pennsylvania, the state sent out 1.8 million mail-in ballots,' General McInerney said, referring to yesterday’s Pennsylvania legislature hearings to which President Trump called in. 'Then they counted 2.5 million mail-in ballots. You go figure.'"
• "Huge court win lets Trump present ballot evidence, could overturn Nevada result"--Washington Examiner. 

    A Nevada judge has agreed to let the Trump campaign present its evidence that fraud and illegalities plagued the state’s election, enough to reverse Joe Biden's win and set an example for other state challenges.

    According to Trump officials, the judge set a Dec. 3 hearing date and is allowing 15 depositions. What’s more, the campaign plans to present its evidence that could result in the rejection of tens of thousands of mail-in ballots in Democratic Clark County, where Biden ballots outnumbered Trump ballots by 91,000 in unofficial results.

• "Ballot Count Upload Error in Arizona — Over 6,000 False Biden Votes Discovered"--Gateway Pundit. 

    Joe Biden’s lead in Arizona dropped from 10,377 votes to 4,202 after a machine error was discovered on Tuesday. 

 

    The error was from a faulty upload from Greenlee County, which showed 22,110 votes — but should have been 3,723. State officials say that it was temporary and has now been corrected.

• "Swing State Woes: Conservative Group Says They Discovered 150,000 Fraudulent Ballots"--Townhall. This is in Wisconsin.
• "Big Tech Expert Says Google's 'Manipulations' Shifted 'at Least Six Million Votes' to Joe Biden"--PJ Media. "Tech expert and researcher for the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology Dr. Robert Epstein told Tucker Carlson on his Fox News program that Google manipulated search and other data, including using voting reminders, to manipulate the results of the 2020 election."
• "The Eighty Million"--Twelve Round. The eighty million reference is to the number of people that voted for Trump. An excerpt:

These are the days when all voices will be heard and loyalties tried. This is no time to offer allegiance to your enemies and hope your allies will understand. One either believes in freedom enough to risk death, or pension, or accept the fate of those who would destroy it. The 80 million know they are the last vestiges of freedom on earth. They are being asked to accept a fraud, to acquiesce to communism, but they cannot. No matter what the flawed election returns, it cannot be allowed to stand. We know the outcome already and anything less is unacceptable. 

• "The Anti-Trump Dominion CEO Eric Coomer Who Wrote An Antifa Manifesto On His Facebook Page, Installed “Update Software” On Over 30,000 Georgia Machines RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION"--Red State Nation.
• "The Smartmatic Story: From Venezuela with No Love"--Roger Simon.

    Many have debated, and Rudy Giuliani only vaguely explained on Lou Dobbs’ show by saying they had “different theories” of the case, why the Trump legal team separated from Sidney Powell.

    Occam’s Razor has a simpler explanation: What Powell is investigating—complicated trans-national computer fraud, involving multiple countries, not just the United States, with immense implications for the democratic system worldwide—takes considerably longer to explicate and prove than the time available to question a presidential election before votes are certified and the Electoral College meets.

    This was corroborated by discussions I held with two men in a position to understand a great deal of this fraud that they say originated in and still emanates to a great degree from Venezuela (with a little help from Cuban, Iranian and Hezbollah friends, possibly others).

    These men wish to remain anonymous because they fear for their safety operating in foreign territory as they frequently do.

    One of them is a former CIA officer who served in the Directorate of Operations and as chief of station in several countries. The other is of Venezuelan birth and lives in the United States.

    In recent years, in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and others, they have worked to “flip” leaders and military personnel inside the Venezuelan and Cuban establishments, many of whom were involved with or had information about the extensive narcotics trade undertaken by those two countries as well as Iran and Hezbollah.

    This billion-dollar criminal enterprise, particularly regarding Hezbollah in this instance, was on the brink of an exposure and prosecution that was ultimately ignored, as Politico reported, by the Obama administration on the urgings of the mullahs in order to protect the then-incipient Iran Deal.

    Some of what these men told me can be authenticated, some not for reasons beyond anyone’s control at the moment. I leave it to readers to decide for themselves.

    Nevertheless, for the record, and to understand what we are dealing with, the following members of the Venezuelan leadership are currently indicted in the United States for narcotics trafficking: President Nicolas Maduro, National Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello, petroleum minister Tareck El Aissami, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, former intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal, and Venezuelan Army Chief of Staff Vladimir Padrino.

    To give an idea of the extent of the crime, notorious Mexican “narcotrafficante” El Chapo was said to be worth $1.2 billion. Diosdado Cabello, I was told by one of my informants, is worth in excess of $20 billion! That puts him up there among the richest people in the world. Mix petrodollars—Venezuela, in whatever condition, has one of the richest oil fields on the planet—with drug dollars and you have a lucrative cocktail.

Smartmatic

    The two men spoke with me about the origins of the Smartmatic system, which they analogized in some respects to 9/11, mentioning that it was another example of how we tend to underestimate our adversaries, in this case their computer capabilities.

    With China and Russia to worry about, Venezuela has been more or less off our radar, but, given the figures above, it shouldn’t be. Their ruling class—not their people, clearly—has enough working capital to do as much damage as anyone.

    More than a mere Banana Republic, they are a growing criminal state with tentacles reaching into Colombia and across the Atlantic into one of the major parties of our NATO ally Spain, I was told.

    But back to Smartmatic.

    In 1998, socialist Hugo Chavez, on his way to being maximum leader for life, changed the constitution of his country, allowing him to serve a six-year term instead of five—with the caveat that if 20 percent of Venezuelans were to sign a petition demanding a recall, an election would be held.

    To the surprise of Chavez, such a petition was forthcoming and his attempt to invalidate the signatures failed.

    A system had to be invented to guarantee the caudillo’s victory in the forthcoming presidential recall referendum.

    Enter Smartmatic, a company founded in Delaware in April 2000 by three young  Venezuelan engineers.

    January 2004, a Venezuelan government agency, the New York Times reported, invested $200,000 in a technology company owned by those same three.

• "The link Between Dominion, Sequoia, Smartmatic, and the CCP"--GNews. "The Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) ballot-counting system used in 28 states during the election contained Chinese-made hardware components as well as the Smartmatic ballot software. Voter data was illegally transmitted to foreign countries and this led to the seizure of a server by the U.S. military at the offices of Scytl in Frankfurt, Germany."
• "Supremes Strike Down Cuomo’s Anti-Religious Covid Limits"--Instapundit. "In a 5-4 decision that is full of positive implications for First Amendment litigation regarding religious freedom and practice, the Supreme Court late yesterday [Nov. 25] slapped down New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on worship gatherings in targeted areas hit hard by Covid."
• Communism always leads to food shortages and long lines: "Food deemed non-essential as New Mexico governor shuts down grocery stores."--Not The Bee. Not all of the stores, just most. And then the governor had the chutzpah to say she was not responsible for the long lines outside the few stores that remained open.
• American stasi: "Vermont schools will grill students on their Thanksgiving celebrations, governor announces"--Fox News. The article states that students will be required to fill out a questionnaire about whether they had Thanksgiving with people outside their household, and those answering in the affirmative will be subject to a 2 week quarantine before being allowed back into school.
• "Sidney Powell Releases the 'Kraken' in Georgia with Explosive New Lawsuit"--PJ Media.

Defense Attorneys Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and others have filed a lawsuit in Georgia demanding that the results of the 2020 election be set aside because of “massive election fraud” and foreign influence in the election. The lawsuit claims that 96,600 mail-in ballots “were fraudulently cast” and that “136,098 ballots were illegally counted as a result of improper manipulation of the Dominion software.”

• "Utah company objects after Blaze Media reporter ties its coffee to alleged Kenosha shooter"--Salt Lake Tribune. From the article:

    A Salt Lake City coffee company said it objected to a tweet posted by a Blaze Media reporter who tied its coffee to Kyle Rittenhouse, accused of killing two people during an August protest in Wisconsin.

    Elijah Schaffer tweeted a since-removed photo of the 17-year-old wearing a Black Rifle Coffee Company shirt with the caption, “Kyle Rittenhouse drinks the best coffee in America.” The teenager was released Friday after supporters raised his $2 million bail.

    Schaffer posted a discount code for the coffee under the post with the photo. And online, commenters questioned whether the coffee company had a sponsorship deal with Rittenhouse and accused it of supporting murder and hate.

    But Black Rifle Coffee, a sponsor of Schaffer’s Slightly Offens*ve podcast, said in a statement Saturday that it is not sponsoring or supporting Rittenhouse.

    A spokesperson for the coffee company told The Salt Lake Tribune on Saturday afternoon that the company was terminating its sponsorship of Slightly Offens*ve, but late Saturday, she said she had misunderstood.

    “We are not fluctuating our ad spend,” she said in a text message. “We did have a conversation with Schaffer, and he understands that the post was a mistake.”

* * *

    Blaze employees “make decisions about how to allocate ad dollars within the Blaze,” she said, but she did not clarify whether Black Rifle would request to end its placement as a podcast sponsor. She said the company and Blaze are discussing “how to move forward with the allocation of ad dollars.”

    Black Rifle Coffee is a Salt Lake City-based roaster that brands itself as a gun-loving, conservative company started by veterans. In a statement Saturday afternoon, co-founder Evan Hafer said, “We do not support legal advocacy efforts. We do not sponsor nor do we have a relationship with the 17-year-old facing charges in Kenosha, WI.”

However, YouTuber Johnny B. claims that Hafer is not being truthful, but that the Company does support legal advocacy efforts pointing to a recent post on its Instragram page.

• Related: "Kyle Rittenhouse wore a shirt with a coffee company’s name on it. Now its Jewish owner is being harassed by antisemites."--Forward.  
• Words of warning: "U.S. Politics"--The Social Pathologist. He writes (underline added):

Contrary to  the opinion of some christian commentators it is my opinion that there is plausible statistical evidence that Trump was defrauded of an electoral victory. It's also my opinion that real Christian persecution is going to begin with a Biden ascendancy and I think that it's safe to say that I think that many Trump supporters are of the same mind. I'm also of the opinion that should the Democrats lose any Supreme Court contest they will not respect it's decision and will try to force their claim.  Should Trump try to preempt this by arresting those responsible, it will be perceived by his opponents and as an attempt at a coup. I really hope I'm wrong but I can't see a "peaceful" solution to this.  This does not mean that that the country will turn into a Yugoslavia or Syria but I can imagine a prolonged period of quite nasty civil unrest.

• "We have been warned"--Loose Rounds. The author posts a screen shot of a Twitter post from an Antifa leader threatening to shut down roads in conservative areas if Trump does not concede by Sunday.
• "Letting the Democrats Steal This Election Is Real Appeasement"--The Stream. From the article:

    And now we see how far they proved themselves willing to go. Do we really want to find out how much further they’ll dare to take things? People unafraid to annul the last presidential election, if they really tried to steal this one, are coldly and deadly serious about holding onto power. They’re willing to imprison innocent men like General Mike Flynn, and Kyle Rittenhouse, and David Daleiden. To persecute innocent citizens like Brett Kavanaugh, Nicholas Sandmann, and Mark Judge. To close all our churches, open our borders, create new farcical states, and pack the Supreme Court with flunkies. What will they do to us and our cities if we try to resist them now?

    I think a lot of Republicans consider this, and cower. In their heart of hearts they know that U.S. elites, allied with foreign billionaires and social engineers eager to start the Great Reset, will literally stop at nothing. And that frightens them, as it should.

• From America's paper of record: "Walmart Thanks Government For Completely Obliterating Their Small Business Competition"--The Babylon Bee. It's parody, but probably more accurate than most of the news we receive.

VIDEO: "The Stolen Election, Part One: AMERICAN PRAVDA"--Bill Whittle (11 min.) (h/t Anonymous Conservative)

VIDEO: "The Stolen Election, Pt. 2: Hiding Biden Laptop Scandal Reveals More Frightening Social Plan"--Bill Whittle (23 min.) (h/t Anonymous Conservative)

Miscellany: 

• And in other news: "Oil Tanker Attacked By Mine Explosion At Terminal In Saudi Red Sea"--Loose Rounds. The author reports:

    An oil tanker in the Red Sea has been subject of a mysterious attack while it was anchored at the Saudi port city of Shuqaiq on the Red Sea, reportedly after a mine exploded.

    The vessel has been identified in Bloomberg as the Maltese-flagged, Greek-managed Aframax tanker Agrari which early unconfirmed reports are saying was “attacked while at a berth” according to a statement on behalf of its owner TMS Tankers.

Conveniently, "[b]oth the BBC and CNN are now reporting that a number of Iranian passports were apparently found floating around the oil tanker."

• "Thanksgiving Week: Gratitude"--Wilder, Wealthy & Wise. 

Gratitude is the basis for a fulfilled life.  Practicing gratitude provides lower stress, better sleep, and generally better health.  It makes people around you happier, too, because who likes living around a tool?  Gratitude might seem like something that you’d do for other people, but it turns out the biggest beneficiary is . . . you.

• "The anti-prison movement will be a disaster . . . for criminals"--Bookworm Room. The author writes about something that Glenn Reynolds has often noted: that law enforcement is more to protect the criminal than protection of the public. Lack of law enforcement and prison will lead to more street justice.
• An intelligence failure by the Chicago PD: "Lieutenant reassigned after William Barr’s trip to Chicago catches CPD brass, mayor’s office by surprise"--Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that Lt. Patrick Quinn was pulled from his position in the Crime Prevention and Information Center in police headquarters and sent to the Rogers Park District on the North Side after Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPD brass learned of Barr’s visit during a conference call Nov. 17 — just a day before Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, was scheduled to arrive in Chicago.

Of course, the bigger question is why the mayor was so upset that the department's intelligence unit hadn't picked up on the visit earlier.

• "Highly Qualified: What Does Liberalism Even Mean Anymore?"--The Dandy.

... Why are affluent white liberals so eager to believe we’re living in a white supremacy, for example? Here’s my best guess: The narrative of wokeness or “anti-racism” as it is often called is an outgrowth of an academic discipline called “Critical Race Theory.” This view has its origins in philosophers like Hegel, Marx, and Foucault, who share a common belief: Equality is impossible, because at the core of every human interaction is a power struggle that someone is winning and someone is losing. Human history for these guys is just an endless rotation of oppressor and oppressed, a revolving door of masters and slaves in Hegel’s view, proletariat and bourgeoisie for Marx, privileged white people vs. marginalized people of color in Critical Race Theory. For these thinkers, power struggles are inescapable, and the whole idea of equality is just a fiction behind which the oppressor hides.

• "Condition Red: Your Visual Displacement Is Now Complete"--The Unz Review. A look at how visual media, both advertising and entertainment, has been used to diminish white people and, especially, white men.
• DC Comics is a perfect example of "get woke, go broke." If Vox Day's sources are correct, the actual comic publishing arm of DC Comics will completely shut down this coming spring. But, just to prove that you can't teach a liberal new tricks, we learn that "DC Comics introducing non-binary hero Kid Quick." 

    According to reports, the character is a younger, gender-fluid spin on the Flash with “they/them” pronouns. The new hero will debut as part of the “Teen Justice” team, which showcases new spins on classic characters.

    Reports further said that Kid Quick will later take on the Flash moniker in the upcoming “Future State: Justice League” series in 2021.

• "Evacuation Day, New York City’s Forgotten November Holiday" by Nicole Saraniero (h/t KA9OFF). "Observed on November 25th, this early American holiday marked the date on which the last British soldiers left Manhattan after the Revolutionary War in 1783."
• "Scientists Uncover Billions Of Gallons Of Hidden Fresh Water Off Hawai'i"--Inverse. Taking advantage of the difference in electroconductivity between salt water and fresh water, scientists discovered vast deposits of fresh water--nearly 1 trillion gallons--in subsurface deposits stretching out below the sea floor from Hawaii.
• "Amateur astronomer traces possible source of notorious 'WOW!' signal first detected in 1977 to a sun-like star 1,800 light years from Earth"--Daily Mail. Trace is too strong a word. Rather, assuming that the "Wow signal" was artificial in origin, he looked at the general area it originated from and the stars in the that direction, found one star that is similar to ours, and suggests that it might be worth a closer look at that star.
• "Google Earth reveals Obelisk found in Utah desert has been there for YEARS - so was it aliens or an eccentric artist?"--Daily Mail. Satellite imagery shows it has been there since 2015 or 2016. Close up video of the object shows that it was assembled with pop-rivets, so I'm guessing an artist did it. And bravo to the artist.