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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

A Quick Run Around The Web (1/13/2021)

VIDEO: "High Ready Drill with Navy SEAL Fred Ruiz"--Tactical Hyve (4 min.)


VIDEO: "Low Ready Rifle Drill with Navy SEAL Fred Ruiz"--Tactical Hyve (4 min.)

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:
  • "They Are Not You: Surveillance Cameras Record Random Brutal Attack" by William Aprill, Personal Defense Network. One of the hardest things for most people to understand is that most violent criminals don't think like you or have similar empathy or concern as do you. They may be able to emote, but they don't feel. The author explains:
    One of the hallmark features of the life condition referred to as Antisocial Personality Disorder is an enduring pattern of behaving with “callousness” toward others. Callousness describes a quality that, though somewhat difficult to define perfectly, is striking and unforgettable once witnessed at play in the world. It encompasses an applied cruelty to others in combination with indifference to the plight of victims and others, and certainly to that of the victims of one’s own violent aggression.

    In this shocking case, it is clear that the near-killing of the victim was not undertaken for the material gain of robbery, but rather purely for the purpose of demonstrating the attacker’s power over others. Even more disturbing, the offender’s enjoyment of his assaultive behavior is plainly evident in the display of positive emotion shared with his companion, and the bright, smiling expressions recorded by surveillance cameras in the aftermath. Such secondary gain was so compelling that typical and expected criminal behavior, such as distancing oneself from the scene of the crime to avoid detection and capture by police, was completely subordinated to savoring the outcome.

    The offender is recorded both returning to survey the damage done and photographically documenting the condition of his victim; bloody evidence of his physical prowess and ability to dominate others. Modern life will bring us into contact with such offenders sooner or later, and absent the capacity to protect ourselves and others, we are utterly subject to the motivations, desires, and whims of the worst among us.
The Lil P is an extremely small “scope” with a 1x magnification that has an illuminated etched reticle, but the best and the perhaps most overlooked feature is the adjustable diopter that allows you to focus the reticle exactly to your own eyesight. In my opinion and for my use, it’s superior to a red dot.
  • "Review: Tyrant Designs CNC Glock Extended Slide Release (Gen 2-4)"--Jerking The Trigger. While I suppose that, technically, it is extended because the metal is thicker than the stamped steel of the original, in reality what it does is put a bit more traction on the slide release.
  • ".38 Snubby Ammo"--Revolver Guy. In probably the best discussion I've come across on the subject, the author discusses why .38 Special poses such a challenge in obtaining both good expansion and sufficient penetration, and why it is even more challenging out of a snub-nosed revolver. Basically, however, the .38 Special was originally a black powder cartridge, the author notes, and, therefore, the maximum pressures are limited. He also tests various .38 Special loads into calibrated ballistic gelatin and gives some recommendations based on this. Unfortunately, he did not have any Gold Dot or HST on hand to test.
  • "Smith & Wesson J-Frames Explained" by Richard Johnson, Shooting Illustrated. Per the author: "Smith & Wesson currently makes J-frame revolvers in a range of calibers – from .22 LR to .357 Magnum.  You have your choice in frame materials, sights, grips and finishes. The most significant decision many shooters make when selecting one is choosing which of three distinct hammer variations they want." I purchased the shrouded hammer design because I wanted something snag free that still left the option of manually cocking the hammer for a more accurate single-action shot. However, if I were to pick one up now, I would go with the "hammerless" (completely enclosed hammer) version because the closed design helps keep lint and dust out of the action, and it is easier to find holsters that work with the hammerless design.
  • "Beretta’s Dark Horse–The APX Compact" by David Higginbotham, The Mag Life. Lots of well thought out features and a joy to shoot made this a winner in the eyes of the reviewer.
  • Illegal in all 50 states: "Building the Lightning Link"--Bev Fitchett's Guns. See also "The AR-15 Lightning Link."
  • "In Country: Small Arms of the Vietnam War" by Capt. Dale Dye, USMC (Ret.), American Rifleman. An excerpt:
    ... I’m willing to grant that the M16A1 did yeoman service during the hottest combat years in Vietnam, but there’s no denying that a lot of outfits parted with their more rifleman-like M14s reluctantly.

    Right up to the last time I was on a Southeast Asian battlefield in mid-1970, I saw soldiers—and a lot of Marines—still carrying the M14 and swearing by its increased range, accuracy and lethality. I also saw a lot of soldiers and Marines opting to carry other arms despite problems with ammunition resupply and without a reliable source of spare parts. 

    I will never forget watching infantrymen from two battalions of the 5th Marines roaring all over Hue City during the Tet Offensive in 1968, carrying Thompson submachine guns, M2 carbines and even BARs that they’d pilfered from an ARVN armory. Maybe it was the influence of John Wayne movies or parental war stories, but those guys went through that supply of World War II-vintage guns like kids on Christmas morning.

    A lot of them chose to hang onto those guns—particularly the Thompsons, for which ammunition was readily available from pistol stores—long after that seminal street fight was done and dusted. There was a brisk trade between the northern-most Marines and soldiers of I Corps and local ARVN units. A mint-issue M2 carbine still in Cosmoline could be had for a couple of cartons of Kools or Salems. 

    Beyond the rugged, combat-guy image that such World War II-era arms imparted—and that was important to a lot of folks—there was also a desire to have the biggest hammer available when trying to nail the enemy. The under-powered carbines were all show, I grant you, but there were a lot of line dogs who insisted that a .30-caliber round from an M1 or BAR or a burst of .45 ACP from a Thompson was the definitive answer to the AK and the SKS. Different strokes for different folks, I guess, and it always comes down to what you trust when lives are on the line.
  • Some more military weapon history: "Four For Fighting: The Greatest Quartet Of Combat Shotguns" by Jeremy Clough, Guns Magazine. U.S. military shotguns from the Philippines through WWI and WWII and up to Vietnam. One uniting factor for the pump-actions: they all would fire with the trigger held back simply by pumping the action.
  • "Cutting Edge CuRx Monolithic .22LR Bullets"--The Firearm Blog. Solid copper bullets for .22 LR. Right now the company apparently is selling primed cases and bullets for the user to handload (are there die sets out there?), but is planning on selling complete ammunition shortly. 
  • "Why Sidecar Style Holsters Suck" by Daniel Reedy, Primer Peak. Or more specifically, why AIWB sidecar holsters suck. If you are not familiar with the term (I wasn't until I read this article), it refers to a holster with an attached magazine pouch.
  • "The only difference between and [sic] 'Adventure' and an 'Ordeal' is attitude!" by John Farnam, Defense Training International. Farnam notes that Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child who, by dint of determination and an encouraging father, overcame this to become athletic and an adventurer. 
    As a youth, TR was haggard and in perpetual poor health, suffering from asthma and a number of other maladies.
 
    He could have remained that way and would doubtless have experienced a miserable, pointless life, and died at a young age.
 
    But his father sternly assured TR that he did not come from a family of losers and encouraged the lad to embrace robust physical exercise, self-reliance, and what TR would later refer to as “The Strenuous Life.”
  • "A, B, Cs for 3 MM"--Counter-Terrorism, Solutions & Options. Looking at the option of what the author calls 3 man militias: militias comprised of 3-man units as the smallest unit or organization. Per the author, "These 3 Man Teams are the basics needed for a well-organized militia, and when these 3 man teams are organized properly as a militia, they can effectively confront and defeat much larger organized outside forces." The majority of the article is an outline and links to a plethora of other articles and videos on the 3MM concept and related topics.
  • "Basics Of Fighting A Guerrilla Operation"--Guerrilla War Tactics. An excerpt:
Guerrilla Warfare is a formidable way, short of a total General War, for achieving the political objectives of any ideology. The Guerrilla warfare thrives on the support of the people. The communists and now the Islamic Jihadists have championed the cause of so called poor or the purity of Islam. The Islamic jihadist has also adopted this form of warfare in Afghanistan. There is no choice but to win over the masses and simultaneously the Guerrilla Bands must be ruthlessly hunted down and exterminated.
    ... High speed, low drag is nothing more than basics applied to a problem. Whether you’re in your home, a dark alley, fast roping from a helicopter, or, in my case once, hanging onto a boxcar ladder with one hand, when it comes to you there are only three things you need to do.
 
    First, look at the sights, [2] control the trigger and [3] follow through.
    "Two NYPD cops shoot guns while drunk & off-duty, police sources say," a Wednesday New York Daily News headline declares. "Two drunken NYPD cops fired their guns in separate, off-duty incidents, one of which involved an officer emptying his handgun — firing 13 rounds — at a man inside a nearby car, hitting him six times..."

    It's the kind of story that shocks many Americans conditioned to view "law enforcement" as the selfless protectors of society from "the bad guys." Except it's not shocking to those of us who keep an eye on such things...

    That's something I've been doing for years, both on my The War on Guns blog, and over at Gun Rights Examiner, compiling stories under the heading of "The Only Ones Files." Examples of negligence, idiocy, corruption and outright evil abound. I don't even go looking for such stories, but still get more tips than I can use. And it's not just "a few bad apples" making the rest look bad. The rot is institutionalized, which becomes evident with countless examples of officers who have been allowed to get away with criminal behavior for years, and corresponding examples of colleagues who know about it but keep their mouths shut, and allow the victimization of citizens to continue.

    So why do I call them the "Only Ones"? We have DEA agent Lee Paige to thank for helping birth the term.

    "I'm the only one in this room professional enough that I know of to carry this Glock .40," he told a roomful of school kids in an anti-gun/drug lecture, before shooting himself in the foot in front of the horrified class while trying to holster his weapon.
    The idea behind the weapon is simple. The strongest person can only throw a punch so hard. The addition of a knuckle duster transfers more energy per punch, on top of protecting your hands and adding a material that can cause cuts and abrasions. A good heavy set of knuckle dusters add substantial kinetic force to your punch, and when combined with unforgiving metals like brass, they can crush bone. 

    Let’s not pussyfoot around here. Knuckle dusters, or brass knuckles, are deadly weapons not different than a gun or knife. These tools are part of the lethal force area when it comes to the escalation of force.

 

VIDEO: "Building a Budget Trauma Kit"--Skinny Medic (5 min.)


VIDEO: "What's Actually In an IFAK | Bear Independent"--Survival Dispatch (20 min.)

  • "How To Build Your Own First Aid Kit"--The Kommando Blog. This is probably one of the best articles on the topic I've seen. It covers what you need for MARCH-E including a "blowout" kit, "ouch" pouch (for major bleeds), a car kit, and other first aid items and equipment to have--including recommendations as to specific brands and sizes--discusses pouches and bags, and links to other reputable sources.
  • "Tx2guns: The Civilian Operator ‘Blowout’ Kit"--American Partisan. An excerpt:
Simply put, a “blowout” kit is a bare bones trauma pack. it primarily addresses the “B” of the “A-B-C’s” of trauma first aid:  airway, bleeding and circulation.
 
A typical blow-out kit will include:
  • quick-clot or celox
  • rolled gauze
  • (2) 4″ emergency battle dressings (israel bandages)
  • c-a-t tourniquet
  • combat medic shears
  • duct tape
  • nitrile gloves
Yes, you really do need an IFAK. At the very least you should be carrying a tourniquet (TQ). Statistically you are far more likely to need a TQ than you are to ever need that handgun you carry on a daily basis. TQs are useful for responding to that rollover car accident you witness through your windshield, handling a horrific injury during a hike, and, of course they’re ridiculously important for gunshot wounds. If you are going to carry a tool designed to start the bleed you should also be armed with a tool made to stop the bleed.

She continues:

    Since what we’re going for is a relatively basic IFAK consider this list a starting point, not a stopping point. And if it seems like a lot just start small. Where? Get the TQ first.

  • Tourniquet (SOFTT-W or CATT)
  • Rolled gauze
  • Nitrile gloves
  • SAM Splint
  • Hemostatic gauze (QuikClot BCD)
  • Silk tape (3M Durapore 1-inch-by-10-yards)
  • Tape (3M Micropore Paper Tape)
  • Band-Aids
  • Tweezers
  • Trauma Shears
  • Survival Blanket (AKA Space Blanket)
  • Diphenhydramine (brand name Benadryl)
  • Aspirin

If you’re trained in their use, include:

  • Decompression needle
  • Chest seal

Here are some of the pros and cons that I see with the TX2:

Pros:
  1. CoTCCC approved. This is a big deal. For a TQ company to gain ANY traction in the market, they need to first have their design given the nod by the Committee, which has strict standards that must be passed. A variety of tests are done to ensure the TQ will not only control bleeding, but will also stay in place when the casualty is transported through austere environments. The TX2 passed muster.
  2. The strap of the TX2 is .5 inches wider than either the CAT or SOF-T Wide making it a more comfortable TQ for the casualty. TQ pain is a common complaint from Casualties, so this is a nice advantage, but not a requirement for saving lives. The primary advantage of this wider the strap, is because it’s easier to gain full occlusion of the bleeding artery because of the surface area being compressed is larger.
  3. No slip ratcheting mechanism. I like this because a windlass style TQ (CAT) can slip out of your hands if you are bloody, or weak from blood loss and unwind, requiring you to retighten it. With the rachet system used by the TX2, there is no chance of this happening.
  4. According to the Rev Med X website: “Durable construction allows repeated use in training without loss of function.”
    This is different than other TQs on the market which do not recommend training with the one you are planning to save a life with since the materials can weaken with use and could become less effective over time. With how often I harp on the necessity of training, I feel like this is a pretty big deal. Instead of needing to purchase two CATs (one for use and another for training), you would only need to purchase a single TX2 and still be able to train effectively.

The cons he lists are its larger size, that it is more difficult to apply one-handed, and it is more expensive than other CoTCCC approved tourniquets (although the increased cost is negated because you don't have to purchase a separate one for training).  

    As far as fish antibiotics go, you CAN NOT take powders or pellet forms of the antibiotics and expect them to be effective on humans.  These are meant for fish. 

    However, if you see pill or tablet antibiotics marketed as “for fish,” these are really human forms of the medicines which have just been labeled for fish to get around the prescription requirement.  I feel bad for any pet owner who mistakenly buys pill forms of antibiotics for their fish!

The article has links for purchasing specific products. Also:

    ... the FDA requires all prescription and OTC medications to have a unique imprint.  The purpose of the code is make it possible to identify medications.  For example, if you drop your pill box and all the meds go flying, you would be able to identify the pills by their Imprint Code.

    All Imprint Codes will identify the type of drug and its strength.

    You can use this Pill Identifier tool to type in the Imprint Code of a pill and  find out exactly what it is.

    If you get pills which do not have an imprint code, then DO NOT TAKE THEM!  Who knows what they contain and in what dosage!

    If the pills do contain an imprint code, then you can be confident that they are the same pills used for humans.

 

VIDEO: "Lt. General Thomas McInerney: Special Forces Took Nancy Pelosi Laptop Wednesday, Says She's Frantic"--The Werff Report (4 min.) (h/t Marcus Wynne)

Miscellany:
  • "Saturday Snippet: The Fate of Empires"--Bayou Renaissance Man. This is in reference to Sir John Bagot Glubb's essay titled "The Fate of Empires." Glubb had noted that historically, empires had only lasted between 200 and 250 years (this is the empire, not necessarily the nation or country that headed up the empire). The lesson that Peter Grant believes is important (quoting John Dunn) is:
    Glubb, in the monograph that is our point of discussion, undertook to demonstrate his hypothesis and the evidence that supports his assertion that empires pass through the following ages: Pioneers, Conquests, Commerce, Affluence, Intellect, Decadence.
 
    The Age of Decadence he portrays as "marked by: Defensiveness, Pessimism, Materialism, Frivolity, An Influx of Foreigners, The Welfare State and Weakening of Religion."

    Glubb Pasha posits that "[d]ecadence is due to: Too long a period of wealth and power-Selfishness-Love of Money-The loss of a sense of duty."

No mystery where are we. While Glubb noted that most empires ended due to outside influences, that is not always the case. There is strong evidence that at least some of the great powers that collapsed at the end of the Bronze Age did so because of internal rebellion. 

  • A blast from the past: "The Deep State: Source Of All Negativity" by Doug Casey, Zero Hedge. This 2015 article explores what is the Deep State and how it has so negatively affected our country. From the article:
    The American Deep State is a real, but informal, structure that has arisen to not just profit from, but control, the State.

    The Deep State has a life of its own, like the government itself. It’s composed of top-echelon employees of a dozen Praetorian agencies, like the FBI, CIA, and NSA...top generals, admirals, and other military operatives...long-term congressmen and senators...and directors of important regulatory agencies.

    But Deep State is much broader than just the government. It includes the heads of major corporations, all of whom are heavily involved in selling to the State and enabling it. That absolutely includes Silicon Valley, although those guys at least have a sense of humor, evidenced by their “Don’t Be Evil” motto. It also includes all the top people in the Fed, and the heads of all the major banks, brokers, and insurers. Add the presidents and many professors at top universities, which act as Deep State recruiting centers...all the top media figures, of course...and many regulars at things like Bohemian Grove and the Council on Foreign Relations. They epitomize the status quo, held together by power, money, and propaganda.

    Altogether, I’ll guess these people number a thousand or so. You might analogize the structure of the Deep State with a huge pack of dogs. The people I’ve just described are the top dogs.

    But there are hundreds of thousands more who aren’t at the nexus, but who directly depend on them, have considerable clout, and support the Deep State because it supports them. This includes many of the wealthy, especially those who got that way thanks to their State connections...the 1.5 million people who have top secret clearances (that’s a shocking, but accurate, number)... plus top players in organized crime, especially the illegal drug business, little of which would exist without the State. Plus mid-level types in the police and military, corporations, and non-governmental organizations.

    These are what you might call the running dogs.

    Beyond that are the scores and scores of millions who depend on things remaining the way they are. Like the 50%-plus of Americans who are net recipients of benefits from the State...the 60 million on Social Security...the 66 million on Medicaid...the 50 million on food stamps...the many millions on hundreds of other programs... the 23 million government employees and most of their families. In fact, let’s include the many millions of average Joes and Janes who are just getting by.

    You might call this level of people, the vast majority of the population, whipped dogs. They both love and fear their master, they’ll do as they’re told, and they’ll roll over on their backs and wet themselves if confronted by a top dog or running dog who feels they’re out of line. These three types of dogs make up the vast majority of the U.S. population. I trust you aren’t among them. I consider myself a Lone Wolf in this context and hope you are, too. Unfortunately, however, dogs are enemies of wolves, and tend to hunt them down.

    The Deep State is destructive, but it’s great for the people in it. And, like any living organism, its prime directive is: Survive! It survives by indoctrinating the fiction that it’s both good and necessary. However, it’s a parasite that promotes the ridiculous notion that everyone can live at the expense of society.

    Is it a conspiracy, headed by a man stroking a white cat? I think not. I find it’s hard enough to get a bunch of friends to agree on what movie to see, much less a bunch of power-hungry miscreants bent on running everyone’s lives. But, on the other hand, the top dogs all know each other, went to the same schools, belong to the same clubs, socialize, and, most important, have common interests, values, and philosophies.

    The American Deep State rotates around the Washington Beltway. It imports America’s wealth as tax revenue. A lot of that wealth is consumed there by useless mouths. And then, it exports things that reinforce the Deep State, including wars, fiat currency, and destructive policies. This is unsustainable simply because nothing of value comes out of the city.

  • Margot Kaminski, Incitement to Riot in the Age of Flash Mobs, 81 U. Cin. L. Rev. (2013) (PDF). From the introduction:

    • As people increasingly use social media to organize both protests and robberies, government will try to regulate these calls to action. With an eye to this intensifying dynamic, this Article reviews First Amendment jurisprudence on incitement and applies it to existing statutes on incitement to riot at a common law, state, and federal level. The article suggests that First Amendment jurisprudence has a particularly tortuous relationship with regulating speech directed to crowds. It examines current crowd psychology to suggest which crowd behavior, if any, should as a matter of policy be subject to regulation. It concludes that many existing incitement-to-riot statutes are both bad policy and unconstitutional under Brandenburg v. Ohio.4 The article consequently suggests that courts should be careful in the application of these statutes, and states should be hesitant to build upon existing incitementto-riot statutes to regulate new media. 

  • "Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair: Hover Through the Fog and Filthy Air"--The Burning Platform. Asking how much of the past few months has been scripted. An excerpt:
    If a stolen presidential election is allowed to stand, then America’s social contract is annulled.  And, if it turns out the Deplorables were, in fact, trolled by Trump all along, then what would be the most effective ways for a decapitated movement to now wage battle against The Borg?

    Perhaps, as written in the comment section of my last article:

….Through the randomly disconnected anonymity of lone solo artists seeing points of weakness, lines of supply, brake lines, internet cables, control grids, electrical hubs and asking what can be won. Call it ‘surprise warfare’ by the ‘antiborg.’

Other than that, what kind of offensive could be launched in the absence of regional and national leadership? Who will lead? Who has the ability? What remains realistically, and statistically, possible? What can be won?

    These are good questions because campaign rallies can generate much enthusiasm for political leaders but storming government buildings with no plan in place simply makes for strange television.

Well, it wasn't a total loss. The Democrats and their allies have gone so crazy that they will generate the very backlash they are warning against. Basically, the Capital march has pushed the Democrats and their allies into acts that will tend to diminish their popular support, while building popular support for the Right. The cherry on top will be photographs or videos of Biden being sworn in surrounded by armed troops and high fences.

    Biden’s website says he has a plan to end “our gun violence epidemic” and boasts that he has taken on the NRA twice and won, referring to his help passing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993 and in passing a 10-year ban on some weapons and magazines the following year.

    “As president, Joe Biden will defeat the NRA again,” the site states.

    Some of the proposals include banning the manufacture and sale of so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, restricting the number of guns one person may buy per month to one, and prohibiting people convicted of hate crimes from owning guns.

    We didn’t make the rules, but it is high time we start to play by them. The United States is still a federalist system. President Trump put this on full display during the COVID-19 response. The federal government provided resources as required, but the responses were locally driven and state-managed. Ideally, this is how nearly everything should be governed, except where the federal government’s powers are enumerated.

    However, an ever-expanding federal government that keeps encroaching on our communities and daily lives is about to go into overdrive. Voters should expect higher taxes with a repeal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Get ready for a smaller paycheck in 2022. And, of course, energy prices are going to rise because of disastrous environmental policies.

    Our blue-state cousins have taken some unique approaches in order to wiggle out from under federal law. During the Obama administration, various cities and some states started to declare themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants. The courts have upheld this defiance. Let’s call it a precedent.

    Bear with me. It is time to decide what we as a movement will demand our red state governors declare sanctuaries for. The obvious one is our Second Amendment rights. Luckily, this is an issue that crosses political lines in many red states. The Biden administration’s likely first step will make gun ownership and the purchase of ammunition unaffordable through registration requirements, taxes, and fees for common firearms and accessories.

    Then Congress will begin to chip away at the types of firearms and accessories you can own. If the worst possible thing happens, gun czar Beto O’Rourke will structure mandatory buybacks. Even though he said he would come and take them during his failed presidential run, house-to-house searches and seizures seem like a step too far, even for Democrats. Plus, there would be a lot of unfortunate boating accidents to investigate.

    In states with a Republican trifecta, a Second Amendment sanctuary needs to be declared. Red states should refuse to enforce any legislation that further infringes on gun rights or facilitates a federal registry of gun owners. Then they should litigate it, just as the Democrat states do. One of the only good things Mitch McConnell has done is fast-track judicial appointments. Shop for the correct jurisdiction, just like Democrats and the left do.

    Wednesday’s mob assault on Capitol Hill was shocking and brazen: Hundreds of MAGA-hat-wearing rioters broke into the seat of American democracy. They stormed the halls, looting property and assaulting law enforcers, all in service of an absurd political demand: reversing the outcome of an election.

    Now where had I witnessed such scenes before? The answer: in blue-governed cities in my native Pacific Northwest throughout last summer and into the fall and winter.

    The right-wing political violence was met with universal rebuke from politicians of both parties and the media. But many of those who are loudest in condemning the Capitol Hill riot went radio-silent when rioters destroyed and looted in the name of Black Lives Matter.

    Last May, thousands of rioters in Minneapolis brought the city to its knees after the police-involved death of George Floyd. Over three days, rioters burned down a police station, looted hundreds of businesses and burned entire neighborhoods to the ground. Mass street violence also broke out in Washington, DC, New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle and dozens of other cities; at least two dozen died in the course of the riots.

    Vice President-elect Kamala Harris encouraged her millions of Twitter followers to donate to a Minnesota crowd-funding effort that paid bail for accused rioters. So, too, did more than a dozen Joe Biden campaign staffers. The Minnesota Freedom Fund raked in more than $35 million in donations with their help.

    In Portland, Ore., where I’m from, masked extremists from both BLM and Antifa smashed their way into the Multnomah County Justice Center on May 29. The building houses the Sheriff’s Office, a police station and jail. Rioters ransacked the ground floor, hoping to break into the jail to free prisoners. When that failed, they started fires; city and county staff fled for their lives.

    But the rioters were just getting started.

    For the next four months, BLM-Antifa rioted every night in Portland, setting fire to streets and buildings and assaulting responding officers with concrete and mortar explosives. In July, they tried to storm into a federal courthouse downtown. Night after night, hundreds and then thousands of rioters brought in electric tools, rope and explosives to breach the barrier erected to protect the building.

    More than 277 injuries of officers were reported by the Department of Homeland Security in Portland alone. Hundreds of injuries were reported by other police departments in different cities.

    Local politicians at the time condemned law enforcement and lionized the criminals. Portland city councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty spread a conspiracy theory that police were engaging in false-flag arson attacks to frame left-wing protesters. Mayor Ted Wheeler told President Trump in a news conference to take his “troops” and leave. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden called the officers an “occupying army.” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown described them as “secret police abducting people in unmarked vehicles.”

    The media were no better.

    In August, NPR gave an unchallenged platform to Vicky Osterweil to promote her book “In Defense of Looting.” During the interview, the author argued that rioting and looting were legitimate acts of protest. Both local and national media rigidly only referred to the far-left rioters as “protesters.” The Associated Press, which sets guidelines for journalists, amended its stylebook to discourage use of the word “riot,” given protesters’ “underlying grievances.”

    Hours after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, Antifa tried to break into the Multnomah County Courthouse in downtown Portland. A mob of black-clad Antifa militants proceeded to smash businesses and public buildings using hammers. On one wall, they spray-painted an Antifa logo and the warning, “The state can no longer suppress us.”

    Protesters then confronted Mayor Wheeler at a restaurant and hit him. But by morning, no national media had reported on the anti-government violence in Portland — the third riot in the city since New Year’s Eve.

But it is Trump supporters that are being labeled as "domestic terrorists". 

    The election of President-elect Joe Biden does not signal the end of violent anarchist group antifa, sometimes portrayed by sympathetic media as a national anti-Trump movement.

    Instead, according to a journalist who has tracked its every move, antifa is likely to feel emboldened to challenge pro-Trump critics of the new Democratic administration.

    And following Wednesday’s violent protests in the halls of Congress by Trump supporters, said Andy Ngo, “They will feel, in their own right, legitimized” to retaliate.

Not knowing anything about real Nazis and how they operated, Antifa members will likely be surprised when they meet the same fate as Hitler's brownshirts. 

    There are a couple of ways to interpret this. First, that these companies understand that with this election, there is no longer any need to buy Republican politicians because the Machine can manufacture all the votes it wants. Second, and this be a situation of "and" rather than "or", these companies are signaling their fealty to the New Regime.
    “The violent riot in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 was a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol building, and our Constitutional process,” the seven generals and one admiral said in an internal memo to troops, adding that the military remained committed to protecting and defending the Constitution.

    “The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection,” the memo, seen by Reuters, said.

    The military leaders said that President-elect Joe Biden would be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and become their commander in chief.

    “Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values, and oath; it is against the law.”
    “Ahead of the Ugandan election, we're hearing reports that Internet service providers are being ordered to block social media and messaging apps,” the social media giant posted in a statement on Tuesday.

    “We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet,” the statement continued.

    The company argued that “access to information and freedom of expression, including the public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, particularly elections.” 
I completely condemn what happened [on Wednesday], not because it's not time to fight, but because it is not time to fight like a mob.  An American army ... is different from a mob, because an American army, when an American army goes to war, it goes to war on a foundation of justice, a foundation of righteous anger, a foundation of moral certainty that you are on the side of the angels, and it does it with discipline.  American armies do not shoot hostages, and they don't hang children, in order to get information.  They are not a bunch of people climbing over barricades and smashing windows.  An American army has discipline and they preserve the moral integrity necessary to win because they have discipline, because they don't do the kind of things that they have been begging us to do.

Grant notes that not only is this historically wrong--the U.S. has only won when it has been just as ruthless or more so than its enemies--but is doctrinally incorrect. That is, he argues, conservatives do not have the time to wait until it has the organization, discipline, and money to fight the Left. 

Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.

And just so you know that any attempt by Lane to appear fair or balanced is B.S., he adds: 

This isn’t cancel culture, which is a societal blight. (There’s surely a nice living for each of these press secretaries on the true-believer circuit.) Nor is this politically motivated, as Forbes’ pro-entrepreneur, pro-growth worldview has generally placed it in the right-of-center camp over the past century — this standard needs to apply to liars from either party. It’s just a realization that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, in a thriving democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Our national reset starts there.

Strangely, Forbes has never taken this position before, and I doubt it will take it again. This is just the Cloud People angry that the peasants are revolting.

  • Speaking of people not being entitled to their own facts: "Yes, it was a Fraudulent Election" by Malcolm Beifong, American Thinker. The real lie is when the Leftists claim that there was no evidence (generally followed by some reference that all the court cases were thrown out by the judges) conclusively demonstrating that they know nothing about evidence or the practice of law. And, yes, statistical studies are evidence--they are widely used to show disparate impact in civil rights litigation, for instance. Anyway, an excerpt from the article:
    ... due to statistical anomalies in vote counts which strongly point to artificial manipulation, convincingly presented by people much smarter than I am, coupled with suspicious maneuvers by officials in charge of the voting process, along with reports of questionable accumulation and counting of ballots, I found it hard to believe that the election was managed in a way that was fair and honest. But if there was a reasonable explanation for all of the apparent weirdness, I was ready to listen.

    As I write this we’re into January, yet Reasonable Explanation remains a no-show. Instead, we are to believe that there was, okay, maybe some fraud, but not enough to change the result. Nothing major. And I suppose a certain level of unscrupulous background noise is to be expected during any nationwide election. Dead people voting, people voting twice, lost ballots. We’re a big country, and if some of that happens, I don’t lose sleep over it.

    But this time around, it seems like much much more than a few dubious ballots from the living dead. I’ve come to the conclusion that the will of the voters was not taken seriously by the people in charge who, presuming to know better than we do, changed the result to one of their liking. That’s the bad news.

    Here’s the worse news: those people have probably gotten away with it by now because finding actual evidence ex post facto that would indict them is a tough one. But a robbery is not negated because you cannot catch the thief. ...
  • The first rule of fighting tyranny is to show who is the tyrant: "Dance To The Line" by Sarah Hoyt. Because she was smaller and sickly, Hoyt was often the victim of bullies. She learned to fight back, explaining:
    ... Like, you use the fact bullies can’t stand to be defied against them. And you make sure when they hit you it’s right in front of everyone, and that you “weren’t DOING anything.” Remember that. this is very important.

    So, say, the playground bully drew a line with his toe on the sand and said “you can’t cross this.” Okay then. Fine. Right and proper. You dance right up to the line, and then moon walk (even if I didn’t know what that meant, back and forth along it.) You’re not actually crossing the line, but you’re depriving the bully of what he really wants: your fear and submission.

    The bully can’t help it. The longer you’re doing your moon walk and grinning at him, the more it’s going to aggravate the living daylights out of him. And he knows — he knows — people watching the scene are laughing at him. So he’s going to hit you. Now, if you’re smart you’ll be ready and duck, which makes him look even worse. And if you duck long enough, he’s going to take off running after you. And if you do time it just right, it will be when the teacher has just come out of the door, to call you in from recess. And she’s going to grab you. And everyone in the playground will say “she wasn’t doing anything.”

While the events at the Capital were used by the Left as their very own Reichstag Fire to justify crushing anyone that doesn't agree with them, we cannot accept that characterizations; and those to the right of the new fascists controlling our country should stop criticizing the MAGA protestors. Instead, Ashli E. Babbitt's death should be our Boston Massacre. Her pictures, especially of her lying there bleeding to death, should be spread far and wide with the message that this is what Pelosi and her minions caused. 

    I'm seeing the same callousness in talk about shooting this, or that, or the other politician, or activist, or members of a given organization.  If someone has shown themselves to be an enemy of our Republic, and a traitor to our constitution, then they should undoubtedly pay a price for that;  but if we set ourselves up as judge, and jury, and executioner, we give others license to do exactly the same to us.  That's what the Golden Rule is all about.  I don't see how any Christian, at least, can persuade themselves that it's moral to do that.

    I'm entirely in agreement that there needs to be resistance to the progressive coup d'état that electoral fraud during the November 2020 elections has brought about.  I have no objection to the guilty parties being brought to justice.  However, let's make sure that it's the guilty who suffer punishment.  As they have sown, so let them reap.  Let their criminal and morally evil actions be their judge - not our opinion of their politics.  Otherwise, we make ourselves as much an enemy of our constitution and laws - not to mention our moral and ethical foundation - as they are.

What Grant says is true. In Revelation 13:10 (KJV), we are warned: "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." I don't see this as saying that we must render ourselves helpless before the forces of evil, but that we must not be the instigators of violence. If they attack us, we defend. But we do not go forth conquering or to conquer; nor do we seek revenge. As Paul instructs us: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19).

    Besides, living by the sword isn't absolutely necessary. In a different article, Grant discusses infrastructure attacks. 

  • "Could Condescension Cause A Civil War?"--Helen Smith at Instapundit. I recommend reading the whole thing as it neatly describes the contempt the Left and the Elites have for "the Deplorables", but this is the key part: "But the problem is that the main attraction of leftist politics is to put people down in order to feel powerful. There is no incentive for them to stop and the media eggs them on and promotes belittling as a virtue. It is a vicious circle that may end in a very bad place."
  • "Deplorables, Or Expendables?"--American Conservative. The author begins by looking at the question of why Apple was so confident that it could with impunity not pay Apple employees for the time everyday where they were screened to make sure they weren't sneaking anything in or out. 

    Jeff Rubin, author of The Expendables: How the Middle Class got Screwed by Globalization, has an answer to the above question that is easily deduced from the subtitle of his book. The socio-economic arrangements produced by globalization have made labor the most flexible and plentiful resource in the economic process. The pressure on the middle class, and all that falls below it, has been so persistent and powerful, that now “only 37 percent of Americans believe their children will be better off financially than they themselves are. Only 24 percent in Canada or Australia feel the same. And in France, that figure dips to only 9 percent.” And “[i]n the mid-1980s it would have taken a typical middle-income family with two children less than seven years of income to save up to buy a home; it now takes more than ten years. At the same time, housing expenditures that accounted for a quarter of most middle-class household incomes in the 1990s now account for a third.”

    The story of globalization is engraved in the “shuttered factories across North America, the boarded-up main streets, the empty union halls.” Rubin does admit that there are benefits accrued from globalization, billions have been lifted up out of poverty in what was previously known as the third world, wealth has been created, certain efficiencies have been achieved. The question for someone in the western world is how much more of a price he’s willing to pay to keep the whole thing going on, especially as we have entered a phase of diminishing returns for almost all involved.

    As Joel Kotkin has written, “[e]ven in Asia, there are signs of social collapse. According to a recent survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, half of all Korean households have experienced some form of family crisis, many involving debt, job loss, or issues relating to child or elder care.” And “[i]n “classless” China, a massive class of migrant workers—over 280 million—inhabit a netherworld of substandard housing, unsteady work, and miserable environmental conditions, all after leaving their offspring behind in villages. These new serfs vastly outnumber the Westernized, highly educated Chinese whom most Westerners encounter.” “Rather than replicating the middle-class growth of post–World War II America and Europe, notes researcher Nan Chen, ‘China appears to have skipped that stage altogether and headed straight for a model of extraordinary productivity but disproportionately distributed wealth like the contemporary United States.’”

My initial reaction, after listening to the soundtrack, was exasperation that this was how affluent theatergoers were being introduced to my faith. But I also felt compelled to be a good sport—and I wasn’t alone. When [Church President] Romney was asked about the show, he said he’d love to see it: “It’s a Tony-award winner, big phenomenon!” And the Church itself took out ads in the playbill that read, “You’ve seen the play. Now read the book.” 

But where the play-wrights worried about any backlash from Mormons? No, writes Coppins, citing to an NPR interview with the Stone and Parker in which the duo were asked that very question. From the NPR piece, with Stone fielding the answer:

    Because before the church responded, a lot of, you know, people would ask us about, like, oh, are you afraid of what the church is going to say? And Trey and I were like, they're going to be cool. Trust us. They're going to be cool.

    And people in New York are like, no, they're not. They're going to be, you know, mad at you guys. There are going to be protests. We're like, nope, they're going to be cool. And, I mean, I don't know if we totally knew, but we weren't that surprised by the church's response.

Going back to Coppins' Atlantic article, Coppins admitted that he was initially delighted by the Church's response. 

    But then I met a theater critic in New York who had recently seen the musical. He marveled at how the show got away with being so ruthless toward a minority religion without any meaningful backlash. I tried to cast this as a testament to Mormon niceness. But the critic was unconvinced. “No,” he replied. “It’s because your people have absolutely no cultural cachet.”

    Somehow, it wasn’t until that moment that I understood the source of all our inexhaustible niceness. It was a coping mechanism, born of a pulsing, sweaty desperation to be liked that I suddenly found humiliating.

    Saudi Arabia has announced that a new 105-mile-long linear eco-city free from cars, streets and carbon emissions will be built in which no commute will take longer than 20 minutes.

    The NEOM project, which received $500billion in funding from Saudi government, Public Investment Fund and local and global investors, is set to be built from scratch along the kingdom's Red Sea coast and will cover 105 miles in a straight line.

    NEOM is a 10,000 sq mile high-tech development based in a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea with several zones, including an industrial and logistics areas, which is planned to be completed in 2025.

    The Line is expected to cost between $100billion and $200billion - mostly coming from NEOM's $500billion funding - and is the result of three years of work. 

  • For the crime history buffs: "The Zebra Killings" by F. Roger Devlin, American Renaissance. 
    ... 15 white San Franciscans were killed because of their race over a terrifying six-month period in the early 1970s. The killings, which became known as the Zebra murders, were carried out by a group of at least four black men associated with the Nation of Islam.

    On the evening of October 20, 1973, 30-year-old Richard Hague and his 28-year-old wife Quita, were strolling down Telegraph Hill, barely a block from home, when a white van pulled up beside them. Three black men emerged; one pointed a gun at them and ordered them to get in the van. Quita ran off, but the men grabbed Richard. Thinking their intent was merely robbery, and that they would be let him go if they cooperated, she went back. The blacks threw them to the floor of the van and tied their hands behind them. Richard thought the men might be raping Quita and tried to look up; they beat him unconscious with a wrench.

    Arriving at a suitably deserted spot, the men dragged Quita and the unconscious Richard out of the van. They then set upon Quita with a machete. One of the investigating officers recalls:

    I’d been in the department ten years. Knifings, shooting, beatings, strangulations — pretty much any way you can kill as person, I’d seen it done. But I’d never seen anything like the wounds that cut through that young woman. They took your breath away. . . .

    There was no sexual assault. Her husband’s wallet was stolen, but there was almost no money in it. Even if robbery had been the motive and the killers were just trying to silence them, they could have used their gun. But they didn’t. Which meant they didn’t just want to kill them. They wanted to mutilate them. . . .

    The wounds were across her face, shoulders, chest and torso. That meant the killers attacked her while she was on her back. There was tearing in most of the cuts, which meant she was struggling, trying to twist away from the blade as it came down toward her. [pp. 3–17. See end of article for explanation of sources.]

The killers were content to slash at Richard’s face and neck a few times and leave him for dead. He survived, but needed more than 200 stitches and many surgeries.

Read the whole thing. 

    Previous discoveries suggested humans in Africa stopped using certain tools and methods - including simple points and scrapers - in favour of more complex and crafted equipment including spears and blades about 30,000 years ago.

    This distinction in equipment, and a move to a more artistic and regionally diverse approach to tools marks the transition from Middle to Later Stone Age. 

    Archaeologists found ancient West African inhabitants were still using simple tools about 11,000 years ago - up to 20,000 years after they went out of favour elsewhere. 

    This disproves a long-held theory that humanity evolved in one uniform way towards our modern lifestyle - and instead evolved at different speeds around the world.  

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