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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

The Docent's Memo (2/10/2021)

VIDEO: "Crimea is running out of water"--Caspian Report (12 min.). South-East Asia is not the only place that could experience water wars.
  • First up, if you haven't already done so, check out this past week's Weekend Knowledge Dump from Greg Ellifritz. Topics include, but are not limited to, disassembly and cleaning of the M1A, more research on the efficacy of certain types of masks vis-à-vis COVID, Greg's thoughts on the Tacoma PD cruiser driving over a person to escape a crowd of rioters, the muzzle-wobble drill, making improvised weapons, a look at Gallup research on gun ownership and views toward gun control over time (interestingly, the number of households reporting that they owned guns dropped precipitously after passage of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban suggesting that people began lying to pollsters about that question, and the number of people supporting bans on handguns has steadily fallen since 1960), an article from Grant Cunningham warning that a firearm is not an anti-crime talisman, and a lot more.
  • With spring fast approaching and early hunting seasons for some game, this is a good time to review this subject: "Wilderness Predator Defense"--Swift Silent Deadly. The author asserts that "[b]lack and brown bears represent the biggest threats to hikers, hunters, and other outdoorspeople in the lower 48." (Domestic animals, including livestock and cats, are actually the most likely to kill people, overall, followed by hornets, bees and wasps).  The author goes on to discuss methods for dealing with snakes (I'm pretty much on page with what he says on this topic) and spends a little time on mountain lion and coyotes, but spends most of the article discussing ways to avoid being attacked by bears (he recommends bear bells) followed by what to do if you are attacked such as making yourself look more dangerous or using bear spray, before moving on to the subject of firearms. A good discussion, so be sure to check it out.
  • Another article on protecting yourself from attack by wild animals: "You Are Your Own First Responder" by Scott Smith, Gat Daily. Smith begins:

    This past summer I took a trip out to Colorado and Wyoming to shoot a couple of pistol matches. It was also an opportunity to hike and climb in the Rockies around Colorado Springs and the flatlands around Gillette, Wyoming. Just prior to taking the trip I had read an article online by one of the hiking, outdoor magazines that you should not carry a handgun hiking.

    In my world that is not going to happen because there are rabid animals, carnivores that have been known to attack humans and of course there are the bad two legged type of critters. I will not tell others what to do, however I choose to be prepared. If you choose to carry when in the back woods carry a handgun that functions well in all conditions. ...

He goes on to discuss the firearms and knife he prefers--the H&K VP9 or Ruger GP100, and Spyderco’s Province Bowie-style knife--but notes that any reliable handgun and sturdy fixed blade knife will do.

    Where I live in Southwest Idaho, the primary wild predator animals that would be of concern to a hiker are mountain lions, coyotes, badgers and rattle snakes. But because predators are hunted here, mountain lions and coyotes keep their distance. Idaho is certainly home to black bears, and I understand that they can sometimes be encountered in and around Boise, but I've never seen one myself.

    I've seen plenty of coyotes at distance, but I had one close encounter with a coyote that was apparently sleeping in a draw filled with blown-in tumbleweed whom I surprised as I walked up to the edge of the draw. I heard loud rustling from underneath the tumbleweed, and he suddenly raced out of the tumble weed and up the other side, probably startling me more than vice versa, stopping at the top. I stared at him through the sights of my rifle and he stood looking at me to see what I would do. After a couple moments of looking at each other, he turned and ran off.

    In reality, I'm more concerned about two legged predators when I hike or hunt than I am with wildlife. While out grouse hunting on one occasion, I bumped into a guy that had poached a deer and really wished I had something other than light bird shot while playing dumb about when deer season started; and I've run across my share of people that gave off a weird vibe. Thus, rather than a bear gun, my choice for carry while hiking has generally been a lightweight .38 snubby or small 9 mm--sufficient for two-legged predators or something the size of a mountain lion or coyote. That doesn't mean I never resort to heavier firepower: if I'm camping or deer hunting in an area where bears are more abundant, I will switch up to a magnum revolver or higher capacity 9 mm.

    Machine guns don’t fire a bunch of a shots at a time, but they do fire single shots in rapid succession. As long as the gunner presses the trigger, the gun obediently delivers another shot. Depending on many factors like the ground, stability of the mount and other things, the trajectories of a group of shots form a cone—literally, a cone of fire. All those bullets start at the same spot in the barrel of a machine gun, but the paths vary a bit when they leave the muzzle. Eventually, gravity calls all those shots back to the ground. Their pattern of strikes on the ground is known as the beaten zone. It has been designated thus as least as far back as the late 1950s when this writer was a weapons platoon leader in the 3rd Marines. Actually, “beaten zone” was heard well before World War I.

    When a machine gun puts a stream of bullets into the air, the effect sort of resembles a garden hose spraying a stream of water. The pattern of water striking the lawn is somewhat elliptical and becomes longer or wider depending on how you tilt the hose. Essentially, the machine gun does the same thing. When these guns were first introduced to the battlefield, they were often used almost like artillery. Massed machine guns were set up to fire parallel to each other. The cone of fire of each gun was close to its neighbor. If you had enough guns, you could cover a vast expanse of ground with bullets—one massive beaten zone. The organization of infantry units in the Great War included entire battalions of infantry soldiers armed primarily with machine guns. In time, we came to understand that mortars and artillery were a more efficient way to do the same thing. 

    If the ground on which the fight is taking place is relatively flat, certain aspects of the beaten zone can be used to even greater advantage. When the machine gun is placed so that the cone of fire is nearly parallel with the ground, the beaten zone stretches out in length. If you are shooting over level or uniformly sloping ground, the bullet’s trajectory will not rise above the height of an enemy soldier. This is called grazing fire, and it can extend out to as far as 750 yards. It is an often-sought, seldom-realized condition that maximizes the potential of the machine gun. Infantry tacticians always try to get their machine guns placed to maximize their ability to produce grazing fire. But, in either offensive or defensive fighting, they also try to do something else.

    They try to get the long axis of the beaten zone to coincide with the long axis of the target. We already know what the beaten zone is, so the long axis is simply an imaginary line that divides it in half. The target is a group of enemy troops. Invariably, they are going to be in some kind of formation. Draw the same imaginary line and divide the formation in half. If it’s at all possible, get the long axis of the beaten zone right on the long axis of the target. This ideal type of engagement is called enfilade fire.
Ballistic steels, such as AR500, are the cheapest option for hard rifle plates and can take multiple hits, but they are also the heaviest choice. Ceramic composite plates are lighter but they cost a little more and cannot take as much abuse as steel. Other hybrid plates exist, but these high-tech models are expensive and not commonly found in the commercial market. Sizes vary, but 10x12 (inches) is the most common commercial option for chest and back protection. Shapes include “regular cut,” which has rounded edges, as well as “shooter’s” and “swimmer’s” cuts, which have steeply angled top corners to allow more range of motion and better circulation for the arms.

Also:

    Which armor type and carrier system best fits your needs will depend upon how you intend to use it. I have worn each of the above configurations for days, weeks and months at a time in active ground combat or clandestine environments. Not surprisingly, the lighter and less restrictive the system, the more likely one is to wear it. 

    If your vest will be mothballed until the zombies are scratching at your doors and windows, your main limitations will be storage space and budget. In a worst-case scenario, where you find yourself fighting for your life in a fixed position (such as your house) or against multiple attackers, a full-size tactical carrier will be worth its weight in gold.

    But, that same beast of a tunic will not be fun to walk around in regularly, especially after adding your spare ammo, medical gear, etc. to the vest’s soft armor and rifle plate(s). Hopefully, none of us will ever be in a situation that calls for such heavy-duty protection on the home front, but it is available if needed.

    Concealment vests and trimmed-down plate carriers are generally more affordable and flexible for periodic or grab-and-go use. Both can easily be stowed behind a truck seat, in a car trunk or in a medium-size gear bag. They can be used together or separately, as situations dictate. Their smaller sizes make them less obvious and better-suited for situations where keeping a low profile is desired. What separately employed, small-plate carriers and concealment vests lack in terms of protection, they make up for in mobility and modularity.

  • "The Evolution of 5.56 Ball – A Look Then and Now (M855A1)" by Jeff Cramblit, Guns America. The original 5.56 mm Ball M193 used in Vietnam was a .223 cartridge using a 55 grain FMJ bullet. Next came the 5.56 NATO SS109 (M855) "green tip" with its 62-grain projectile featuring a lead core and an encased steel penetrator. Now troops are using the "unleaded" M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) featuring a copper projectile with exposed steel penetrator. The author has cut-aways of the different projectiles as well as tests against standard carbon steel plates and AR500 steel plates at 100 yards.
  • A classic: "Browning Hi-Power: The Pistol That Served Nazis, FBI, SAS and Muammar Gaddafi"--The Firearm Blog. A look at the post-WWII history of this fine pistol. Because of its widespread use throughout the British Commonwealth and Belgium, it is a very common military handgun in much of the world. If I remember correctly, Frank Serpico carried one when working as a plains-clothes officer for the NYPD.
  • Don't rage--it is reversible: "Building a Modernized M1 Garand" by Brian C. Sheetz, American Rifleman. Changes involved putting a fiberglass stock on the weapon, replacing the upper handguard with the M12 Forward Optic Mount by UltiMAK which gives you a length of Picatinny rail forward of the action, attaching a Burris 2-7X 32 mm Scout scope, installing a Ported Gas Plug by Garand Gear to allow more powerful ammunition without damaging the operating rod (a simple solution seemingly overlooked by Army Ordinance with its decade long effort to create the M14), and installation of a “Holbrook device”:

This modified operating rod catch simply swaps out with the original but significantly changes the M1’s method of operation in the following ways: A full or empty eight-round en bloc clip can be inserted into the rifle and will “click” into place, but the bolt will not close even on a slowly withdrawn thumb—thus the commercial version’s “thumbsaver” moniker. Then, the first round is loaded into the chamber by pulling back the operating rod handle and letting it fly forward. Also, an empty clip locked into the rifle can be loaded with from one to seven rounds singly. Finally, the device remains in the gun, with the bolt locked back, after the last round is fired and ejects from the rifle only after the clip latch has been manually depressed.

  • "The .30-06 Just Plain Works" by John Barsness, Gun Hunter. The author has hunted game animals all over North America and Africa with many, many different calibers. But, he observes something that should be familiar to those studying the effectiveness of defensive handgun ammunition:
    Hunters all over the world are convinced that their cartridge, bullet or handload is the answer to the quickest, cleanest kills. Some even devise formulas supposedly indicating how well various cartridges slay big game.  Like any true rifle loony, I could quote ballistic statistics that supposedly “prove” quite a few cartridges are better than the .30-06 for specific purposes.

    But as my list of cartridges and animals has grown longer, I’ve come to the boring conclusion that shot placement is by far the biggest equation in killing power, with bullet construction an important but distant second. It normally takes at least 10 seconds for a big game animal’s blood pressure to drop after a solid double-lung hit, and no shoulder-fired rifle on earth will change that much. Some animals may fall sooner, especially if the bullet comes close to the spine, but the majority of big game are going to stay upright for a little while after solid chest shots and travel maybe 25 to 50 yards before falling. As a result, I eventually came up with my own formula: 2L = DPQ. This stands for 2 Lungs equals Dead Pretty Quick.

    “Average” animals means anything from 100-pound American pronghorn and African springbok to 1,500-pound Alaskan moose and African eland. I have shot non-dangerous game of this size with a pile of different cartridges, and seen just as many animals taken by companions. And if there is a magic formula other than 2L = DPQ, it has eluded me.

    A study of close to 8,000 moose killed by Scandinavian hunters came to the same conclusion. Hunters reported the cartridge they used, how many shots landed and how far each moose traveled until it fell. The average was around 1.5 hits, and the distance the moose traveled averaged about 40 yards after the first shot, regardless of whether the cartridge was a 6.5x55 or a .375 H&H.

    What makes the .30-06 so special is its versatility: it can be downloaded to relatively light-weight, flat shooting bullets for smaller or more distant game, or uploaded to bullets in excess of 200 grains suitable for most anything in North America. While there may not be much difference between the .308 and .30-06 when comparing commercial loads, the extra case capacity over the .308 makes it a better cartridge for the handloader.

VIDEO: "Comparing 6 STAFF Martial Arts from around the World. History, Self-defence, Fitness & Flow"--Fandabi Dozi (17 min.)
    A good rifle bedding kit will cost between $40 and $70, depending on whether you want pillars or not. If you know what you’re doing, it’ll take about four hours to properly bed a riflestock with pillars already installed. If the pillars need to be installed, add two hours.

    You’ll also need some resources and tools that don’t come with the kit—most importantly, a mill or at least a Dremel tool. An inexpensive mill will cost you about $700, and a good Dremel kit about $100. Considering most gunsmiths will only charge between $150 and $250 to bed your rifle, you’re better off seeking their services—at the very least, to save a bunch of money.

    In case you’re unfamiliar with pillars, they’re the aluminum tubes that go inside the stock and fit between the action and floor plate of the rifle. The front and rear action screws pass through these tubes/pillars. Pillars help solidify the “marriage” of the action to the stock and provide more strength. And, for lack of a better word to describe it, they’re a major pain to install correctly. ...

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the article then proceeds to discuss and illustrate the process of bedding an action. He discusses using a mill and/or Dremel for inletting, but my father (who was actually quite competent at it) used wood chisels and scrapers for most of his work.

VIDEO: "PREPAREDNESS 2020 - First Aid, IFAK and Trauma Kits"--3 River Blades (29 min.)
  • One thing I've been working on over the last several months is putting together and learning to use a trauma kit or advanced first aid kit to take hunting, camping, or target shooting. We've always had fairly well-stocked first aid kits, but nothing for treating serious trauma. But I also want something a little more than a basic IFAK/trauma kit: adding some gear suited for outdoor recreation and boo-boo type issues. So, unfortunately for you, the reader, that means that I have been and will probably continue to link to different articles or videos on first aid or trauma kits and suggested contents, products or brands.
    • "Medical Kits: What You Need to Know" by Clay Martin, Guns America. The author advises that most pre-packaged kits are generally not that good--you are better off purchasing gear yourself and assembling the kit--but makes an exception for kits from Solatac, specifically recommending the the Saddle Bag/ Motorcycle kit. He also recommends The Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide by Joseph and Amy Alton, and the Leatherman Raptor Shears for at least your bug out bag or primary medical kit. He warns about ordering products on-line but has had good luck with Rescue Essentials and Chinook Medical Gear. 
  • "Protection or Pain Treatment: Choosing Between Your Gun and Medical Marijuana" by Sam Jacobs, Ammo.com. Jacobs begins:
    If you’ve ever filled out a Form 4473, you’re familiar with the Question 11e: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or other controlled substance?” In case you thought there was any ambiguity with regard to medical marijuana, you were wrong. Indeed, there is a warning in bold right underneath the question that clarifies:

“Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized or for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”

    Regardless of what one thinks about marijuana, its legalization or the right of the federal government to regulate either drugs or the internal laws of the various states, the fact remains: As of now, possession, sale and cultivation of marijuana remains a federal offense. It is a Schedule I drug in the same category as heroin and cocaine. You might not like that and you might think such classifications are ridiculous. The federal government doesn’t care.

    This is a particularly difficult issue for people who use medicinal marijuana for bona fide medical purposes, rather than as a sort of legal loophole to consume marijuana legally. Many people use medicinal marijuana for a variety of purposes including relief from pain, Alzheimer’s symptoms, glaucoma, epilepsy and a number of complications related to cancer, including nausea and lack of appetite. The science on this is rather conclusive, so much so that Big Pharma makes legal synthetic THC pills known as marinol.

    For those who use medical marijuana and wish to protect themselves with firearms, there is a choice: you can keep your guns or you can keep your grass or you can break the law.

Jacobs goes on to discuss in more detail the law on firearms and possessing marijuana (including a few states that try to safeguard data on those using medical marijuana), possible penalties, the status of enforcement (or lack thereof) of these laws, whether its constitutional, the impact on the right to concealed carry, and how this is an issue that ultimately needs to be addressed by Congress. Check it out if this is an issue that concerns you or a loved one. 

VIDEO: "Building a Budget Trauma Kit"--Skinny Medic (5 min.)
  • "Beneath The Streets" by John Spencer, Modern War Institute. This links to a pod-cast with Dr. Daphne Richemond-Barak. The pod-cast is 44 minutes. Per the description:
In the conversation, Dr. Richemond-Barak discusses her research on underground warfare. She explains why subterranean environments are uniquely challenging for military forces, and why underground warfare is occurring increasingly frequently. Given the complexity of the subterranean dimension of many cities—which can include transportation networks, utility infrastructure, and a range of other underground facilities—the topic is extremely relevant to the broader subject of urban warfare.
    Detectives were told Wilks and a friend were participating in a “prank” robbery as part of a YouTube video and approached a group of people, including the shooter, with butcher knives. 

    A 23-year-old man told police he shot Wilks and wasn’t aware the robbery was a “prank.” Investigators reported he said it was in “self-defense.”
    • More: "Self-defense laws could protect man who killed prankster during fake robbery"--WKRN (h/t KA9OFF). A Nashville criminal defense attorney explains why Tennessee law will protect the person who shot Wilks from prosecution. Key point: "'If it has all the appearances of a real assault, if it’s reasonable under the circumstances, then you can even use deadly force to protect yourself,' Nashville Criminal Defense Attorney David Raybin told News 2."

VIDEO: "Plague and the Bronze Age Collapse | Dr. Eric Cline"--Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages (7 min.)
    Tanzania has suspended a medical officer who reported that a mystery disease had killed 15 people in the country and caused people to throw up blood. 

    Felista Kisandu, the chief medical officer for the Chunya district, had described how patients 'vomit blood and die when they get to the hospital late' in an unexplained bout of sickness which was said to have affected more than 50 people. 

    Kisandu said blood samples had been sent for traces of mercury contamination - but Tanzania's health ministry said there was no sign of an outbreak and disciplined Kisandu for causing 'unnecessary panic', according to The Citizen.

Authorities are testing the victims for mercury poisoning (inorganic mercury can cause vomiting and bloody diarrhea if swallowed, so not an unwarranted action). The article notes that "[a] similar disease was said to have brought fevers, vomiting and stomach upsets to the region in 2018."

    I am reminded of an excerpt from "Probapossible Prelegomena to Ideareal History" written by James Blish (under the pseudonym, William Atheling, Jr.) in 1978, which attempts to summarize Oswald Spengler's main ideas. The section relevant to the last several Democrat presidents (remember this was written during Carter's presidency), including our current faux president Biden (underline mine):
 
    Spengler's view of history is organic rather than casual, and so is his imagery; as previously implied, he compares the four major periods of each culture with the four seasons. The onset of civilization is the beginning of autumn. ...
 
    Civilization may last for centuries and be extremely eventful.... But autumn ends, and a civilizations becomes a culture gone frozen in its brains and heart, and its finale is anything but grand. We are now far into what the Chinese called the period of contending states, and the collapse of Caesarism. 
 
    In such a period, politics becomes an arena of competing generals and plutocrats, under a dummy ruler chosen for low intelligence and complete moral plasticity, who amuses himself and keeps the masses distracted from their troubles with bread, circuses and brushfire-wars. (This is the time of all times when a culture should unite--and the time when such a thing has become impossible.). Technology flourishes (the late Romans were first-class engineers) but science disintegrates into a welter of competing, grandiosely trivial hypotheses which supersede each other almost weekly and veer more and more markedly toward the occult. ... Economic inequity, instability and wretchedness become endemic on a hitherto unprecedented scale.... The group name we give all this, being linearists by nature, is Progress. 
 
    Given all this, it is easy to deduce the state of the arts; a period of confused individual experimentation, in which traditions and even schools have ceased to exist, having been replaced by ephemeral fads. Hence the sole aim of all this experimentation is originality--a complete chimera, since the climate for the Great Idea is (in the West) fifty years dead; nor will nostalgia, simply an accompanying symptom, bring it back. This is not just winter now; it is the Fimbulwinter, the deep freeze which is the death of a culture.
 
(from The Best of James Blish, Ballentine Books, NY, 1979).

    Thanks to Time Magazine, we now know that Biden was, in fact, chosen to be our faux president--a dummy ruler of pliable morality. I'm sure that by now you are probably sick of reading about Time's article on "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election," but it is an immensely important admission by the Deep State. Rather than write what others have expressed better, let me refer to comments by Mark Tapscott on the subject:

    Here’s my take, for what it’s worth: You can make either of the preceding cases in a way worth considering, but the more important point I come away with is seen in this key explanatory paragraph from the article:

“This is the inside story of the conspiracy to save the 2020 election, based on access to the group’s inner workings, never-before-seen documents and interviews with dozens of those involved from across the political spectrum. It is the story of an unprecedented, creative and determined campaign whose success also reveals how close the nation came to disaster. ‘Every attempt to interfere with the proper outcome of the election was defeated,’ says Ian Bassin, co-founder of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan rule-of-law advocacy group. ‘But it’s massively important for the country to understand that it didn’t happen accidentally. The system didn’t work magically. Democracy is not self-executing.’” (emphasis added)

    Note the two most important phrases: The participants in the “conspiracy to save the 2020 election” presumed to know what was the “proper outcome of the election” and they had to do what they did because “Democracy is not self-executing,” that is, it cannot be trusted to produce the “proper outcome.”

    Most readers here have heard the metaphor of “the ship of state.” Less well-known is that the source of that metaphor is Plato’s “Republic,” in which the case for the rule of philosopher-kings is made. To ensure the safety of the ship of state, the “true pilot must of necessity pay attention to the seasons, the heavens, the stars, the winds, and everything proper to the craft if he is really to rule a ship.”

    What the Time Magazine article demonstrates is that the participants in the “conspiracy” actually do believe themselves to be philosopher-kings, though that is undoubtedly the last term they would use to describe themselves. But they clearly believe that they rightfully should steer the ship of state because they know better than the rest of us and because they know better, whatever they do to ensure the “proper outcome” is morally justified. They are, in short, the law.

    Funny enough, the Time Magazine's article indicating that it was "based on access to the group’s inner workings, never-before-seen documents and interviews with dozens of those involved from across the political spectrum," is similar to the comments that Carol Quigley made concerning his book, Tragedy and Hope, which documented the people and networks that helped shape much of the history of the United States and the British Empire from the early 1900s to approximately 1960 where his book leaves off.

    Earlier this year, State Department officials used a secret dissent cable to condemn President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting the U.S. Capitol protest that turned violent on January 6, and collectively called for his removal via the 25th Amendment.

    The cable was the second of its kind sent to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the chaotic week following the violent demonstration, a move rarely seen from American diplomats against a sitting U.S. president throughout the departments almost 232-year history, a Foreign Policy exclusive reported.

Do you know what actually qualifies you to work in the foreign service (as compared to some lower-level peon job at the State Department)?  You need to have graduated from Georgetown University or some other top tier Ivy League university, and then they throw you into a room together with other people for a big cocktail party and observe whether you are good at mixing and talking to people.

VIDEO: "Famine in the Last Days - LDS Signs of the Times"--Gospel Lessons (16 min.)
  • "Where Have All the Great Works Gone?"--The Scholar's Stage. The author revisits Oswald Spengler's assertion of the decline in the arts and sciences in a civilization in winter, including those persons that Spengler believed to have been most influential or important in areas such as literature and philosophy. The author explains (footnotes omitted):
    ... [Spengler] repeatedly describes Tolstoy (d. 1910), Ibsen (d. 1906), Nietzsche (d. 1900), Hertz (d. 1894), Dostoevsky (d. 1881), Marx (d. 1883), and Maxwell (1879) as figures of defining “world-historical” importance: in other words, as working on the same plane as Plato, Archimedes, Ovid, Shakespeare, and Newton. He does not argue their merits; to him it is obvious that these are the men who deserve to be thought of as “world-historical” figures, and it is clear from the way he makes his arguments that he expects that his own readers already agree with him.
 
    Ponder that! Spengler began writing Decline of the West in 1914. Tolstoy was only four years dead when Spengler started his book; Marx was only 30 years deceased. But Spengler could state, with the full expectation that his audience would not question him, that these men belonged in global pantheon of humanity’s greatest figures. But Spengler was hardly alone in this sort of judgement. Ten years later John Erskine would teach his course on the great works of the Western tradition—which was the granddaddy of the Columbia Common Core, the St. John's curriculum, and the Great Books of the Western World series—and it included all of the names mentioned above as well. To this Erskine would add the names William James, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hardy, and Charles Darwin.
 
    Now Erskine’s list is not perfect; it has not perfectly weathered the centuries. The fame of William James has sunk with time; today we usually think of Joseph Conrad, not Thomas Hardy, as the supreme English novelist of that era. But the broader point holds: only a decade or two after these men’s deaths intellectuals confidently spoke of them in the same breath as Shakespeare and Plato. And not just subjectively, in the sense we might today ("I think Urusala LeGuin is as good as Shakespeare" or "I think Hayek is better than Plato") but with full knowledge that the broader public already knew that these people and their works belonged on the list. It was obvious to even those who disliked Nietzche that he was a seminal figure in Western thought; it was obvious even to those who disagreed with Ibsen that he claimed a similar place in Western literature, and so forth. Their ideas might be argued against, but their genius and their influence was undeniable.

The author then challenges the reader to think of anyone in the last several decades that could be describes as thus; or even anyone alive today. "In the realm of science, perhaps. But in the world of social, historical, ethical, and political thought, no one comes to mind. Most 'great books' curricula stop right around World War II and its immediate aftermath." The author wonders at the decline, whether it is the result of stagnation due to the ascendance of the Baby Boomers, or the cloistering of intellectual life in the stultifying atmosphere of academia. 

But much of this is not entirely unique to human history. Nations go through creative phrases [sic]. Occasionally a lucky combination of intellectuals and incentives converge in one era, inspiring a series of great works remembered centuries later. Then it dissipates out. It is not strange for America to repeat this experience. More damaging, and perhaps more unique, is how American stagnation has deadened creative thought across the globe. In many ways global intellectual life has been reduced to American intellectual life. 

The author reasons that part of the issue is that America has engaged in massive "brain drain" where the top intellectuals and scientists come to America or, at the least, focus on America. Heck, he argues, even common people across the globe fixate on the United States. Hence, the American decline in art, literature, philosophy, etc., also paralyses the whole world. (Although I would argue that it spread from Europe to the United States and not vice versa). It is possible, the author concludes, that great new works are being created in China or some other corner of the world, but simply not being translated to English.

    I suspect that the answer is more prosaic, and is suggested in Spengler's works: that the monolithic intellectual class of the civilization in winter is self-censoring. That is, it does not and will not allow anything to question its consensus--at least not on any reasonable timeline. It smothers new ideas. For instance, in theoretical physics, if you study and write on the topic of string theory, there are positions available for you as well as research grants; but if you think to challenge string theory, you best learn how to be barista. In cosmology, you must believe in dark matter. In North American archeology you might was well quite your job if you suggest a method of diffusion of peoples to the Americas that doesn't involve a land bridge between Russia and Alaska, or propose dates earlier than currently accepted, even though there is compelling evidence that the Clovis peoples were related to Western European populations based on their material culture. We see the same with the theory of anthropomorphic global warming which has taken a definite religious bent, denouncing anyone that questions it as heretical "deniers" even as a slow trickle of new research concerning alternate methods of heating and cooling dooms the theory. 

    But the foregoing involve areas of hard science where eventually the theory will be forced to confront actual observation. What about philosophy, the soft sciences, the arts? Do you realize that hip hop and rap have dominated popular music for the past three decades? Or that the height of current philosophical and political thought is nothing more than "white man bad" or the more transcendental "white privilege" which is an occult belief that "whiteness" is the original sin and akin to some evil magic that oppresses even the most successful of people of color?  

    Taking another example, the Alt-Right was not a "white supremacist" political movement; it attempted to explain politics in a scientific fashion or on the basis of observable evidence. At its heart, it was a fruition of Red Pill philosophy regarding dating and marriage relationships with women that then attempted to apply evolutionary psychology to politics and the culture. But it was dangerous to the status quo, and, therefore, labelled as "racist" lest too many people examine it. Consequently, the Anonymous Conservative's book The Evolutionary Psychology Behind Politics is one of the most important works on political theory in decades, but because of the political climate its author cannot even safely reveal his (or her) name. 

    Art and philosophy is dead because competing thought must be smashed down.  

    This week, President Biden signed an executive order that will promote homosexuality and transgenderism as a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy.

    The document directs “all U.S. government departments and agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons around the world.”

    Of most concern to human rights advocates around the world is the provision of $10 million in the upcoming fiscal year to fund the “Global Equality Fund” that will allow the U.S. government to blacklist foreign religious leaders who speak out in favor of the natural family and against the LGBT ascendancy. These human rights advocates could be blocked in the same way certain Russian oligarchs are blocked from entering the United States.
  • The German Fourth Reich seems to be crumbling. First was Brexit, and now, maybe, Frexit: "'Frexit will come!' Macron rival hails UK's growing rejection of EU after damning poll"--The Express. "The leader of Les Patriotes took to Twitter to hail Britons' growing rejection of the European Union. Citing a YouGov poll that found only 36 percent of people in the UK now have a favourable view of the EU, Mr Philippot wrote: 'Fewer and fewer Britons have a good image of the EU (36 percent).'"
  • Apparently Israel doesn't have the story of the camel and the tent: "Israel Rejects US Plan To Inspect Chinese Harbor At Haifa"--Breaking Defense (h/t Anonymous Conservative). Israel has built (or rather, expanded) the port at Haifa with the assistance of the Chinese, which will be operated by Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) for the next 25 years. Critical to the United States is that the Port maintains facilities for the United States Sixth Fleet. Chinese control of the Port will undoubtedly facilitate Chinese spying. 
    According to the article, in June 2020 China Daily published a feature about the port, writing that "Haifa Port, a symbolic project along the Belt and Road Initiative, will be the largest container terminal in Israel. Haifa port is the home base of the Israeli navy, including a new facility for the new Dolphin class submarines that Israel purchased from Germany." The article also described the port as “…a main rail terminal on the Mediterranean shore," which Breaking Defense found odd "[s]ince current railway connections to the port are quite local and sparse." This is particularly interesting because the Belt and Road Initiative was supposed to pass through Turkey and thence to Europe and Chinese investment companies had purchased a controlling stake in the Kumport Terminal in Turkey. Does China expect that rail freight from China will exceed the capacity of the Turkish ports, or is hedging its bets, or does it have a plan to replace Turkey with Israel as the Mediterranean outlet for the Belt and Road? I had recently noted that Turkey may actually pose the greatest threat to a Chinese Hegemon in Central Asia, so China may be hedging its bets by making it possible to bypass Turkey.

  • Since we are on the subject of the Belt and Road Initiative, William S. Lind has some thoughts on why Chinese efforts to expand their influence will ultimately fail:
    • First, as it penetrates other parts of the globe through initiatives such as its “Belt and Road” project, it will find its presence there undermined and its goals blocked by increasing disorder.  As states weaken, Fourth Generation war spreads, and Chinese efforts in the face of constant attacks by non-state elements will simply become unprofitable.  This mirrors the European colonial experience but will occur much faster.  In fact, it is occurring now, as China’s penetration into much of sub-Saharan Africa finds its efforts swallowed by spreading disorder.  Where states are weak or merely fictions, one gang among many, efforts by outside powers will produce only a bottomless investment pit.  The cost/benefit calculation will be as red as the east.
    • Second, where states are struggling to hold on to at least some shreds of legitimacy, an increasingly obvious Chinese role will threaten that legitimacy.  This, again, is already happening, especially in Africa.  Because one of the main factors driving Chinese expansionism is the need to provide jobs for Chinese people, Chinese projects hire little local labor.  That, plus a general resentment against outsiders, will also bog down, then reverse Chinese penetration.  The ugly Chinaman will get booted out, just as were the ugly American and ugly European.
    • Third, because the legitimacy of rule by the Chinese Communist Party depends on rapid economic growth in China, China too may suffer a crisis of legitimacy of the state.  Like most authoritarian regimes, China’s Communist government is strong but rigid.  It will seem impervious to disorder right up to the point where it collapses.  China seems to think it has tamed the business cycle, but neither it nor anyone else has done so.  History’s rule seems to be that if a government can prevent frequent, fairly small economic downturns, it gets less frequent but larger ones instead.  Anyone looking at the house of cards that is China’s public and private debt can see what is coming.  And China has a long history of internal fractioning.  No Chinese state can assume it will always hold together.  Were the Chinese state to fracture, that would not only be a disaster for China but for the rest of the world as well, including the United States.  Once again, the new context touches and changes everything.
  • Biden is working on getting his Nobel Peace Prize: "Iran U.N. inspectors find radioactive traces, raising fresh concerns"--Fox News (reprinting a Wall Street Journal article). From the lede:
    United Nations inspectors have found new evidence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran, according to three diplomats briefed on the discovery, raising new questions about the scope of the country's atomic ambitions.

    Samples taken from two sites during inspections in the fall by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency contained traces of radioactive material, the diplomats said, that could indicate Iran has undertaken work on nuclear weapons, based on where it was found. The diplomats said they didn't know the exact nature of what was found.

    On Saturday, a Black Lives Matter march through the streets of Washington, D.C., involved protesters dressed in antifa black bloc and threatening to burn down the nation’s capital if their demands were not met.

    “If we don’t get it, burn it down!” the mob chanted, seemingly referring to $2,000 individual checks in the COVID-19 relief bill Democrats are spearheading in Congress.

    Protesters gathered at 2 p.m. for a “DC Queer and Trans Black History Month March and Rally” organized by the Total Liberation Collective and the Palm Collective.

    In the evening, Black Lives Matter protesters marched north from Dupont Circle, Fox News reported.

    Brendan Gutenschwager captured footage of antifa black bloc marchers carrying a red and black “Antifascist Action” flag. 

  • "Civil War 2.0 Weather Report: A Bridge Too Far?"--Wilder, Wealthy & Wise. John reports that we are still stuck between stage 9 ("Common violence that is generally deemed by governmental authorities as justified based on ideology") and stage 10 ("Open War"), although I would note that leftist groups like the Socialist Rifle Association, Redneck Revolt, Coalition of Armed Labor, John Brown Gun Club, Trigger Warning Queer & Trans Gun Club, and others continue to organize armed militia groups of their own. The interesting thing to me is that these leftist groups often have the same dislikes for the ruling class/cloud people as does the Alt-Right, but their hate is focused on conservatives rather than the ruling class. Secret combinations abound and they want the commoners to be fighting each other rather than looking to the citadels in the clouds.
  • "Read The Room, Jeep!" by Larry Correia, Monster Hunter Nation. Jeep apparently ran a Superbowl ad (video here) featuring a wealthy elderly leftist rocker pretending to be a normal person from "middle-America" telling audiences that now his favored candidate won, it is time to let bygones be bygones and become a Re-United States of America. Correia provides a sarcastic mocking look at what the pitch meeting probably looked like as well as a read-between-the-lines interpretation of the ad. An short example:
Red versus Blue… Sure, team blue was all #RESIST for the last four years and endless goofy investigations, but if you think security videos of 50 mystery boxes being delivered by a Detroit election van at 3:00 AM is worthy of an audit you are basically a terrorist who needs to be cancelled and driven from society.

If you want a more serious take on the commercial, check out Mollie Hemingway's piece at The American Conservative, "The 3 Worst Things About That Terrible Jeep Super Bowl Ad." I watched the movie Mars Attacks! with my youngest son the other day, and the Liberals' claims of "unity" reminds me of the Martians' saying "we come in peace" before killing everyone there to greet them.

  • Speaking of the liberal definition of unity, the New York Post reports on an LA Times columnist, Virginia Heffernan, whose response to her Trump supporting neighbors plowing the snow from her driveway was to compare them to Nazis.  From the article:

    LA Times columnist Virginia Heffernan is being slammed for a piece in which she compared the “Trumpites next door to our pandemic getaway” in upstate New York — despite their “aggressive niceness” — to Nazi sympathizers and Hezbollah because they backed former President Donald Trump.

    The Brooklyn-born writer, also a cultural columnist at Wired, wrote on Friday that her neighbors, “who seem as devoted to the ex-president as you can get without being Q fans, just plowed our driveway without being asked and did a great job.”

    “How am I going to resist demands for unity in the face of this act of aggressive niceness?” the 51-year-old wrote.

    “Of course, on some level, I realize I owe them thanks — and, man, it really looks like the guy back-dragged the driveway like a pro — but how much thanks?”

    She added: “This is also kind of weird. Back in the city, people don’t sweep other people’s walkways for nothing.”

Well, normal people often do this type of thing "for nothing". It's called being neighborly or Christian, something that a die-hard big-city liberal would know nothing about.

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