The Docent's Memo (2/17/2021)

VIDEO: "Tourniquet or Wound Packing"--Skinny Medic (3 min.)

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• "Questions, Answers, I’ve Got Them All…" by Marcus Wynne. Wynne, unfortunately, no longer teaches firearms on a formal level, but he does have recommendations for those seeking training: "For civilian-oriented defensive training, I recommend Greg Ellifritz, Claude Werner, Tom Givens." He also has recommendations for those seeking tactical oriented training or advanced training.
• "Scalpers Are Driving Up Ammunition Costs and Contributing to the Ammo Shortage" by Chris Mudgett, Outdoor Life. Manufacturers are working overtime to fill demand, and the author does not believe that the problem lies in the distribution chain. Rather, he explains:

    Ultimately, this is a supply and demand situation. When supply is low and demand is high, opportunists swoop in to make some spare cash, and those opportunities today are abundant.

    Many local brick-and-mortar retailers have become so desperate for ammunition, they have begun purchasing ammunition back from consumers at inflated rates. Here’s how it works: Let’s say a local customer paid .50 cents per round in the spring, and has been out of work due to COVID. He recognizes that he can make a little side money if he sells a quantity of his ammo back to the retailer for .75 cents per round, thus making a decent profit on his original purchase. The store then adds their margin, say .25 cents per round, and puts it on the shelves for a buck per round. This is pure economics and why you are seeing $100 boxes of 115-grain FMJ Winchester White Box bulk packs that should cost about $25 per 100 rounds.

    “I was at the local Dunham’s Sports again in the first week of December and impulse bought four 25-round boxes of PMC Bronze 10mm 170 gr JHPs for $19.99 each,” wrote another user on the Lightfighter Tactical Forum. “I didn’t know anything about the ammo, but a quick web search showed it to be at the low end of the price range, and every place listing it was out of stock. I figured at least I’ll have something in the stash if/when I finally get a 10mm pistol.”

    Once customers realize that selling ammunition back to a local retailer is easy money, the next step is obvious: scour the internet and big box stores like Walmart to find ammunition for sale at normal pricing. At this point, the ammo scalper buys up all the ammo available, only to resell his haul back to a local retailer at scalpers’ prices. Or, he’ll resell it online. Those rounds, of course, are marked up and bought by anxiously waiting customers.

    This isn’t fiction, it’s been happening for months across the country. In fact, it has gotten so bad that some of these scalpers have gone so far as to obtain delivery schedules from employees at large stores like Walmart. They arrive at the store at a specific time to get the choice pickings. I spoke to two sporting-goods employees at my local Walmart who freely informed me that ammunition usually arrives on Tuesdays and is typically restocked at 10 a.m. each week.

    I also spoke with a scalper, who wished to remain unnamed, who told me that he had made approximately $30,000 dollars in profit last fall by buying ammunition cheap and selling it locally, or on GunBroker.com, at heavily inflated prices. He said people are terrified of the future and are willing to pay almost any price today, for fear it will be even more expensive tomorrow—if it’s even available at all. While there’s no way to quantify how much ammo is being scalped, experts in the industry say that it’s happening often enough to impact the market at large.

    To get a better idea of how scalping is affecting the retail industry, I called Dave Michniewicz, chief firearm coordinator at Kittery Trading Post, one of New England’s largest firearms and ammunition retailers.

    “We have continued to offer both firearms and ammunition at standard retail markups though this unprecedented spike in demand and the store has a steady flow of what we call regular customers,” Michniewicz says. “But, due to KTP’s unique location in relation to both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, we also see a very broad range of out-of-state customers flowing through as well. Late in the spring of 2020, the buying frenzy kicked into high gear and our shelves were quickly picked clean. Due to the size and frequency of the orders KTP places with both manufacturers and distributors, stock is regularly replenished…Several employees began observing the same faces in the store on an almost daily basis, buying up as much ammunition as they could carry, depleting what had been restocked the night before.”

    Michniewicz says there was little doubt in his mind these customers weren’t all stock-piling such a random assortment of calibers in bulk. His initial speculation was that they were reselling the ammo online at places like GunBroker.com and Armslist.com, at a significant markup. A quick search of these sites by his team helped verify that hunch.

    “I have no problem with the free market doing what it does—supply and demand, and all that jazz—but not at the expense of KTP’s entire customer base,” Michniewicz says. “So to even the playing field a bit, KTP instituted a two-box limit on ammunition sales for the foreseeable future to ensure there is enough stock to go around. It’s going to be awhile before the ammunition market stabilizes, but until then we’re trying to ensure prices remain stable for our customers.”

• "How to Use Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication for Self Defense" by Sheriff Jim Wilson, Shooting Illustrated. Wilson discusses the need for clear communications with people on your side in an armed confrontation. For example:

In the midst of a gunfight might not be the time to say, “I’ve run out of ammo and am going to need to reload my pistol.” The more effective comment might be, “Loading!” To which your partner replies, “Covering!” With these two words, you have established what you are dealing with and your partner has indicated he/she understands and will cover you until you can get back into the fight.

He also warns against trying anything tricky during the armed confrontation, such as saying "left" when you mean "right", in order to confuse an aggressor.  But, he advises, you may want to be a bit tricky with code words to warn of a potential threat.

• "Review: Beretta 92X F Compact" by Jay Grazio, Shooting Illustrated. When I moved away from strong side carry as my principle method of concealed carry, I became more interested in double-action, single-action (DA/SA) semi-auto pistols because of the added safety of the double-action trigger pull. This article reviews a popular DA/SA option for concealed carry. 
• "How I Ended My Search for the Perfect Everyday Carry Pistol" by Brad Kozak, The Truth About Guns. I don't believe there is such a thing as a perfect EDC pistol since it is a series of compromises. Generally, it's a matter of finding something that works well that you can rely on--perhaps even for several years--but constantly evaluating whether something else works better enough to justify replacing what you have. In any event, what Kozak found to be perfect for him was a  Glock 43x MOS so it would accept a red dot, using 15-round Shield Arms S15 magazines, and outfitted with aftermarket Tritium sights.
• "Long Term Use Report: Brownells BRN-180 Rifle" by Josh Wayner, The Truth About Guns. The BRN-180 is an updated version of the AR-18, but using aluminum castings like the AR rather than the stamped steel receiver of the original. It uses a short-stroke gas piston system with a cocking handle on the right. The bolt carrier rides on twin recoil guide rods which are completely self-contained in the upper receiver. Wayner writes of his experience:

    The version I have put hard use on is the older generation BRN-180 model. I don’t have a Gen 2, but I have put lots of rounds down range using both the 16” rifle upper here and the shorty BRN-180S 10.5” variant. I’ve got about 7,000 combined rounds fired between the two uppers and I have yet to have a single failure to feed or fire.

 

    That’s a pretty amazing thing when it is almost expected to have AR-15s jam at some point in its service life. I credit this to the way the interior of the receiver is designed. There is lots of space in there allowing the brass plenty of room to exit the receiver. Ejection is healthy, and brass launches at about 2 o’clock.

    The longest stretch I went without cleaning the BRN-180 was about 4,000 rounds. Compared to an AR-15, cleaning the BRN-180 is so easy you’ll probably want to make the switch on that merit alone. The guts pull out the back and all you really have to do is wipe the carrier down. It stays very, very clean.

Brownells has designed the upper so that it can mate with a standard AR lower, but since it does not require a buffer tube, they also offer a lower receiver without the buffer tube attachment, to which you can attach any of various stock systems. These are expensive rifles, however. The uppers, alone, are priced from $900 to $1,000. I would also like to see the weapon subjected to a mud test. How reliably the rifle will run without cleaning is a bit different to whether the rifle will operate when subject to harsh conditions or contaminants such as mud or dust.

• "Here’s How to Pull Out a Rotten Tooth at Home" by Tim Makay, Modern Survival Blog. He writes:

    It has often been said regarding self-sufficiency that you must become your own first responder. As awful as it is to contemplate, you must also become your own dentist when there is no one left to call when facing a dental emergency.

    All kinds of bad things can happen to your teeth in the aftermath of a disaster, and physical trauma is not the least of them. Probably the most common type of dental emergency will be a rotten tooth or teeth incurred from a lack of proper dental care and maintenance.

The rest of the article discusses the negative health impacts caused by a rotten tooth (and, thus, the reason for extracting it), the tools that you will need (including a tooth extractor, of course, and a periosteal elevator), the step-by-step process to remove the tooth, and aftercare.

• "Taxing Our Lungs: What Wildfire Smoke Is Doing to Our Bodies"--NBC Bay Area (h/t KA9OFF). From the article:

    "Eighty percent of the smoke from wildfires is particulate matter," Prunicki said. "In addition, there’s other bad things for your lungs, such as cancer-causing agents like formaldehyde, benzine, things like that. Lots of toxins."

    As people in the Bay Area snapped pictures of the smoky, orange-colored sky last year, a company based in San Francisco was busy taking a different type of image.

    Aclima sent its hybrid cars into neighborhoods across the Bay Area to measure the air pollution — or particulate matter.

    "Those particles, when we breathe them in, don't just affect our lungs, but they actually can enter our bloodstream," Aclima co-founder and CEO Davida Herzl said. "They're so tiny that they can go through the blood-brain barrier and actually impact brain health and long-term cognitive health."

    Aclima's vehicles use technology like sensors and lasers to collect information about how much air pollution and greenhouse gases exist on a very local level.

    The cars are at work in communities throughout California but also in New York and in Mexico.

    "Our science has shown that pollution can vary from block to block, from one end of the street to another by up to 800%…Understanding where those hotspots are then helps us target actions to reduce those hotspots," Herzl said.

• "ND story. 7.62×39 vs Leg"--Loose Rounds. You know it isn't going to end well when the guy that shot himself begins his tale with: "Not too long ago I was snowed in, bored, and drinking." Long story short, he was working on the rifle, trying to mount a light to the railed handguard, without checking that the rifle was empty or removing the magazine. He claims that the safety was on, but was pushed off as he maneuvered the rifle around to better work on it and in the process some tool on his desk got caught in the trigger and "I more of less bumpfired off a few rounds as I was pulling it towards the muzzle." One of the rounds went through his thigh. Ouch.
• "Lockdown Lucidity: A Prepper Perspective" by Thomas Xavier, More Than Just Surviving. Xavier writes: "The current situation here in Portugal is, to put it bluntly, dire. We have skyrocketing infection rates rivalling the UK, a health care system on the brink of collapse and as you would expect a government who is reacting to economic Armageddon as opposed to planning for it." He continues:

    The current lockdown rules preclude any schools from opening, stores from delivering non-food items and movement hours being locked down to the point of economic destruction. I don’t disagree with the decisions because at this stage our infrastructure can’t cope, but this doesn’t mean I can’t see the devastation this is inflicting on the economic landscape.

    Assuming complete vaccination (good luck with that), the issues still won’t be laid to rest. Our economic sector is surviving on economic wishful thinking. Our governments (worldwide) are issuing debt at unheard of rates and as the situation shows no signs of subsiding, it’s clear that the fault lines in our corresponding economies will eventually trip, fall and break.

He is quite concerned about COVID and the fact that is mutating into possibly worse strains. Fortunately, due to his preparing, he and his family are doing well as far as food and finances. But this brings me to the important point from his article. Right now, a lot of people are trying to benefit from COVID by scaring people into buying this or that product, book, etc. Although Xavier benefits from being an Amazon affiliate, he cannot condone people needlessly spending their money and, as he states, "promoting spending money on junk in these dire times is truly the peak of predatory behaviour." Is advice is "Do. Not. Spend. Your. Money." "Hoard your funds," he states, "expect the worse and insofar as stockpiling goes, buy what you need, not what you want." Focus on food and financial security.

    I largely agree with Xavier's conclusion to focus on food and financial security, particularly building up a financial cushion. Due to the gun and ammunition shortages in the United States, I think that you are pretty much stuck with what you have on hand as far as firearms and ammunition. I certainly would dissuade you from purchasing ammunition at the prices being charged by scalpers, and instead encourage you to look to other preps.

• "Quantification of temperature and precipitation changes in northern China during the “5000-year” Chinese History"--Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 255, 1 March 2021. The paper not only confirms that the Maunder Minimum temperature effects were world-wide, but adds:

Our data not only provide a more complete climate background for Chinese dynasties, but show the coincidence in the timing between abrupt cold and/or dry events and large-scale social unrests and southern migration of nomads. This finding reveals climate fluctuations, in particular variations in temperature, played an important role in affecting Chinese historical cultural changes.

VIDEO: "Comparing 6 STAFF Martial Arts from around the World. History, Self-defence, Fitness & Flow"--Fandabi Dozi (17 min.)

Miscellany:

• "The Polarization Of America" by Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal. I've always believed that one's stance on firearms issues is an important and pretty good proxy as to one's stance on other conservative issues. Here, Herschel attaches much the same to polities, contrasting Wyoming and Tennessee (who are fighting back against overly strict federal gun control laws) and Utah (one of the most recent states to adopt the so-called constitutional carry) versus states like Rhode Island and California that continue to tighten the screws on gun ownership.
• Related: “Unity”--James Howard Kunstler (h/t WSRA). Kunstler repeats a humorous exchange between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and our faux president concerning threats of a federal lock down order on Florida which concluded thusly:

   "How much do you stand to earn from these vaccines, Dr. Fauci? And, Joe, if you continue with this course of action, I will authorize the state National Guard to protect the movement of Floridians,” DeSantis said.

 

    “Address me as Mr. President or President Biden,” Biden said.

    “I will not, and you can go fuck yourself,” DeSantis said before hanging up.

• Related: "Democratic senator claims Republican lawmakers are 'deathly afraid' of Donald Trump and former president's acquittal secures his spot as 'leader of the GOP for the next four years'"--Daily Mail.
• Related: "Hero's welcome in Florida for Trump as supporters line his route home from the golf course on Presidents' Day - amid backlash against Republicans who voted to impeach him"--Daily Mail. I wish that recall elections were possible for members of Congress so we could rid ourselves of the seven that voted for impeachment. My particular anger is directed against Mitt Romney who, as a co-religionist, I hold to higher standards. 
• "Unity on civil war: Both sides see US ‘headed for bloodshed’" by Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner. 

    Pollster Jonathan Zogby of Zogby Analytics said that overall, 46% believe civil war is likely versus 43% who don’t.

    “It's quite astounding that nearly half of voters think we are headed for bloodshed!” he said in the poll analysis.

    And while there were differences in how some groups felt about a civil war following the divisive election and the Capitol riot, more Democrats and Republicans than not said war is inevitable.

    “For once, political parties-Republicans (49% likely and 40% unlikely), Democrats (45% likely and 44% unlikely), and independents (42% likely and 44% unlikely) were somewhat in agreement, but the fact all political stripes think a civil war is inevitable is not the bipartisanship we were hoping for,” said Zogby.

    There was division, also, among the races, with whites less likely than blacks and Hispanics to see civil war coming.

    “When it came to race, whites (43% likely and 44% unlikely) were not as convinced that there will be another civil war, while Hispanics (53% likely and 43% unlikely) and African Americans (49% likely and 39% unlikely) thought another civil war could happen,” read the analysis.

• They're afraid: "More than ever, assault weapons are an undeniable threat to representative government" by the Editorial Board of The Chicago Sun Times (h/t KA9OFF). The Board asserts that "[f]or too long, threats of violence have been used to intimidate lawmakers who are trying to address gun violence. The Jan. 6 insurrection will only embolden those who make the threats." They continue:

    Gun-rights advocates have long argued that “good guys” with guns are an important defense against “bad guys.” But we have now seen how many people, who up to that moment might have been classified as “good guys,” were willing to attack police officers, smash their way into Congress and call for the death of a vice president and a speaker of the House.

    Two big steps needed now are the elimination of the open carrying of weapons in the United States and the elimination or rigorous regulation of civilian ownership of military-style firearms.

    On Jan. 6, America saw an act of anarchy aimed at stopping lawmakers from doing their jobs. No one can feel confident that our nation won’t see more such attempts, from Washington to state capitals to city halls. Current laws are so lax they essentially give military weapons to terrorists.

Apparently it doesn't bother them that there is no evidence of weapons being displayed or used by anyone that entered the Capital Building. In fact, the District of Columbia already bans assault weapons and the open carry of firearms. Thus, by their logic, Congress is safe from the supposed threats of violence. Continuing:

    On Sunday, the third anniversary of the Parkland school shooting in which 14 students and three staff members were killed and 17 others were wounded, President Joe Biden called on Congress to ban assault weapons. He also has called for background checks for all gun sales, the banning of high-capacity magazines and an end to immunity for gun manufacturers whose products are used to wreak violence.

    The need for an assault weapons ban is more obvious than ever. In April, armed protesters, many with assault rifles, entered the Michigan state Capitol to protest COVID-19 restrictions. It was, in retrospect, a kind of dress rehearsal for the Jan. 6 mobbing of the U.S. Capitol. In response, Michigan on Jan. 11 banned the open carrying of firearms at its capitol. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer now wants to ban firearms from the capitol entirely.

Again, no evidence of violence. 

    It’s the only way lawmakers can feel safe doing their jobs. They should not have to wear bulletproof vests on the statehouse floor.

But should lawmakers be completely without fear? I would argue that tyrants should fear for their safety. Imagine how different the Soviet Union would have been under Stalin if he had faced the real possibility of rebellion and personal harm when pursuing his forward thinking socialist policies such as his killing of millions of peasants in the Soviet Union's equivalent of "fly over" country. Consider whether Mao Zedong would have pursued the cultural revolution with such vigor if he knew the end result would have been his death or imprisonment. 

    In 2004, a 1994 federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines was allowed to expire. Meanwhile, over the past year, guns sales have been up across the nation. It is stunning how much firepower is out there. How do we guarantee the continuity of government if lawmakers are told: If you sign on to this bill, we are going to come after you and after your family?

What does continuity of government have to do with any of this? Unless by "continuity of government" they mean politicians being guaranteed their sinecure.

    In any event, if the complaint is about people coming after a politician and his or her family based on policy disputes, why is this editorial focused on gun owners and conservatives? Antifa and BLM regularly threaten politicians at their offices, on the streets, in restaurants, and their homes; and additionally have engaged in real insurrection through widespread looting, arson and rioting. Why are they not mentioned?

• Related: "Decades Before The Civil War, Lincoln Saw An Approaching Storm. Every American Should Read His Warning"--The Federalist (h/t WRSA). Basically, in the late 1830s, Lincoln warned about mobocracy and the potential to destroy the unity of the country. Relevant to where we stand today in relation to Antifa and BLM, Lincoln warned that if 

...“by instances of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but dread of punishment, they thus become, absolutely unrestrained.”

    “On the other hand,” he predicted, “good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose.”

• This is about right: "After the FBI warned about far-right attacks, agents arrested a leftist ex-soldier"--Stars & Stripes. The leftist terrorist is Daniel Baker, described in the article as:

A yoga devotee and advocate for the homeless who helped out at an arts center, Baker criticized both Biden and Trump. Baker, a socialist idealist who volunteered to fight against Islamic State forces in Syria, also had traveled to Seattle last summer to support protesters for racial justice who briefly claimed an abandoned police precinct and declared the area around it an autonomous zone.

• When ideology crosses paths with reality: "Army considers change to Combat Fitness Test scoring for male, female soldiers"--Stars & Stripes. Per the article, "[t]he Army could adjust how it scores its new Combat Fitness Test to account for the 'biological differences' between men and women, a service spokeswoman said [this past] Friday." The test at issue is "a gender- and age-neutral fitness evaluation meant to simulate strength and conditioning challenges faced by soldiers in combat." But apparently biological women could not even meet those lowered standards. This won't stop them from pushing women into combat roles, however; merely reducing the standards so women can be placed into those roles. 
• Related: "Navy task force recommends pledge to respect 'intersectional identities' in attempt to combat all forms of discrimination"--Washington Examiner. 
• Given that Biden wants to open up our borders and provide amnesty to illegal aliens already here, it might be nice to know how many illegals we are talking about. In "We're supposed to believe that only 11 million illegal aliens are in the USA and that the number has been the same since 2003", William Campenni notes that the number typically thrown around is complete fiction and that the actual number of illegals that will be added to voting rolls is probably more in the range of 25 to 30 million. That's the population of Texas. 
• Related: VIDEO: "Origins of the Hyksos | DNA | Ancient Egypt"--Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages (16 min.). More evidence that the Hyksos did not conquer Lower Egypt through a military invasion, but through immigration.
• "Remembering New York's deadly Draft Riots of the Civil War-era"--PIX 11 (h/t KA9OFF). When Irish immigrants engaged in mostly peaceful protests against being drafted into a war that had nothing to do with them. Well, the Irish were considered sub-human and compared to apes, so perhaps they just weren't civilized enough to meekly que up to go to their deaths. An excerpt from the PIX 11 article:

    As Civil War battles raged on, and the need for soldiers grew, the first draft in Union history was established.

    On Third Avenue and East 47th Street, the names of over 1,0000 city men were placed into a drum; if a person's name was pulled, they would be sent to war.

    Ware said a draft selection looked "like a death sentence."

    A movement against the draft quickly grew, stirred up by local politicians and conservative media.

    "The largely Irish American part of the city, to be frank about, it was upset that they were going to be asked to do the fighting, and that the fighting now embraces not just restoring the union, but freeing enslaved people," Holzer said in a recent interview with PIX11.

    On July 11 [1863], just before the start of the draft, a mob destroyed the draft wheel. The violence spread across the city, and Ware said "the police that were there were overwhelmed."

    Angry rioters made their way to Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street where they burned down the Colored Orphan Asylum.

    "They set fire to the building using the mattresses in the dorm rooms. You have 250 children, they're all huddled around on the first floor with a mob outside yelling racial epithets about killing the little children," Holzer said.

    The headmaster and all 250 children escaped to safety, but other Black New Yorkers were not as fortunate.

    William Jones was hung from a tree on the corner of Clarkson and Hudson Steets. He was one of 11 Black New Yorkers to be publicly lynched.

    "They were genitally mutilated in public, strung up, they were burned," Holzer said. "They were driven off the west side docks into the Hudson River."

    "Some bodies washed up ashore," Ware said.

    Holzer said the violence finally ended when "Lincoln ultimately sent federal troops, part of the reserve who hadn't gone into action in Gettysburg. [He] sent them in by train and they restored order."

• False flag? "ANTIFA FACT-CHECK…One of the first rioters arrested on 1/6 was indeed a member of Antifa/BLM"--Flopping Aces. "The ‘agent provocateur’ that the president’s lawyers were talking about is John Earle Sullivan aka JaydenX. Before his arrest at the Capitol on 1/6th Sullivan was active in the BLM movement throughout the summer of 2020." 
• There goes the Left with their racial slurs: "Jay-Z Rips ‘Crackers’ Who Stormed the Capitol in Political Song"--Breitbart. It is a pretty safe bet that Jay-Z will not "cancelled" over this.
• "CDC Recommends Putting Hosiery over Your Face along with a Mask" by John Fund, National Review. 

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally recognized that the masks they’ve had everyone wearing for the better part of a year are largely ineffective because aerosols easily go around the top and sides.

    Their latest recommendation is “placing a sleeve made of sheer nylon hosiery material around the neck and pulling it up over either a cloth or medical procedure mask,” or using knots and tucking to fit a mask closely to the face.

Of course, this being COVID and the CDC we're talking about, the article points out that the CDC has not actually tested this and has no empirical data to support the recommendation. But it isn't about health, it is about how far they can push and still obtain your compliance. Next it will be a clown nose or googly eye glasses, or forcing you to repeat the alphabet backwards while walking a line and touching your left ear.

• "Biden suggests Americans will have to wear face masks NEXT YEAR after experts warned it may take until Thanksgiving to hit herd immunity"--Daily Mail.
• Global warming in action:
• "THE RIVER THAMES in London froze over for the first time in 60 years as temperatures plummeted overnight."--Watts Up With That?
• "Photos: Millions Without Power in Texas as Snow Storm Slams U.S."--Breitbart. The article reports:

    Temperatures nosedived into the single-digits as far south as San Antonio, and homes that had already been without electricity for hours had no certainty about when the lights and heat would come back on, as the state’s overwhelmed power grid throttled into rotating blackouts that are typically only seen in 100-degree Fahrenheit (38-degree Celsius) summers.

    The storm was part of a massive system that brought snow, sleet and freezing rain to the southern Plains and was spreading across the Ohio Valley and to the Northeast. The Southwest Power Pool, a group of utilities across 14 states, called for rolling outages because the supply of reserve energy had been exhausted. Some utilities said they were starting blackouts, while others urged customers to reduce power usage.

Also:

    Several cities in the U.S. saw record lows as Arctic air remained over the central part of the country. In Minnesota, the Hibbing/Chisholm weather station registered minus 38 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 39 degrees Celsius), while Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dropped to minus 26 Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius).

    In Kansas, where wind chills dropped to as low as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) in some areas, Gov. Laura Kelly declared a state of disaster.

    Most government offices and schools were closed for Presidents Day, and authorities pleaded with residents to stay home. Louisiana State Police reported that it had investigated nearly 75 weather-related crashes caused by a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain in the past 24 hours.

    “We already have some accidents on our roadways,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a morning news conference. “It is slick and it is dangerous.”

    Air travel was also affected. By midmorning, 3,000 flights had been canceled across the country, about 1,600 of them at Dallas/Fort Worth International and Bush Intercontinental airports in Texas. At DFW, the temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius) — 3 degrees (-16 degrees) colder than Moscow.

• "Texas frozen wind power – outages ensue, electricity now at unheard of $9000 per megawatt-hour"--Watts Up With That? From the article:

    Ice storms knocked out nearly half the wind-power generating capacity of Texas on Sunday as a massive deep freeze across the state locked up wind turbine generators, creating an electricity generation crisis.

    Wind generation ranks as the second-largest source of energy in Texas, accounting for 23% of state power supplies last year, behind natural gas, which represented 45%, according to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) figures.

• "German village logs -28.9 Celsius overnight as cold snap persists"--DW. 
• "Photos from around the world show cities hit by record-setting snowstorms"--The Hill. From the article:

    Cities across the nation and the globe are facing blistering cold winters this year, with many seeing record-breaking snowfall.

    From Tennessee to Athens, Greece, already freezing temperatures have plunged further this week as the polar vortex envelopes the northern hemisphere.

    Within the past few weeks, Moscow, Chicago, Madrid and more have been blanketed with snow, in some cases reporting multiple feet of accumulation. The storms in the U.S. particularly ramped up over President's Day weekend.

• "Worst snow storm in over a decade halts Covid vaccinations in Athens"--RTE. 
• "Greece, Turkey, Russia and US in Cold Grip, Snow Storm Hits Texas"--Sophia News Agency.