The Docent's Memo (9/22/2021)

 

VIDEO: "The Beretta Cheetah Series: Fun Size Duty Pistols"--Lucky Gunner (15 min.)

Firearms/Shooting/Self-Defense:

• The "Greatest Generation" were not the greatest shots: "Shots Fired In Anger: Truly A Nation Of Riflemen?" by Dave Anderson, GUNS Magazine. The article discusses some observations and comments made in the book Shots Fired in Anger (1947) by Major (later Lt. Colonel) John B. George. George had been a championship shooter prior to the war. The book was about George's experiences as a trainer and in combat during World War II. 

For the rifle enthusiast, George’s rifle knowledge makes his observations on training and combat interesting. What I found particularly surprising was his harshly frank and honest opinion of the shooting ability of the average American soldier. Among his conclusions he notes, “a fine competitive archer would be more effective in combat with his bow and arrow than the average Infantry rifleman armed with an M1 rifle.”

• "Beretta Ships Last M9 to U.S. Military"--Shooting Illustrated.  

“Last week marked an end of an era for Beretta USA,” the company posted on Sept. 7. “The Beretta USA team in Gallatin, TN, packed and shipped the last Beretta M9 pistol for the U.S. Armed Forces contract. Thank you to every Beretta USA team member who, over the last 36 years, has proudly manufactured the M9, and especially to all our brave servicewomen and men who have carried the M9 in their service to the United States of America.”

• "Handgun Grip Vs. Hold: What's the Difference?" by Steve Tarani, Shooting Illustrated. It may seem pedantic, but knowing the difference is important to trainers and instructor: "While a good grip firmly connects the firearm to your body to be utilized as an extension of your will and serves the function of stabilizing the muzzle in preparation for fire control, hold control is about application of either sighted or unsighted muzzle alignment with the target."
• I know that hunting seasons start at various times in different jurisdictions, but in Idaho, the general rifle season is about to start:
• "Deer Hunting 101"--National Deer Association. Links to articles and videos teaching the basics of deer hunting.
• "Deer Hunting: Early Deer Success" by Judd Cooney, Fur, Fish, Game. This article provides some additional tips on deer hunting. Although the article is written from the perspective of a bow hunter, it equally applies to hunting with a rifle.
• "5 Steps to Get Your Rifle Hunt Ready"--American Hunter. Here are the steps: (1) inspect and clean; (2) test your ammo (particularly if you have had to change up ammo due to the ammo shortage); (3) perfect your zero; (4) stretch out the range (if you will be shooting at distances greater than 200 yards); and (5) build a turret or dope card (ditto). The author explains each step in more detail, so it is worth the read.
• "No, Hunting Whitetails from the Ground (Without a Blind) Is Not a Lost Art"--Outdoor Life. Idaho doesn't allow hunting from a blind, so this was a good article for my situation.
• Related: "Best Advice Ever for Deer Hunters: Sit %@&#ing Still!"--Field & Stream. The author writes:

    After spending time in dozens of camps all over the world—and especially after a few years of outfitting whitetail hunters—I’ve come to realize that the modern hunter’s biggest weaknesses boils down to this: We are sh*tty woodsmen. 

    Many of today’s hunters cannot distinguish an oak tree from a sweet gum. If tasked with sneaking quietly through the woods, some respond by apparently seeking out the largest, crispiest sticks on the ground, and mashing their boot heels into them furiously. Some refuse to whisper, out of the belief that a buck’s grunt can be heard from 100 yards but a man’s normal voice saying, “That one’s a shooter!” cannot. 

    It gets even worse on stand. More than anything else—scent included—people get busted by deer because they won’t sit still. It’s so important that I do an orientation before every hunt, during which I stress the simple importance of not moving until the moment is just right. 

    “Do not stand up to get your bow if a deer is 40 yards away with its black eyes burning into your soul like a pair of 8 balls,” I say. “Do not try and self-film your hunt, unless killing a deer is of no importance to you at all. Do not sit in your stand with headphones on, watching a ball game and slapping your leg in angst when your team is down. Avoid taking tree-stand selfies. In fact, I encourage you to disable your Instagram altogether for the week. Turn your ThermaCell on before the sun goes down, because the deer start moving just about the time the mosquitoes wake up.” 

• "Backcountry Meat Care" by Aram von Benedikt, Sports Afield. As the title suggests, this article is about how to make sure that the meat on your deer or elk is cooled to prevent spoilage and how to keep it clean in the field. This is aimed primarily at the backcountry hunter who will be packing out the meat, but it is equally important to someone hunting in a vehicle accessible location.
• "What Hunters Need to Know About Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases" by Philip Massaro, American Hunter.
• This one made me laugh: "Know-How: Walk Away to Small-Game Hunting" by Ron Spomer, American Hunter.

Stress isn’t supposed to be part of deer hunting. These days it often, usually, is. Even if crowds aren’t messing you up, they probably are making it harder for you to get a tag, find a place to hunt, stalk or track without interruption. Personally, I find applying for big-game tags so onerous and disappointing that I rarely try anymore. Instead, I just walk away. I escape to small-game hunting.

• "Maximum Effective Range Of Buckshot"--Brass Fetcher Ballistic Testing. The author defined maximum effective range as having a hit probability greater than chance (greater than 50% of pellets make scoreable hits on target) and the buckshot traveling fast enough to make incapacitating hit at this range (12.0” or deeper penetration in nominal 10% ballistic gelatin). As to the latter, the author discovered that #4 buckshot was marginal to ineffective at all velocities. As to #1 and 00, whether it was unplated, buffered or plated, flight controlled, both were effective out to approximately 50 yards. However, Greg Ellifritz has noted that if you instead are looking at keeping all pellets inside a man-sized target (i.e., a center mass strike is not going to result in stray pellets missing the target and potentially striking and injuring someone else), your typical maximum range is going to be 15 yards with perhaps double that with flight control wads. Another thing that Greg Ellifritz has noted is that that 00 shells with 9 pellets will generally throw one flyer, but that those with 8 pellets will generally group better.
• "Sniping In Korea: 1950-1953" by Maj. John L. Plaster, U.S. Army (Ret.), American Rifleman. After WWII, the U.S. abandoned all sniper training. The reasoning apparently was that strategic bombing with atomic bombs eliminated the need for conventional tactics. Or, as the article relates:

Problem was, as a 1951 United States Marine Corps study observed, in the new atomic age, “The Marine Corps no longer trains snipers, nor are such personnel designated in TOEs [Tables of Organization].” The U.S. Army likewise offered no sniping guidance, no selection standards, no sniper schools and no sniper slots. Sniping was, the USMC Tactics and Techniques Board determined, “the prerogative of Commanders.”

•  "BulletSafe American-Made VP3 Body Armor – Affordable Level IIIA"--The Firearm Blog. Level IIIA will defeat almost all pistol caliber threats, including .44 Magnum. This vest is also touted to be stab and slash resistant. It has Velcro pockets for any rifle plates you might want to add. Cost is $299.97. Probably the main thing that prompted me to share this is that it is available in 8 sizes so it should be easier for those that are small or very large to find something that fits. From the photos it looks like something that you could wear under a loose shirt or jacket.
• "Modern Lever-Action PCC by British Southern Gun Company"--The Firearm Blog. Apparently British law allows lever actions, but not semi-auto or pump-action rifles. In any event, it is sort of weird but cool-looking at the same time. I could see a market in certain states in the United States that restrict semi-auto black rifles.

VIDEO: "La Palma Volcano | What It Means/Data Update"--Suspicious Observers (3 min.)

Prepping/Survival:

• "The Rule Of Threes – Survival Priorities For Decision Making"--Modern Survival Blog. The rule of threes is:
• You can survive for 3 Minutes without air (oxygen) or in icy water
• You can survive for 3 Hours without shelter in a harsh environment (unless in icy water)
• You can survive for 3 Days without water (if sheltered from a harsh environment)
• You can survive for 3 Weeks without food (if you have water and shelter)

The author explains that his is not just a set of rules of thumb but is a guide on how to prioritize your efforts if you find yourself in a survival situation.

• "Where To Start?"--Blue Collar Prepping. The author briefly discusses his three favorite books for the aspiring prepper. The only one of the three that I've read is The Prepper's Complete Book of Disaster Readiness by Jim Cobb which is a very thorough book on the subject. My personal pick for a starting book on preparedness is Cody Lundin's When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes.
• "A Virus With A Death Rate Of Up To 75 Percent Has Caused A Lockdown In India" by Michael Snyder. He writes: "The Nipah virus has a mortality rate that is similar to Ebola, but it is a respiratory virus that can spread fairly easily through human contact.  The good news is that past outbreaks have always been contained, and so we have never seen a full-blown Nipah pandemic."
• "Urban Bug Out Bag: What You Need To Carry and Planning Guide" by Diane Vuković, Primal Survivor. First, as the author explains, an urban Bug Out Bag should contain everything you need to survive for three days following a disaster in a city or other urban environment. For shelter, she not only recommends a tarp and material (Duck tape) to repair it, but also a pry bar or small bolt cutters to allow you to get into existing shelter. As for water, she notes that chemical pollutants will be a big risk in the urban environment so the standard purifiers used in wilderness settings won't cut it by themselves: you will need extra water and/or a filter that also uses activated charcoal to deal with chemicals. She also suggests tools to open water valves in commercial buildings or to open fire hydrants. She notes that you will need to be discreet, not tactical looking. For self-defense, she recommends carrying pepper-spray in addition to a firearm. You will also need extra equipment to deal with rubble, debris and toxic pollutants such as sturdy boots, work gloves, face mask, eye protection, and earplugs. She also goes on to discuss medical needs and communications. Anyway, she includes recommendations as to specific brands/models of gear and a more complete list, so check out the article.

VIDEO: "PART 1: Federal Govt HHS Whistleblower Goes Public With Secret Recordings 'Vaccine is Full of Sh*t'"--Project Veritas (13 min.)

COVID News:

• "Australian construction workers riot"--Adam Piggott. 

At 1159pm this Wednesday evening, all construction workers in Victoria need to be jabbed or they will be banned from traveling for their work. The largest of the construction unions in Victoria is the CFMEU. It is also the most powerful and militant union in the entire country. Today on the streets of Melbourne outside its large office, its members gathered to demand that the union boss, John Setka, stand up to the Victorian government on their behalf.

I've also heard that the union bosses initially called in a motorcycle gang to break up the union protestors, but the protestors beat the gang members so badly that they were forced to cower behind police lines for protection.

• There is always a black market: "Gang members are caught smuggling $100 worth of KFC into locked-down Auckland as residents struggle without fast food for almost five weeks"--Daily Mail.
• Like something out of the The Handmaid's Tale: "Exclusive — Amanda Milius on Emmys: Masked Servants Waiting on Psychopathic Elites Is ‘Visually Perfect’ Illustration of a Decadent, Dystopian, Sci-Fi Society"--Breitbart. Liberals always project.
• "Is a Covid jab for FIVE-year-olds next? Pfizer says its vaccine is safe for young children and plans to get it approved 'as soon as possible' - as Britain begins jabbing all over-12s"--Daily Mail. They don't even know the long term consequences in adults and now they are going to use it on children that are still physically growing and developing.
• "CDC-funded study: In May, U.S. reached level that some experts say is 'herd immunity' against Covid-19"--Sharyl Attkisson. "Research shows the U.S. had reached what some scientists believed to be 'herd immunity' status against Covid-19 last May, with more than 80% of the population immune to Covid either through natural infection or vaccination."
• "‘Fully vaccinated’ account for 82% of Illinois public high school’s COVID cases"--Life Site News.
• "Covid explosion in the most Vaccinated state…"--Citizen Free Press. That state is Vermont with 79% fully vaccinated.
• "Pandemic Raging in Highly ‘Vaccinated’ Countries such as Singapore, Israel"--Michael Yon. He begins:

    Meanwhile, Pure Bloods across the world seem to be doing far better, for now. With serious concern that Vax Bloods will become a danger to us all…they keep jabbing the jabs.

    Remember all those books and movies about World War II, wherein in so many Jews submitted to wearing the Star. A symbol of their own faith was weaponized into a Mark of the Beast. And then millions peacefully marched or loaded onto trains and vanished from the earth. There were pockets of resistance, but only pockets.

    If you don’t sense a trap in all this, let me help. This is a trap.

• "VAX ATTACKS: Singapore seeing chronic illness explosion after reaching 81 percent vaccination rate"--Crack Newz. Excerpt: "Over the weekend, the number of patients requiring oxygen in Singapore doubled, showing that the injections they call 'vaccines' are failing to provide the promised protection against Chinese Germs."
• Do as we say, not as we do: "'Do any Democrats actually obey their own rules?': Outrage as maskless San Francisco Mayor London Breed defies her own laws and parties with BLM co-founder party at nightclub"--Daily Mail.
• Of course: "More than 30% of vaccinated people cut ties with unvaccinated family members, friends: poll"--PennLive.com. It has become its own religion.
• Would you like the Chef's Salad? "Scientists are developing plants that can deliver same vaccine technology used by Pfizer and Moderna Covid shots by being EATEN"--Daily Mail.

VIDEO: "Protests Erupt! Could China’s Economy Tank Over Evergrande Collapse?"--China Uncensored (11 min.)

Miscellany:

• "Chinese Data Dump Confirms Hard Landing Imminent"--Zero Hedge. The article relates that "the latest official composite purchasing manager’s index fell to the lowest since February 2020, its first contraction after the virus lockdowns, signaling China’s robust economic recovery from last year’s coronavirus trough is losing momentum." And this:

According to Nomura, year-over-year growth in volume terms of new home sales, existing home sales and land sales dropped further to -26.6%, -46.6% and -38.3% in the first 11 or 12 days of September from -22.5%, -39.5% and -21.9% in August, respectively. It gets worse: land sales in value terms plunged to -90.4% y-o-y for 1-12 September from -65.0% in August. 

I have to say that I suspected that real estate sales had to be slumping and that is why Evergrande has not been able to keep their giant Ponzi scheme going. It is not unusual for a developer to try and pre-sell properties in order to finance their construction. But I suspect that when the dust settles, we will learn that Evergrande was using the sales of current construction to pay the costs of other developments.

• The Daily Mail reported yesterday that "Haitian migrants began flowing back across the Rio Grande to Mexico over fear of deportation  from the U.S. as DHS ramps up removal flights of the 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants."
• Decline of Empire: "Leaders of China, India, and other major economies skip out on Biden's latest climate forum"--Washington Examiner.
• Ditto: "The most terrifying map in the world"--Bayou Renaissance Man. In the past 20 years, the U.S. share of global trade has collapsed. If I'm reading the map and accompanying graphics correctly, in 2000, about 3/4 of nations traded more with the United States than with China, whereas in 2020, it had reversed with nearly 75% of nations having greater trade with China than the United States.
• Not everything is about you: "Everybody Hates the Jews" by Bari Weiss. She writes:

Today, came the latest study from the Brandeis Center, which released a poll of “openly Jewish” college students. Seventy percent of the students surveyed reported that they experienced antisemitism. Half of the students said they have felt the need to hide their Jewish identity at school, explaining that they felt doing so would protect them from harassment, bullying or social exclusion. This is the kind of thing we would expect to hear about the Jews of Europe. But not here.

Okay. I know that the whole BLM/anti-white thing is targeting Jews in addition to the hated WASPs, and there is an increasing animosity against Israel and the whole Zionist movement from the Left, but Weiss leaves the impression that this is from the conservative right when it is not. Weiss wants to know where this anti-Semitism has its root. I've three words for her: the Frankfurt School. 

• Related: "Far-Left Democrats Force Funds for Israel’s Iron Dome Out of Funding Bill"--Breitbart. "The far-left members leading this effort have been Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)." 
• Someone's messing with the CIA: "Enormous three-tonne haul of heroin from Afghanistan worth £2BILLION is seized at Indian port after it arrived via Iran"--The Daily Mail. The article relates that "the shipment was estimated to be worth 200 billion rupees (£2 billion) and was seized on September 15 after the agency received intelligence they contained narcotics."
• Diversity in action: "Ripping Off the Veil: A British classical music organization exposes the sordid business behind all racial-preference regimes" by Heather MacDonald, City Journal. An excerpt:

Earlier this month, the English Touring Opera told nearly half its orchestral musicians that it would not be renewing their contracts for the 2022 season because it has “prioritised increased diversity in the orchestra.” In other words, as a bunch of white guys you must be cleared out so that we can boost the collective melanin levels among our musicians. Your talent does not matter; your skin color does.

• The slogan is Black Lives Matter, not All Lives Matter: "Anti-white bias in the classroom is real, and it's toxic"--MSN. From the lede:

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teaching union, is providing its members with a seminar focused on the New York Times podcast, Nice White Parents, Todd Shepherd of Broad and Liberty reported. This podcast describes itself as a series dedicated to "building a better school system, and what gets in the way." And, as this advertisement shows, "what gets in the way" is merely a trope for "blame white people."

• Immigrants in the 1800s helped expand and build this nation. Today, they mostly just suck off the teats of taxpayers: "Analysis: Afghan Population in U.S. Explodes, Majority Live on Welfare"--Breitbart. The article mentions: "Camarota’s research found that more than 65 percent of households headed by Afghan immigrants use at least one major form of welfare — that is, food stamps, cash assistance, or Medicaid. If other forms of welfare were included in this tally, like free school lunch and public housing, 'these high rates of welfare use would almost certainly be much higher,' Camarota notes."
• Even a broken clock is right twice a day: "Marx Got It Right: Mass Immigration Wrecks Wages. Why Won’t America’s Resurgent Communists Admit It?" by Carl Horowitz. Today's communists won't admit it because, since they follow the Frankfort School, class has been abandoned in favor of race. From the article:

    Believe it or not, as Ripley used to say, Communist theoretician Karl Marx anticipated a key economic argument against mass immigration that VDARE.com has made since its beginning: Unfettered immigration depresses wages for host-nation workers. That Marx was wrong in his overall critique of capitalism, most notably his prediction that it was doomed, did not make him wrong on everything. On immigration, Marx was on the right side of the debate, if not necessarily for the right reasons. Oddly, America’s resurgent Communists don’t seem to have noticed.

    Consider a letter of 1870 to Sigfrid Meyer and August Vogt, German friends in the United States. Citing the effects of large-scale Irish immigration upon England, Marx explained the destabilizing effect of cheap immigrant labor: “Owing to the constantly increasing concentration of leaseholds, Ireland constantly sends her own surplus to the English labor market, and thus forces down wages and lowers the material and moral position of the English working class,” the primordial Prussian Communist wrote.

• "Chuck Schumer: Amnesty and Migrants Prevent Labor Shortages"--Breitbart. They also keep wages down by preventing the shortages that might caused wages to rise. So a win/win for corporate America and the nation's farmers.
• "Quinn: It's A 'Fourth Turning', What Did You Expect?"--Zero Hedge. From the article:

    I’ve been pondering this Fourth Turning in articles since its spectacular onset in September 2008, with the Wall Street/Federal Reserve initiated global financial implosion. The description above is apt, as this ongoing two-decade long storm gains intensity and our freedoms, liberties and rights are slowly extinguished as the electricity flickers and our modern civilization reverts to a more brutish state of antipathy among competing tribes, based on race, gender, class, party, geographic location, and now medical status.

    We are in the midst of a saecular winter that is guaranteed to become more violent and bitter, as the malevolent forces propelling this Crisis have decided to ramp up fear propaganda to implement their global reset, using authoritarian methods to compel the masses to comply. I’ve intellectually understood we would be faced with trials and tribulations that would threaten the continuation of our way of life and survival as a unified nation. The reality is proving to be far worse. The core elements of debt, civic decay, and global disorder are most certainly propelling this Crisis towards its bloody climax. I knew there was no way to sidestep or escape this Fourth Turning.

    But I didn’t expect a Deep State coup against a sitting president; a stolen presidential election through the collusion of the surveillance state, Big Tech, Big Media and billionaire oligarchs; a weaponized flu used as cover for an imploding financial system; an authoritarian global lockdown which has destroyed small businesses and impoverished the working class, while enriching mega-corporations and the elite ruling class; and now a Big Pharma experimental gene therapy disguised as a vaccine used to divide America into hostile tribes spewing hate online, with a strong possibility of violence because Biden and his handlers are attempting to provoke those refusing his vaccine mandate into committing acts of aggression.

    Those trapped in their self-induced stupor of normalcy bias, with an ample helping of cognitive dissonance, do not or will not see the coming storm as it wipes out all vestiges of their modern techno-consumption society. Supply chains are imploding as we speak., creating shortages, soaring prices, and possibly empty food shelves in the near future.

• "The Lee Statue and the Rebellion to Come" by Gregory Hood, The Unz Review. An excerpt:

    Many Americans think the Constitution — an eighteenth-century document — will secure their rights. They are clearly wrong. While corporations, NGOs, and the federal government restrict citizen free speech, Virginia’s supreme court claimed the state government’s free speech rights were so sacred it could break a clearly worded contract.

    In a separate decision, the court went further: “[E]very single day that the statue remains standing inflicts harm across the Commonwealth – both on an individual level and more broadly by undermining our system of democratic governance.” How did the statue undermine democracy? “The Lee Monument communicates principles that many believe to be inconsistent with the values the Commonwealth currently wishes to express.”

    What about those who don’t think a statue of General Lee “inflicts harm?” A September 2020 poll found that Virginia was about evenly divided on the question of removing Confederate memorials, but the opinions of white Southerners don’t count. The court repeatedly cited the supposed harm the Lee statue caused blacks. It was silent on what it meant to white Southerners who fought for their homes, lost, and returned to a wasteland.

The article goes on to discuss how General Lee was not a supporter of slavery and was instrumental in keeping the peace following the Civil War by encouraging real reconciliation rather than recrimination. It then goes on to explain how the Confederate flag has ceased to be a purely "Southerner" flag but has taken the place as a flag of rebellion against the elites. He also warns that the destruction of monuments will not stop with those honoring the Confederacy (which we've already seen with the destruction and defacement of other monuments honoring George Washington, Christopher Columbus, pioneers, and other white people). The author concludes:

    Many whites are mentally no longer part of the current political order, but we didn’t mentally secede. We were kicked out. Lee was the last straw, and the battle flag is a natural rallying point. Now is the time to begin organizing locally. Support secession efforts within the United States, especially in Virginia. Network with friends and form partnerships to make yourself financially and physically stronger. Don’t be like those jackals in Richmond. Build, don’t destroy.

    Most importantly, don’t despair. Accept the challenge of history. “Every time I look at Atlanta, I see what a quarter million Confederate soldiers died to prevent,” wrote John Shelton Reed. Today, that statement applies not just to Atlanta or Richmond but to the entire country. Once again, we are called to resist. It is not a struggle of arms, but of will. It is not North versus South, but patriotic whites versus those who despise us.

    It may seem daunting, but we have Lee’s example before us. Do your duty and leave the rest in God’s hands.