New Bombs & Bants Podcast (Streamed 2/23/2022)

 

VIDEO: "Bombs & Bants Live!" (52 min.)

We had some sound issues, so go to 3:15 to start listening.

The Docent's Memo (February 21, 2022)

 

VIDEO: "Remembering Marcus"--Working With Warriors Bookshelf (17 min.)

Some stories about Marcus Wynne from someone that knew him far better than I did. 

VIDEO: "More Marcus Memories"--Working With Warriors Bookshelf (15 min.)

Firearms/Shooting/Self-Defense:

• "Understanding the distancing and reaction time continuum" by Brian K. LaMaster, Buckeye Firearms Association. You all have heard of the Tueller drill. It presupposes an attacker armed with a knife rushing a defender with a holstered handgun. Through the drill, it was determined that the shortest distance the average police officer could draw his handgun and fire on the attacker was if the attacker was 21 feet. But what about shorter distances? The author of this article notes that most attackers will probably be initiating an attack at 10 feet or less. "On the average," he relates, "reaction times can vary from .4 seconds to .8 seconds. This means you have very little time to perceive their movement and react to it. Alright, you have about three-fourths of a second to react to someone who is moving towards you at ten feet away. If your reaction time is one half to three-fourths of a second, that leaves you with little or no time to react!"

    Unfortunately, the author continues, lateral movement does not create as much additional space (and time) as you might think. He conducted some tests, the gist of which is that at distances closer than 21-feet, even when attempting to create space, the defender was generally able to react fast enough to draw his handgun. For instance, moving the attacker to a 10 foot distance from the defender:

... The attacker made the first move and within one second the attacker was on the victim and had cut him at least once. After that, we had the defender move laterally by sidestepping. About one-half second into the attacker's movement the defender started his lateral movement. On the average, the defender was only able to cover about four feet of ground. Moving laterally does not created distance away from the attacker fast enough in order to survive especially when using the sidestepping method of footwork. In some instances the defender drew their gun only after being cut multiple times by the attacker.

A more experienced gunman did better, able to get off at least one shot even with the attacker at 5-feet. This was because:

When moving laterally the defender used cross-stepping method of footwork which kept the defender ahead of the attacker and out of reach for the most part. The defender was able to create about ten feet of ground before finally getting cut. I might ad that for the most part the defender only received cuts on his free side arm since he was drawing and shooting one handed! All of this happened in just a little over one and one-half seconds and it took that long only because the defender was able to create so much distance by cross-stepping.

Also, the experienced attacker was familiar with pre-attack indicators which gave him an edge. 

    At 5-feet starting distance, none of the inexperienced defenders could even get their gun out and the experienced gunman could not get a shot off. The foregoing was in normal lighting conditions. In dim light, even if a handgun could be drawn, the defenders were not able to hit their target.

    What the experiments did show, however, is that if the defender resorted to unarmed combatives first in order to give them time to create distance, and then to drawing their firearm, they did much better. 

In short, responding with unarmed combatives [to a knife wielding attacker] will keep you in the fight longer than by going straight for your gun. Going straight for your gun most of the time is not going to be a wise idea. And, if you move laterally or other directions with a step-n-drag method of footwork, you will not create enough distance to survive!

• But what about someone armed with a firearm? "Get to cover? A requiem for common sense." by Aaron Cowan, Monderno. A good discussion of what is or is not cover (along with illustrations) with an emphases on what cover is offered by different parts of a vehicle.
• "Testing Home Defense Ammo for Carbines" by Richard Mann, Shooting Illustrated. Mann tested some different calibers that he believed would be representative of what a person might use in a home defense carbine. His testing considered two basic scenarios: (i) shooting a burglar without dangerous overpenetration; and (ii) shooting through an interior war to strike a burglar. The calibers he selected were the .223/5.56, .300 Blackout, .300 HAMR, and .30-30 Winchester. For each caliber, he tested two loads. Unfortunately, there is no information on the barrel lengths or muzzle velocity. I assume that the AR loads were from a 16-inch barrel and the .30-30 sported an 18-inch barrel, but I didn't see anything listing the barrel lengths. Looking at the data, the two worst performers overall were the .300 BLK 190-grain SUB-X, and the 300 HAMR 150-grain Bonded. As would be expected, the subsonic .300 BLK had poor expansion. Somewhat surprisingly, the .300 HAMR 150-grain bonded exhibited overpenetration in all of the tests.

    Mann's favorite was the 300 HAMR 110-grain SP. He explains:

 If I had to pick one of these cartridges/loads for home defense, I’d probably go with the 110-grain 300 HAMR load because of its consistent 12 to 14 inches of penetration and the lack of over-penetration concern associated with it. The Speer Gold Dot load for the .223 Rem. and the FTX load for the .300 BLK delivered similar, but slightly deeper performance. There are, of course, lots of other loads and carbine cartridges to consider. This test is only a glimpse. But, it does give you an idea of what can be expected with carbines, and even the ancient .30-30 Win., if they must be fired inside a home to save your life.

However, Mann indicated that the 150 grain Power Point in .30-30 delivered the largest crush cavity on a bare target, and seemed to perform well in the other tests. 

• "The Effects Of The Meplat On Terminal Ballistics" by Nathan Foster, Terminal Ballistics Research. I've cited to this article before, but it is an interesting article and might be of interest to newer readers. As an initial matter, the author relates:

    As most will guess, the shape of the meplat (tip) has a great effect on external ballistics (how the projectile flies through the air). The shape can also have an effect on terminal ballistics and performance with regard to projectile energy transfer on game, projectile expansion and stress to the projectile during this rapid change in medium. Put simply, a wide flat meplat projectile has far greater potential to transfer its energy immedietly upon impact than a sleek pointed projectile when bullet construction of both designs is equal.

    The differences become even more pronounced when using solid, non expanding bullets, whether they be constructed of hard cast lead or full metal (copper) jackets. Unfortunately, a wide flat pointed meplat can also handicapp a projectiles potential trajectory as well as a huge loss in velocity and energy at moderate to longer ranges which can inturn result in low energy transfer.

    Ideally, to fully utilise a wide, flat meplat projectile, it needs to be used in firearms that are designed for close range work or- in cartridges which already have such low velocity, that trajectory is not greatly effected by bullet meplat design.

Here is the meat of the article:

    In plain terms, a wide flat pointed solid non expanding bullet, even if driven at handgun velocities, creates disprortionate to calibre wounding where a pointed, non expanding bullet would create a calibre sized wound. It is this dis-proportinate to calibre wounding that is of most interest to the hunter as it is this mechanism that promotes fast clean killing.

    The physics involved in wide/ flat meplat wounding are very simple, the flat point meets huge resistance on impact causing the water in flesh to be forced violently away from the path of the bullet, this in turn results in broad wounding. At velocities above 1700fps and using a wide calibre, the .45-70 (.458") which this article is focused around, entry wounds using the widest possible meplat may be up to an inch in diameter with the wound channel slightly larger and remaining the same diameter for several feet. This opens up both the possibility of both broad wounding with solid projectiles combined with penetration not normally available with expanding type projectiles.

    At this point it must be noted that, the higher the impact velocity, the greater the resistance. This occurs simply because the water molecules of the animal, cannot move away from the flat point bullet at relative speeds.  So as velocity is increased, wound channels increase in diameter however penetration may not necessarily be deeper due to increased resistance at the target. Pointed FMJ projectiles do not seem to show much difference in wounding or penetration at varied velocities. As an example, a 147 grain 7.62 FMJ projectile fired from a .300 Win mag creates the same size permanent wound cavity as it does when fired from a .308 Win rifle.  Some extra bruising does occur throughout the lungs however the actual speed of killing remains unchanged and kills with this projectile on medium game are generally slow.

    Oddly, although entry wounds with wide flat meplat bullets are almost always large, non expanding bullets of this style do not seem to produce hydrostatic shock at the typically low muzzle velocities produced by big bore rifle and handgun cartridges. By hydrostatic shock, I mean the ability of the projectile to send a shock wave through the ribs and into the spine with such speed that the central nervous system shuts down the brain (temporary coma) during which time the vitals bleed out before the animal regains conciousness, giving the illusion that it has died 'instantly'.

    Due to the fact that slow, non expanding wide, flat meplat projectiles do not produce any shock effect whatsoever, when using such bullets on dangerous game, hunters are advised to expect clean but delayed kills, a potentially deadly situation. Flat meplat non expanding bullets definitely give optimum results when striking major bones. When bones are hit, wound channels change from being consistant 1 to 2" wide wound channels to much more dramatic wounding. When this type of bullet strikes bone, the fragments that separate tend to be very large and incapacitating.

    On average, again using the .45-70, wound channels created by flat meplat non expanding projectiles are about four times the size of the original .458" calibre hard cast bullet however expanding projectiles in .45-70 will normally produce internal wounds twelve times their original bullet diameter at close ranges and in high velocity loadings. Needless to say, expanding bullets are capable of producing faster kills. The use of a flat meplat non expanding bullet therfore requires careful consideration. 

There is a lot more, so if this topic interests you, be sure to read the whole thing. One thing to note is that this effect of a wide, flat meplat really only seems to be of significance at around .35 caliber. The foregoing is enough, however, to explain why in calibers that produce marginal expansion out of a short barrel, such as the .38 Special out of a snubby, wadcutters are sometimes a better choice for defensive ammo. 

• A teaser article: "The Battle Of The 308s"--Fleeting Survival.  The author likes the idea of a semi-auto .308, but he also understands that "only accurate rifles matter." He relates:

    I was doing some side work for someone that was in the industry and they asked if they could pay me with a rifle. I said sure, give me an SR25. That didn’t happen, they got me a SCAR 17. Now the SCAR is a fantastic battle rifle, especially if you throw down for a Geissele trigger and an extended handguard. When I first got the SCAR, I could honestly say I didn’t know what the difference was between a battle rifle was vs more of a DMR. There were some things that the SCAR did wonderfully and other not so much. On a good day with match ammo, you could do sub MOA but most of the time it was a 1.5 MOA gun. Not that there is anything wrong with that. That type of accuracy out of such a light gun was and still is amazing.

    During that time, AR10s were not the best reliability wise, especially with a suppressors. The one thing you can say about the SCAR is its reliable. But in recent years that has all changed. AR10s are getting a whole lot better even though there is no spec’d standard like the AR15. The last few iterations of the SR25 have gotten excellent reviews and I always felt jipped on the fact that I got a SCAR instead of a SR25. I never really fell in love with the SCAR and seemed like a lot of cash sitting in the corner of the safe.

    Well, then, COVID happened. And then the riots in the summer of 2020 happened. Anybody that had been in the gun industry for a while started to look at what was in their gun safe to see if anything they wanted to get rid of. There were no new guns to be had. And used guns were selling for new gun prices if not more. I took the opportunity to ditch the SCAR. I got more than new retail for a well-used gun. I decided to take all that cash, add a little, and get myself more of a precision 308.

The author apparently now has an SR25 PC and a Larue PredatOBR and plans on doing an article comparing the two.

• Sig Sauer has released a new model of its P365 that is chambered in .380. (The Firearm Blog) (The Truth About Guns). The TTAG article relates that "[t]he P365-380 uses the same grip module and fire control unit as the legacy P365 with a lightened slide, a 380 barrel, and a lighter recoil spring making it easier to rack for an overall exceptionally smooth handling experience." This tells me that this pistol will fire from a locked position rather than being a simple blowback; otherwise, they would have had to use as heavy or heavier spring. That means that it will be easier to work the slide and have less recoil than the 9 mm version. Looking at the comments, there are a lot of people that will poo-poo this new pistol for being under-powered. But there are a lot of people that want a firearm that is easier to shoot, and that is what this offers. 
• "The 1 % of the population accountable for 63 % of all violent crime convictions"--Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. This 2014 paper delved into a study "to determine the distribution of violent crime convictions in the Swedish population 1973–2004 and to identify criminal, academic, parental, and psychiatric risk factors for persistence in violent crime." The results:

A total of 93,642 individuals (3.9 %) had at least one violent conviction. The distribution of convictions was highly skewed; 24,342 persistent violent offenders (1.0 % of the total population) accounted for 63.2 % of all convictions. Persistence in violence was associated with male sex (OR 2.5), personality disorder (OR 2.3), violent crime conviction before age 19 (OR 2.0), drug-related offenses (OR 1.9), nonviolent criminality (OR 1.9), substance use disorder (OR 1.9), and major mental disorder (OR 1.3).

• "The Subtle Art Of Trapping"--Gabe Suarez. The professional Antifa and BLM protesters were masters of taunting or otherwise acting provocatively to get someone (a police officer, a private citizen) to react and commit assault and battery against them. In this article, Suarez explains how to do this against the Antifa or BLM thug.
• "Skill Set: Winter Practice" by Tiger McKee, Tactical Wire. McKee wonders how many of those that carry concealed practice in adverse conditions. It caught my attention because I am also reading a basic survival book and was reading a section discussing how manual dexterity and overall performance can be degraded by cold, fatigue, etc. Also, I had gone out to do some shooting this weekend and arrived to fairly high, gusting winds and cold enough to freeze the hands (which will teach me to not bring gloves). I set up my steel target at 25 yards and tried some pistol shooting. Not good. The wind was so strong that it made it impossible to hold the pistol steady. It would also periodically blast me with grit blown up from the ground. And the cold weather and high winds quickly chilled my fingers. 

    I didn't do any shooting where I was drawing from concealment, but I will note a couple things. With the high wind, I had to pull my hood up and zip my jacket up fully so the hood was not whipping around. I had to get into my jacket at one point, and wound up having to turn my back to the wind so I wouldn't have the hood flapping about my head. Obviously, this has implications if you had to draw a pistol from inside your jacket and had to unzip your jacket to get to it.

    I didn't let my fingers get cold enough so that I couldn't safely operate the firearm, but this necessitated putting my hands in my pockets periodically to let them warm. If you are keeping your hands in your pockets to keep them warm, it will slow your ability to get to a firearm quickly unless you are carrying a firearm in your pocket. Similarly, if you are wearing heavy gloves or mittens, you very well may have to pull them off before accessing or using your handgun. Something to test or practice.

VIDEO: "Fireside: Preparedness (February 20th 2022)"--The II (3 hrs 3 min.).

This is a podcast featuring a woman that has a great deal of experience with prepping/food storage. Skip the first 12 min. as it is just talking as they get things running and some chit-chat. There is a lot of good advice here. The woman recommends picking up vodka for various purposes including making tinctures. I would actually recommend Everclear, the higher the proof the better. Unfortunately, it isn't sold everywhere, and even where you can pick it up, the proof may vary. 

Prepping/Survival: 

• "The Secrets to Hiding Preps in Plain Sight"--Mind 4 Survival. If you live in an apartment or smaller home (particularly if there is no basement), it can be difficult to find sufficient closet or cupboard space to store preparations. But you also don't want everyone that visits your house to see what you have. This article has some suggestions on other places to stash preps, or to disguise them.
• "Solo Stove Review"--Modern Survival Blog. This is a simple stove, made of stainless steel, and intended to only use twigs or small sticks as fuel. The author doesn't say what size of pot he used (it looks like a quart in the photos), but he had a rolling boil in just under 6 minutes. The stove weighs 9 oz.
• "Fixed Blade or Hatchet? If You Can Only Choose One"--The Mag Life. Short take: if the knife you are carrying is a folding pocket knife, you should take a hatchet. If you have a fixed blade knife but it is on the small/light side, then you will also want to have a hatchet. Conversely:

Smaller, lighter hatchets are just fixed blade knives with oddly shaped handles. And if the handle is also short, then it might as well be a knife. These are super useful for skinning and making kindling, but you’ll struggle to get leverage for chopping through green wood and they lack the mass in their heads that make splitting larger kindling an easy task.

The rest of the article covers certain features or materials in hatchets and the pros and cons of each. My preference is for a hatchet with a curved rather than straight edge (such as on the Gerber camp ax), and that appears to be the opinion of this author. Also, based on my experience, I prefer tool steel over stainless, and that is also the opinion of this author. 

• It's that time of year again. "6 Best Survival Garden Layouts [With Crop Lists & Square Footage]"--Seasoned Citizen Prepper.
• Ditto: "Gardening Calories List of Vegetables From A Survival Context"--Modern Survival Blog. A good resource for planning what to plant in a survival garden to maximize calories. The author states that he has not taken nutrition into account; just calories.
• "The Average Joe’s Training Program: Get Into Backpacking Shape for Mountain Hunts"--Outdoor Life. The author begins by relating a miserable back country hunt. Although his legs were in shape for the hiking, his back was not and he had an achy back the whole time. So he relates how he trained so this would never happen again. The equipment needed are a quality backpack, a 50-pound sandbag, trekking poles, and some dumbbells. The author explains:

    Clear your pack of all contents, and then take the 50-pound bag of sand and dump 25 pounds out of it into a bucket or other container. Next, tie off the open end of the bag and place the 25-pound bag in your pack or lash it to the pack’s frame. Two or three times per week, lace up your hunting boots and go for a hike. How far and long that hike lasts depends on your current fitness level. You’re not going to exhaustion here.

    Start slow and keep the distance mild if you’re at the beginning of getting into hunting shape. The last thing you want is to injure yourself, and one of the best ways to get an injury is going too hard out of the gate. Get your body and muscles used to hauling the weight. I recommend you hike with trekking poles. Trekking poles allow you to engage your arms, provide stability, and help bring rhythm and cadence to each hike. Plus, you’re probably going to be using trekking poles during the packout on a hunt, so it’s worth practicing with them.

    As you feel your body getting accustomed to the weight and you’re easily taking on 1/2- and 1-mile hikes, add 5 more pounds of sand, increase your hiking tempo, and extend your distance. When you can tote a 50-pound bag of sand on semi-flat ground at a pace of 17 minutes per mile for three miles, you’re ready for the mountains. The key is not overdoing it. It would be best if you only pushed the pace and hiked with max weight at max tempo once per week. All other hikes should be more casual. Shoot for a pace where you can still have a conversation without gasping for breath.

You next move to hiking in hills:

    I like to find a long, gradual hill that climbs steadily for roughly a mile. I also look for a steep, short climb that’s no more than 1/4-mile. I want a total vert gain between 300 and 500 feet for the long climb. For the short climb, the steeper, the better. For hill climbs, drop pack weight back down to 25 pounds. Do the long climb once per week. Set a good pace as you ascend, and use the descent as recovery. You can make this mile ascent and mile descent trek as many times as you want like, but keep back and leg health in mind. If something starts to hurt, stop.

    When it comes to the short climb, I prefer to do this workout a couple of times per week on the heels of an easy-day regular hike. Keep pack weight at 25-pounds, dig those trekking poles in and bomb up the hill. The goal is to get the heart rate up quickly. Push hard on the ascent. Please don’t hold your breath when it starts to hurt. Nasal breathing is excellent for moderate activity, but switch to mouth breathing when you’re pushing the pace. Only work on steep hills once you’ve got a high level of basic fitness. This exercise isn’t the first thing you should do off the couch.

He goes on to discuss how to use dumbbells for additional training.

VIDEO: "Everyone Is WRONG About Ukraine & Russia..."--Stoic Finance (11 min.)

VIDEO: "The Crisis In Ukraine Just Got WORSE & LONGER..."--Stoic Finance (8 min.)

News & Headlines:

• "Biden agrees on France-brokered last-minute summit with Putin - but only if he doesn't go into Ukraine - as US intelligence says Russia is poised to invade with 190,000 troops ready to strike: Americans warned to flee Moscow because of terrorist threats"--Daily Mail. From the article:

    President Biden and Russian President Putin have agreed to a summit over Ukraine - in principle - provided Russia does not invade its neighbor. 

    French President Emmanuel Macron said early Monday that he had suggested the summit to the two leaders to discuss 'security and strategic stability in Europe.'

    'Presidents Biden and Putin have both accepted the principle of such a summit,' the French president said, before adding that such a meeting would be impossible if Russia invaded Ukraine as Western nations fear it plans. 

And:

No less than 75 percent of Putin's conventional forces are now poised at the Ukrainian border as Blinken warned that 'we are on the brink of an invasion'.  

 

And:

    But the concentration of nearly 200,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment within striking distance of Ukraine – including as many as 500 fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft – is highly unusual and part of the reason Washington believes Russia is ready to attack, a US official told CNN.

    Amid the soaring tensions Macron pleaded for peace from his Russian counterpart during a two-hour phone call today – but Putin blamed Ukrainian 'provocations' for the escalating crisis that could turn into all-out war. 

    A Russian invasion force of armored tanks painted with the letter 'Z' and huge convoys were seen rolling towards the Ukraine border - as the eastern region continues to be rocked by shelling and British expats have vowed to 'fight like devils'.    

    It is suspected the markings have been allocated for specific roles amid rising tensions over an imminent invasion, with footage showing the letters sprayed on tanks, self-propelled guns, fuel trucks and supply vehicles. 

    The U.S. embassy in Russia also cautioned Americans on Sunday to have evacuation plans ready.

    'There have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine,' the embassy said.

    'Review your personal security plans,' the embassy said. 'Have evacuation plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance.'

    Analysts seized on the idea of false flag terrorist attacks on Russian soil being used to justify an overwhelming attack on Ukraine. 

Obviously Ukraine has dirt on the Bidens (and various Congress-critters), but this probably has more to do with our findings ourselves in this predicament than any other: "After Being Energy Independent for First Time in Decades in 2020, US Became Energy Importer in 2021 and Projections Are 2022 Will Be Worse"--Gateway Pundit.  

• "Russian Military Has ‘Received Orders Now To Proceed With The Invasion’ Of Ukraine, Report Says"--Daily Wire. This story is apparently based on American intelligence assessments communicated, of course, through a main stream news source: CBS. The government and media have lied so much, so extensively, it is hard to believe them anymore. How can we know that this intelligence is any better than the reports concerning WMDs that opened the door to invading Iraq, or the Russian dossier peddled by the FBI and the MSM. 
• Possible run on Canadian banks? Vox Popoli relays comments from a Canadian reader that was unable to withdraw $20,000 cash from his/her bank, the excuse being that their "reserves were low" (although this may be in reference to the number of bills on hand rather than the bank's financial reserves). 
• Related: "Canada’s Major Banks Are Now Reported To Be ‘All Offline’ After Trudeau’s Emergency Order To ‘Freeze’ Freedom Convoy’s Accounts"--Blazing Cat Fur. 
• Related: "Is Canada facing a Bank Run?"--Zero Hedge. 

Is there a bank run going on in Canada, or is the banking system failing - or is this the beginning of the "Great Reset" ?  Or, have government sponsored activists hacked the banks in order to prevent Truckers from accessing any funds?  We don't know, but people are reporting withdrawal trouble, and many banks are offline:

• Related: "Big Banks in Canada Face Outage Day After Emergency Declared"--The Tokenist. 

    A number of major Canadian banks were hit by an hours-long outage on Wednesday. The outage happened one day after the Canadian Government invoked the Emergencies Act, giving officials the authority to freeze bank accounts of suspects, seize protesters’ trucks, and suspend their vehicle insurance.

    On Wednesday, five major Canadian banks suffered an hours-long outage, blocking access to online banking and e-transfer services for customers. The impacted banks include Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), BMO (Bank of Montreal), Scotiabank, TD Bank Canada, and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

    The RBC, Canada’s largest bank in terms of market capitalization, confirmed the outage in a tweet. During the late hours of Wednesday, when asked about why the bank is down, it said:

    “We are currently experiencing technical issues with our online and mobile banking, as well as our phone systems. Our experts are investigating and working to get this fixed as quickly as possible, but we have no ETA to provide at this time.” 

    However, data shows that other Canadian banks were also hit by outages between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time.

• John Wilder offers his thoughts and some additional information on the bank runs: "/pol/ Versus The Canadian Banking System"--Wilder, Wealthy & Wise.
• "Cold War-era East Berlin had armed checkpoints -- now Ottawa does too" by Joe Warmington, Toronto Sun. I guess the apple doesn't drop too far from the tree.

    “The secured area includes almost 100 checkpoints that will have police presence to ensure that those seeking entry to that secure area for a unlawful reason, such as joining a protest, cannot enter the downtown core,” acting Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell said Thursday.

    Canada’s capital, operating under the Emergencies Act, now has ‘no go zones” similar to a police state. Authorities set up checkpoints with armed police officers in downtown Ottawa on Thursday — from Highway 417 (Queensway) to Parliament Hill, where dozens of trucks have been parked for three weeks.

    To get through the Berlin Wall under communism, people had to go through entry points known as Checkpoint Alpha, Checkpoint Bravo and, of course, Checkpoint Charlie. Now to get into through Ottawa’s police manned border points, people must produce papers to prove they live in the area or have a reason to be there.

• "Ottawa Police Chief 'It is now unlawful to protest against government, 100 checkpoints have been established'"--The Last Refuge. 

    The interim police chief of Ottawa, Comrade Steve Bell, made it clear today that he and the residents of Ottawa are “sick” of the protesters. Therefore, effective immediately, no Canadian citizen will be permitted to access, enter or walk lawfully in the downtown Ottawa area.

    “100 police checkpoints have been established” Bell said, and citizens are being questioned about the reason for their travel.  Additionally, within his current authority as the regional guard for government, he has been authorized to offer “safe passage” out of the area for any current protestor or dissident supporter.  However, if people do not exit the area within this current window of amnesty, the safety of the remaining citizens cannot be guaranteed as heavily armed tactical operations begin.

• "Trudeau Isn’t Hitler, But…" by Robert Spencer, PJ Media. Spencer begins:

Everyone Leftists don’t like is a Nazi, and it has become a hallmark of lazy political discourse to accuse someone of being just like Hitler. But that doesn’t mean that no one in the modern world has any ideological or practical resemblance to the Führer. When he invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, Justin Trudeau invited comparisons to March 23, 1933, when Hitler administered the coup de grace to democracy in Germany with the Enabling Act, which gave him dictatorial powers. There are similarities (and differences), and they’re enlightening.

• Related: "Trudeau’s Deputy, Chrystia Freeland, Whose Grandfather Was a Prominent Nazi and Who is Director at the World Economic Forum, Says She Plans to Make Her Emergency Powers Permanent"--Gateway Pundit.  Worse, in my opinion, is this: "Freeeland is a fan of George Soros and has been pictured with him more than once." It must be something genetic.
• "Canada makes final push to end weeks-long protest in capital: Hundreds of police officers surround downtown Ottawa and warn residents to keep away or face arrest after taking almost 200 into custody this weekend"--Daily Mail. Per the article:

    Canadian police on Sunday are making the final push to clear Ottawa of demonstrators who have paralyzed the capital city by parking and camping on the streets for more than three weeks to protest against pandemic restrictions.  

    Police vehicles and a massive police presence of hundreds of officers from seven police forces replaced big rig trucks and protesters Sunday morning in the main downtown area outside Parliament that has been fenced off with warnings for people to avoid the space or risk being arrested.  

    Police have made 191 arrests and towed 57 vehicles since hundreds of police officers from seven forces began the massive efforts to bust up the protest on Friday morning that required Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke rarely used emergency powers.  

Police fenced off the area and threatened to arrest anyone that came to the area. The better to keep the public from observing what they do.  

• "Ottawa Police Start Clearing Freedom Convoy, Arrested 70 So Far"--Legal Insurrection. They also started removing vehicles: "The police brought in tow truck operators, who wore ski masks and placed duct tape over the company’s decals on the trucks, to remove the vehicles." And don't forget the beatings that were meted out, police breaking into vehicles, and the orders that journalists were to stay away. Oh, and the horses.
• "Ottawa Police Excuse for Horses Running Over Freedom Convoy Protesters Departs From Reality"--Red State. From the article:

The police ran their horses into a crowd of protesters much faster than they should have, despite the protesters being peaceful. You can see them knock over a woman who was on what appeared to be a disability scooter, and a man in a brown coat with a knit hat, who was trying to shield her or push her out of the way of the horses.

The excuse offered by the police was that someone had thrown a bicycle at one of the horses, spooking it. The problem?

From what we can see from the multiple videos, there was no “bicycle” thrown. The disabled woman had a scooter which she didn’t throw, since pictures show her still on it after she is run over by the police horses.

So the police went with a bigger whopper:

    Then their story kept evolving from thrown bicycle to adding later that the “horse tripped.” The horses didn’t trip; they ran them right at the people. 

• The police were mostly peaceful: "Ottawa Police Shoot Rubber Bullets and Tear Gas on Peaceful Freedom Protesters"--Gateway Pundit. 
• "Canadian Protests Continue – Police Assault Rebel News Reporter 'Purposefully' Clubbed in The Head with Batons and Shot Point-Blank in Leg with Gas Canister"--Gateway Pundit. 
• The Last Refuge reports that the Ottawa police are complaining that too many people are calling them to complain about how they are treating the protesters. 
• The peasants must be crushed! "Canada Police to Send Names of Trucker Protesters to Financial Institutions"--Breitbart. 
• "The Reason for the Police Violence in Ottawa is Not What You Think. It’s Way Way Worse" by Elizabeth Nickson. 

The  black clad army of mercenaries and police brutalizing a peaceful protest in Ottawa this weekend has been planned for years. It is overkill for a reason. It is theatre. It is an othering, a willful flagrant statement on the future of the working class everywhere. It instructs them:  you will die. If not now, then sometime in the next ten years. Your towns will be gutted, your jobs will evaporate, you will scramble for pennies until you fall over dead and your children will have nothing to look forward to. You are Tutsi, you are Jew, you are Kulak, you are compromador, you are Othered. You are headed for the slagheap of history. Fight back and you will be deemed domestic terrorists and encamped indefinitely.

• "War Of The Worlds" by Rod Dreher, American Conservative. Dreher, who published this in February 17, begins:

I’m at Day Two of a conference at MCC in Budapest. At lunchtime, I was talking with an American journalist. When I mentioned that the Canadian government has threatened to freeze the bank accounts of protesting truckers, her jaw literally dropped. And now, the Trudeau government is using emergency legislation to cut even people who are indirectly involved with the truckers’ protest — such as those who donated to them — from the financial system.  You may not be able to buy, sell, or access your money, apparently, if you are in any way suspected of aiding the truckers. From the CBC:

    Under the regulations, the banks have a “duty to determine” who among their customers is considered a “designated person” who should be denied financial services. The regulations stipulate it is up to the banks to “determine on a continuing basis whether they are in possession or control of property that is owned, held or controlled by or on behalf of a designated person.”

    Banks will be working with law enforcement to decide who should be “de-banked.”

He adds: "It really is astonishing, isn’t it? Every single day there is another sign that we must, must, must start preparing ourselves for the day when they will come after us, simply for dissenting."

    Dreher goes on to quote extensively from a post by N.S. Lyons about the cultural differences between what he calls the Physicals (i.e., people that work in the real world) and the Virtuals (i.e., the cosmopolitan elites). Lyons wrote:

    When considering the causes and character of the current protest, and the response to it, I would say the divide between Physicals and Virtuals is by far the most relevant frame of analysis available. In fact I’d say this is among the most significant divides in all of Western politics today.

    Much has rightly been made of the “working class” and their alienation from “the elite.” But this phrasing comes mixed up with associations about material wealth and economic class that aren’t necessarily helpful. Many (though not all) of those who support “populist” politics in opposition to the elite tend to frequently be either fairly solidly middle-class skilled tradesmen, relatively successful small businessmen, or land-holders (e.g. farmers, ranchers, real estate entrepreneurs) who are often actually relatively well-off. It is the character of their work that seems to shape the common identity and values of each side of the class divide more than income.

    So too does this difference appear to widen – and perhaps even help explain the root of – the huge and growing gender divide in politics, given the fairly well-established preference (on average) by men to work with “things” (more concrete) and women to work with “people” (more abstract).

* * *

    But the most relevant distinction between Virtuals and Physicals is that the Virtuals are now everywhere unambiguously the ruling class. In a world in which knowledge is the primary component of value-added production (or so we are told), and economic activity is increasingly defined by the digital and the abstract, they have been the overwhelming winners, accumulating financial, political, and cultural status and influence.

    In part this is because the ruling class is also a global class, and so has access to global capital. It is global because the world’s city-brains are directly connected with each other across virtual space, and are in constant communication. Indeed their residents have far more in common with each other, including across national borders, than they do with the local people of their own hinterlands, who are in comparison practically from another planet.

    But the Virtual ruling class has a vulnerability that it has not yet solved. The cities in which their bodies continue to occupy mundane physical reality require a whole lot of physical infrastructure and manpower to function: electricity, sewage, food, the vital Sumatra-to-latte supply chain, etc. Ultimately, they still remain reliant on the physical world.

    The great brain hubs of the Virtuals float suspended in the expanse of the Physicals, complex arterial networks pumping life-sustaining resources inward from their hosts. So when the Physicals of the Canadian host-body revolted against their control, the Virtual class suddenly faced a huge problem. 

Read the whole thing. The key takeaway from all of this, however, is to expect the Elites to punish the peasants anywhere the latter revolt by freezing them out of the financial systems and taking away their employment. Probably a good time to get out of debt and build up a long-term food storage.

• It couldn't happen here, though: "With Possibility of Protests Looming, Joe Biden Extends U.S. COVID-19 National Security Declaration to Retain Additional Power"--The Last Refuge. From the article: "Joe Biden informed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that he intends to extend the federal National Emergency declaration beyond its termination date in March."--The Last Refuge.
• Of course: "Black student found responsible for ‘disturbing’ racist graffiti"--The College Fix.

    The student is a minor and has not been identified by authorities. She had written “colored” and “white” above a water found at C.K. McClatchy High School. “Colored” was written over the older part of the fountain while “white” was penned atop a newer portion of the fountain that also fills water bottles.

    Prior to the announcement that the vandal is black, community activists were in an uproar. The NAACP demanded “accountability.” At a protest, one black community activist shouted: “We are tired of ‘district letters.’ We are tired of ‘we are investigating.’ What we want is consequences.”

    However, now the incident is billed as a prank gone wrong.

• Well, she was fully vaccinated: "Queen Elizabeth II tests positive for COVID; mild symptoms"--Associated Press.
• Funny how these people, who are sociopaths, suddenly feel so guilty about what they did and commit suicide: "Ghislaine Maxwell's Family 'Fears For Her Safety' After Epstein "Pimp" Jean-Luc Brunel Found Hanged"--Zero Hedge. Another suicide by hanging in a high security prison. 

VIDEO: "Ukraine Update: Wooden Horses"--S2 Underground (39 min.)

VIDEO: "Several cities in China are facing bankruptcy, some are de facto bankrupt/One admitted GDP growth 0%"--China Insights (14 min.)

Opinion & Commentary:

• "Death on the Nile and addressing racism in Agatha Christie" by David Jesudason, BBC Culture. Well, racism and xenophobia, as the article notes the disdain that Christie's English characters generally had toward Americans. The thesis of the article is:

Yet adapting Agatha Christie as mass 21st-Century entertainment is not without its complications: they are products of the time they were written in, the mid-20th Century, and arguably reflect some unsavoury attitudes not least when it comes to racism, xenophobia and colonialism. The question is therefore: how do you translate and update Agatha Christie – or not – for the modern age? 

And while the article tackles the issue of whether Christie should be updated, even acknowledging that social justice issues must be balanced against entertainment, it tends to agree that her works should be. I doubt that is what audiences really care about, though. The author observes that the appeal of the films based on Christie's works is the opportunity to "see ensembles packed with A-listers waltzing about in glamorous locations in service of a gripping plot." Perhaps in the 1970s. I think the draw is to people that enjoy her works and want to see them on the big screen, particularly as many of her fans were born well after Christie's world had disappeared and doubtlessly want to see her world. 

• "How updating a 135-year-old law could help save US democracy"--Christian Science Monitor. The law in question is the 1887 Electoral Count Act which governs the official counting of Electoral College votes and the naming of the new president-elect. The reforms that the author wants to see are removal of the ambiguities concerning the selection and certification of electors and the duties of the Vice President in counting the votes to prevent another January 6 moment and the arguments that Trump made that the States could pick different slates of electors and/or the Vice President could refuse to count certain votes. I don't see how the reforms would benefit anyone but the Deep State. 
• "The Air of Despotism" by T.L. Davis.  Davis begins:

    We saw it first in Australia, New Zealand and Austria, the sense that the state had a right, a duty, to go to war against some segment of their peaceful populations due to political differences. What I mean by “at war” is the imprisoning of those populations in place; the demand to take part in cynical medical experiments in order to regain freedom. To some degree this happened on January 6th, too. What is most noticeable, however, is the tendency for Western “democracies” to now act in violent, evil and vengeful ways against those who protest maltreatment. Never is there a consideration of ending the offending policies and it’s that recalcitrance that speaks to something bigger, more foundational than a mere disagreement between governments and their citizens.

Also:

 This is a war on many fronts as Michael Yon recently sent in one of his missives. It is clearly a globalist war on the Western populations. They have effectively captured the governments and now feel comfortable turning those powers on the people to get them to accept globalist policies like open borders, the subjugation of freedom and perpetual tracking of individuals from birth to grave. They have no qualms about unleashing bio-weapons to get there and as Covid fades, they seek more dangerous plagues to impose.

Read the whole thing. 

• "The Left Insists on 'Civil War'" by Brion McClanahan. An excerpt:

    Don’t be fooled by your friendly neighborhood hippie. The left has always been the instigator in the culture war, and while they pretend they don’t know what’s stoking the flames of American angst, they fully know they are at the wheel.

    They just project onto the other side.

    This recent piece at Politico is a great example. Founding editor John Harris wonders aloud, “what exactly” are we fighting about?

    On the surface, this would seem to be something like an olive branch. “You see, we are just trying to figure this out. Can’t we all get along?”

    That sounds great until you learn that they don’t really want to get along. To Harris and his political theater friends on the left, the entire reason Americans are at odds is because of, you guessed it, the Deplorables.

    Those Americans that voted for and supported Donald Trump.

    If they just would shut up, do what the left says, and move along, everything would be alright.

VIDEO: "Trunk Monkey Complete Compilation"--Chanze (9 min.)

I remember seeing a few of these. 

And Now For Something Completely Different:

• Some of you may remember my recent reference to a 2003 article in the Tucson Weekly called "Mysteries in the Mountains" which featured an account of a time travel portal in the desert of southern Arizona. Here is a 2022 article that appears to be about the same artifact: "A Mysterious Inter-dimensional Portal in the Desert" by Brent Swancer, Mysterious Universe (h/t James Keating). It relates some of the same encounters with the artifact but with additional details or embellishments. An excerpt:

Enthralled with these odd stories, Quinn and his group went back through the perilous rocky terrain to find the mysterious archway and investigate it, now certain that there was more to it than had first met the eye. They managed to locate the strange looking structure once again, squatting there in the desert like some ruin from an ancient civilization, and upon closer inspection it proved to be surrounded with an unusually large deposit of geodes, some of which were broken open with their interiors glittering in the sun. These geodes were scattered everywhere, but only in the immediate vicinity of the archway, the surrounding landscape lacking any geodes at all. The archway itself was measured as being around 7 feet high and 5 feet wide, with columns of andesite 15 inches in diameter, and it stood beside a steep, rocky slope. After checking it out, the team went to work testing out the weird stories by throwing various rocks through the opening, but the rocks all mundanely fell to the ground on the other side and there was no sign of anything remotely mysterious whatsoever. Increasingly skeptical, some of the members of the team boldly put their arms through without incident, although no one was willing to try stepping all the way through, even as they joked about how gullible they had been to listen to the Indian’s stories. After around an hour of this, they departed, no closer to understanding the supposed mystery of this location and convinced that it was just old campfire tales. However, a weird series of events would unfold in the coming days that would make them rethink their position, and show them that something beyond their comprehension was going on after all.

• Of course: "It Turns Out That Ethanol Is Worse For the Climate Than Gasoline" by Rick Moran, PJ Media. "A study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that ethanol mixed in with gasoline is not a very green alternative to using just gasoline. In fact, biofuels are at least 24% more carbon-intensive than gasoline due to 'emissions resulting from land-use changes to grow corn, along with processing and combustion,' according to Reuters."
• "Mysterious Aircraft Spotted At Area 51 In Unprecedented Satellite Image"--The Drive. An excerpt:

    The aircraft in question measures roughly 65 feet long and 50 feet wide — about the size of a Su-27 Flanker — and has wings that are reminiscent of Concorde, with its elegantly curved 'ogival' leading edge. Even the mystery aircraft wing's trailing edges are curved, leading to almost scimitar-like wingtips that may be turned upward. Overall, the wings have a flowing, almost organic appearance. 

    The aircraft has no discernable tail surfaces with what is likely its exhaust extending to the rear and blended with the curved trailing edges of the wings, providing something of a rear apex. Its forward fuselage tapers into what is most likely a pointed nose. There is no doubt about it, this is a fluid-looking design that would likely be very impressive to view close up.

    As to what it could be, we don't know. But the size and shape are broadly similar to notional Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) and 6th generation fighter-related concepts we have seen — for both the USAF and the Navy — which are depicted as heavy, tailless, low-observable tactical jets with modified delta-wing planforms. 

 Also:

The mystery aircraft's wing shape being so reminiscent of Concorde, along with what could be upturned 'rolled' wingtips, does seem to point to a highly efficient design that would have significant supercruise (flying beyond the speed of sound without the use of afterburner), if not outright very-high-speed capabilities. Development work in the high-speed flight realm has exploded in recent years, especially when it comes to hypersonic aircraft and missiles. Somewhat famously, Lockheed Martin's then CEO Marylin Hewson noted that the company could have an F-22-sized flying demonstrator for its hypersonic combined cycle engine ready for around $1B and in just a few years' time. That was back in 2016. What followed was a seemingly bizarre media push regarding the notional SR-72 hypersonic spy and attack drone. That initiative seems to have gone largely dark since then, but it is possible the aircraft we are seeing is that demonstrator. At least the size and timeline seem to fit. 

 H/t: Instapundit; KA9OFF; Anonymous Conservative.

New "Bombs & Bants" Podcast (Streamed 2/16/2022)

 

VIDEO: Bombs & Bants podcast for 2/16/2022 (41 min.)

POTD: Hashima Island

 

Hashima Island is a popular place for photographs of modern ruins, and was even used in the James Bond film, Skyfall. This photograph, however, shows a different perspective of it than is typical. (Source: "15 eerie abandoned cities around the world that are real-life ghost towns"--Independent).

Paper: "Is Atlantis related to the green Sahara?"

     In his journal article, "Is Atlantis related to the green Sahara?," published in the International Journal of Hydrology, Hong-Quan Zhang makes the argument that the greening of the Sahara between approximately 12,000 B.C. and 5500 B.C. could explain the myths of Atlantis. During the green Sahara period, there were vast river systems and several large lakes (called megalakes and as large or larger than our Great Lakes) in or bordering the Sahara region. 

This map shows what North Africa was believed to have looked like during the Sahara greening period, with the author having marked what he postulates would have been the rough boundaries of the Atlantian empire as related by Plato. 

    He postulates that an Atlantian civilization could have formed around one of these inland lakes, connected to the Mediterranean by a river or outlet. And, in fact, he seems to have located what appears to be a circular structure that is perhaps the source of the description of Atlantis having circular harbors around it. This is the not the circular structure known as the Eye of the Sahara, which has also been suggested as a possible location of Atlantis. Rather, this structure which seems to be a smaller version of the Eye, is located almost on the Tunisian-Algerian border at 33°49’45”N, 7°43’50”E. 

    I've noted before that we live in strange time when what where previously considered conspiracy theories have been proven to be true. And I don't know think many people, including archeologists and anthropologists, have quite grasped how much the discovery of Göbekli Tepe has upended our long held beliefs about pre-Bronze Age history. I know that if I had suggested in my college archeology class that humans 10,000 years prior had been able to erect large, elaborately carved monuments, I would have been laughed out of class.

The Docent's Memo (Feb. 14, 2022)

 

VIDEO: "Why does a civilian need a SPR? (GPR vs SPR)"--Brass Facts (18 min.)

Besides explaining what is an SPR and why or how a civilian would use such a rifle, I would also note the effectiveness of the coloring of the presenter's rifle and clothing in the Utah desert, even with snow cover. 

Firearms/Self-Defense/Shooting:

• Jon Low (Defensive Pistolcraft) published a new roundup of articles and commentary last week. Lots of good stuff, as always. But a couple things that in particular caught my attention. First, I appreciated his comments about our role as private citizens in armed forced encounters; our goals and tactics are different from that of the police or the military. Jon explains:

* Avoidance, Deterrence, Escape *     As a civilian, these are your goals.  

---

     You are not military.  So, you don't have to destroy the enemy with fire and maneuver.  You don't have to close with the enemy to destroy the enemy with close combat.  

     You are not police.  So, you don't have to engage in the first place.  You don't have to pursue.  You don't have to arrest.  You don't have to restrain. Which means you don't have to protect the suspect.  You are not responsible for medical aid for the suspect.  (The Nashville Police Chief has instructed his officers, "No proactive policing."  You can respond to calls, but don't initiate anything.  For those of us who used to be cops, this is the most bat shit crazy policy.)

     You are not a vigilante.  

---

     You are not military.  So, you don't have to obey the Geneva Convention.  You may use hollow point bullets.  You don't have to obey the Hague Convention.  You are not required to take and care for prisoners.  In the Marine Corps, we were taught to "Never take prisoners."  Because you don't have the personnel to guard them and take care of them. 

 

     You are not police.  So, you don't have to give any warning.  It is effectively impossible to talk and shoot at the same time.  So, while you're saying, "Halt!  Military Police." the bad guy will be shooting, stabbing, and kicking you.  

     You always have to look at the bright side.  

It matches up with a topic that I've been mulling around in my head of the difference between a prepper in a SHTF situation from that of the military, the police, and even the general defensive shooter. 

    Jon also links to an article by Dave Spaulding in the Range Master news letter entitled "Reloading: Significant or unnecessary?" The gist of the article is that Spaulding thinks that there is a time and place to practice reloads, but it isn't in the middle of a drill teaching some other skill or even during live shooting; instead, practice it while dry firing. Spaulding also notes that should you run out of ammo in an actual fight, you will need to reload quickly. In this regard, he doesn't think that the method you use to release the slide is important. "You have no idea how much I do not give a shit how you release the slide!" he writes. "As long as you get it done as quickly as possible, that’s all I care about." Jon disagrees on that point, writing:

    Well, actually, one should give a shit as to how the student releases the slide after a reload.  Because there are two possibilities:  the slide is forward or the slide is locked back.  We should teach and use a technique that works in both cases.  If the technique does not work in both cases, it is WRONG.  Racking the slide is correct.  

     Well, if you bring your pistol and magazine up into your field of view, you can look the magazine into the magazine well while keeping threats in view.   

 Jon also mentions that he purchased a pistol with tritium night sights. He offers some thoughts about using night sights or illuminated sights:

     The pistol had very bright tritium sights, color white.  One dot in the front and two on the rear.  While I had casually used such nights sights before, now that I owned a set, I thought I had better put in some deliberate practice.  

     The practical necessary application of such sights is in an environment that is dark.  You have positively identified your target, but the target is not lit.  So, you cannot silhouette your iron sights.  For whatever reason (tactical or because the flashlight is broken or lost in action), you cannot use your flashlight.  

     If you can't use your flashlight, you can't afford a muzzle flash.  Yes, there are many types of ammunition that drastically minimize muzzle flash.  You can use a flash supressor.  If you're using a sound suppressor, you probably won't have the muzzle flash problem.  If you're concerned about noise, you need to use subsonic ammo.  Because the super sonic crack is loud, especially at night in the quiet of the field, away from urban noises (or inside a quiet building).  

     Shooting at enemy combatants in the dark without lighting them up is generally not within the scope of civilian self defense.  This is a pretty offensive, as opposed to defensive, technique.  

     If you're thinking about using a red dot sight in such situations, look at your red dot sight from the front in a dark room.  You will notice that there are a lot of angles from which you can see the red dot.  Which means the enemy can see the red dot.  If you're wearing glasses / goggles, the enemy can see the reflection of the red dot off your eye protection.  (Hey, the glow of a lit cigarette was enough for GySgt. Carlos Hathcock.  And I'm sure for many others.)  

     If you've got enough light to positively identify your target (your tactical flashlight is on him), you've got enough light to silhouette your sights.  Using the Harries technique, you'll never see your glowing tritium sights.  If you're holding your flashlight at your cheek or crown of your head, the back of your pistol is lit up, and you definitely won't see your glowing sights.  

     If the target is not lit up, can you positively identify your target?   

Anyway, a lot more there so be sure to check it out. 

• Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Links to articles and videos on: security strategies when using Lyft, Uber, or the like; night vision setups for rifles; a couple articles on weapon mounted lights; how to survive a dog attack; Wilderness Medical Society guidelines on treating anaphylaxis; advise on purchasing and using a portable generator; and a lot more. 

    In regard to the article on anaphylaxis, there are few key points that I took from the paper. First, although there isn't good data on the number of incidents of anaphylactic attacks, it does appear that the numbers are increasing, with the majority associated with food allergies. Second, "Epinephrine is the essential, primary treatment that should be given once anaphylaxis has been diagnosed (1A). If possible, separating the patient from the inciting allergen is prudent, but vomiting should not be induced to eliminate a food-based allergen (1C)." But, third, the epinephrine needs to be injected (e.g., an epi-pen) because "[a]lthough they are widely available, over-the-counter, metered-dose inhalers of epinephrine have not been found to be a practical or effective treatment for anaphylaxis." My wife has a prescription for an epi-pen. As the article indicates, "[f]or disaster or austere conditions, multiple reports suggest that acceptable epinephrine potency is retained as long as 24 mo beyond the expiration date." So, my plan is to include my wife's old epi-pen in my IFAK when she replaces the one that she carries with her.

• "Is It Better to Go Factory or Build a One-Off AR-15?"--The New Rifleman. If I were to sum up this article in one sentence, it would be: "Your home built AR-15 will be a POS that will get you killed." I'm probably biased because I've built a few AR style rifles. But I don't agree with an almost blanket rejection of a home build. Anyone with some mechanical ability and is willing to put in the effort to research and learn about ARs and how they operate should be able to assemble a reliable AR. Also, the author's underlying assumption is that anyone assembling their AR rather than buying a factory gun (or at least a complete upper) is doing it solely to save money and will buy the cheapest parts available. 

    I think that the better way to address the question of whether to go factory or build a one-off AR-15 is to discuss the issue on its merits rather than assume that someone building their own AR is an idiot that is going to mess it up. 

 

    So, what are the reasons to buy an AR?

1. Resale value. It is axiomatic that a stranger to your AR will be willing to pay more for a factory gun than for one that has been pieced together. This isn't to say that the factory model is better than the home built rifle, but that we have more faith in the factory built rifle over the home built rifle assembled by someone we don't know. So, if you think that you will be reselling the rifle at some point or view it as an investment, go with a factory rifle from a quality brand. On top of which, certain brands (e.g., Colt) seem to have a certain cachet that brings higher prices.
2. Instant gratification. If you just want to have a rifle to shoot, now(!), then a factory rifle is the way to go.
3. You have to. My thought on this might be for the person that works for an agency that allows you to purchase your own rifle but requires certain models or brands. This may also apply to someone in a prepper group where the group has agreed upon a particular brand and model of rifle.
4. The factory rifle is (more or less) set up exactly how you want it. Most of the people I know that build their own rifles enjoy tinkering and the "hunt" of tracking down parts. If you don't fall into that category, don't want to have to make upgrades to your rifle, and can find what you want, you are probably better off just purchasing the rifle.

So why might you want to build your own AR?

1. You want to. As I noted above, some people enjoy the thrill of the "hunt" for the various parts, tinkering with the gun, learning how ARs work, and so on. Unless you are trying to do a build with an 80% receiver, a home build pretty much comes down to matching and assembling parts. 
2. Saving the costs of upgrades. If you can find a stock rifle that works for you, great! But I know people that have bought a stock rifle from a reputable manufacturer and then proceeded to make significant upgrades: a different stock, a different pistol grip, a better trigger, a different or better handguard. By that point, you might have been better off building the rifle yourself rather than paying for the inferior parts from the factory and then paying again to get the upgraded parts. 
3. Saving money over a high-end rifle. I have to agree with the New Rifleman that if you are simply trying to save money over a bare bones stock factory rifle, you probably won't be able to do so. As he observed, manufacturers--especially large manufacturers--can purchase parts in bulk at far lower prices than you could get paying retail. But he is only half right. Just because a manufacturer can purchase the parts for a lower cost doesn't mean that the savings is passed on to you. If a particular configuration is popular, manufacturers and retailers may very well charge a premium for the firearm. I noticed this several years ago when I built my .300 Blackout pistol. Typical prices for something similar to what I built were running $1500 or more. I was able to build something just as good or better using quality parts for about half of that.
4. Nobody makes what you want. I ran into that with my AR308 build. Because I wanted something of a specific configuration and weight to be a modern scout rifle, what I wanted was not on the market. And lightweight rifles, overall, are very expensive--far more than what I was willing pay. 
5. Spreading the costs out over time. And this brings me to a final point, which is the sticker shock on some rifles. By building your own rifle, even if you are basically copying an available rifle, you can buy the parts here and there as the become available or go on sale, and spread the costs over a period of many months. 

• Guns Magazine has a three part article by John Taffin on the subject of big bore belly guns. (Part I) (Part II) (Part III). By "belly guns," Taffin means a short barreled revolver with a barrel length of less than 4-inches, and most of the models he discusses have barrels of 2.5 or 3 inches. By big bore, Taffin states in his article that he means anything more powerful than .38 Special (in order to include revolvers in .357 Magnum), but most of the revolvers he discusses are in .44 Special or .44 Long Colt, or larger/more powerful. The first part is mostly history of how revolvers with cut down barrels came into being and, finally, became factory offerings. I found this interesting:

The Mormon gunfighter and peace officer, Porter Rockwell, may have been one of the early proponents of Big Bore Belly Guns as he often cut back the barrels of Dragoons and 1860 Army .44s to make them easier to conceal and faster to reach if needed.

 

    Part II brings us into the modern era, starting with the Fitz Special and moving into production models and the dearth of .44 Special as the century progressed, with only the Charter Arms Bulldogs still being offered in that caliber.

    Part III catches us up to to the current period, noting some modern .44 Special revolvers, and then discussing the big, short barreled magnums favored by some going into the woods. Taffin concludes:

    All this brings us down to the task of actually choosing a Big Bore Belly Gun from all the many options. I could certainly get by with any of the single- or double-action sixguns discussed. However, what would be my best choices?

    We actually have two categories to consider. One is a sixgun that would be used primarily for self-defense while traveling in civilization, while the other would be for utilization far from the beaten path where it might be needed against tough, nasty four-legged critters that bite, scratch, gore or stomp. For the first category from the used gun list, I would go with a .357 Magnum 2-1/2″ S&W Model 19/66. It is easy to conceal, very portable, sufficiently powerful with a large list of ammunition options. Looking at the new gun market, my choice would be the relatively new 3″ version of the Ruger .357 Magnum GP100. The Ruger GP has been offered for several decades in 4″ and 6″ versions and has proven itself to be utterly reliable and virtually indestructible.

    For traveling foothills, forests and mountains, I would go with something larger depending upon just where my feet would take me. There are larger cartridges offered than the .454. However, in my golden years this is the upper end of my ability to handle a sixgun well. This leaves me with the choice of the Ruger Alaskan 2-3/4″ chambered in .454 and fitted with rubber finger grooved grips that I find absolutely necessary for handling the power of the cartridge in this relatively-small sixgun. This same gun has also been offered in the easier-handling .44 Magnum.

    Life is full of trade-offs. For me, the longer barrels are much easier to shoot. However, the shorter barrels are much easier to pack and definitely quicker into action. As in so many cases, we pay our money and we take our choice — and choice is highly subjective.

• A must read in light of the ATF's assembly of a database of gun sales: "Democrats Pushing Gun Registry as Precursor to Gun Ban" by John R. Lott Jr, Real Clear Politics. Lott warnes:

    Federal law explicitly prohibits the creation of a federal firearm registry, but the Biden administration is making one anyway. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has collected nearly one billion firearm purchase records. The government has now created a searchable digital database containing 866 million of these transactions, including some 54 million made in 2021 alone.

    This massive data collection effort encompasses information on all guns sold by licensed gun dealers, and on all legal gun transfers in states with so-called universal background checks. So, federal officials will have the name of everyone who legally obtained a gun. Now, President Biden wants to make universal background checks nationwide so he can have an even more complete registration list.

    According to a Rasmussen Reports survey, Democrats support the idea by a 2-1 ratio, while Republicans oppose it by a similar margin. Two-thirds of Republicans believe the policy will lead to gun confiscation, and even 40% of Democrats believe the same. Confiscating legally owned firearms, it seems, is not merely a right-wing conspiracy theory.

    Similarly, a recent Gallup poll shows that 40% of Democrats want a complete ban on civilian ownership of handguns. Countries such as Canada, the U.K., and Australia aren't the only ones to use registration to ban and confiscate guns. California, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. have also used registration to know who legally owned different types of guns before banning them.

And don't drink the Kool-Aid that such a database will be used to solve a crime. Lott goes on to note that Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., and Canada's Royal Mounted Police have all, in one way or another, admitted that gun registration is useless--as in didn't solve a single murder or shooting. 

VIDEO: "5 Mistakes Beginner Backpackers Make"--Backpacking Adventures (7 min.)

Prepping/Survival:

• "DIY Rain Barrel Instructions With Pictures (Cheap and Easy)"--Primal Survival. I like the idea of having two spigots for each barrel: a drain spigot near the bottom and a spigot somewhat higher that will deliver the clear water.
• "Are There Any New Survival Products That Are Actually Worth It"--The Weapons Blog. A review of survival kits/packs from Everlit, Kosin, and the  PrepStore Elite Emergency Pack. From the article:

    Unless you’ve been prepping for some time, one thing to note is that emergencies rarely give you the time to gather all you’ll need to survive if the condition lasts for months at a time. That’s why the emergency backpack kit from Everlit is a popular and best overall survival kit at just under eighty dollars.  

    This kit features twenty-three different accessory items recommended and tested by veterans packed into a 900D 42L tactical backpack that supports at least three days of roughing it before it’s time to restock while having room to store some extra clothes. The 2L hydration bladder holds two liters of potable water, and the backpack itself handles MOLLE equipment add-ons if necessary.

• Better prepare for high prices and/or shortages of chicken products: "Chicken producers warn about fast-spreading bird flu spreading across US"--New York Post. The article relates:

    US poultry producers are tightening safety measures for their flocks as disease experts warn that wild birds are likely spreading a highly lethal form of avian flu across the country.

    Indiana on Wednesday reported highly pathogenic bird flu on a commercial turkey farm, leading China, South Korea and Mexico to ban poultry imports from the state. The outbreak put the US industry on edge at a time that labor shortages are fueling food inflation.

    The disease is already widespread in Europe and affecting Africa, Asia and Canada, but the outbreak in Indiana, which is on a migratory bird pathway, particularly rattled U.S. producers. A devastating US bird-flu outbreak in 2015 killed nearly 50 million birds, mostly turkeys and egg-laying chickens in the Midwest.

 

VIDEO: "Tucker: Lawmakers are panicking over this"--Fox News (12 min.)

News & Headlines:

• Don't make the blacks angry: "Shocking moment man is brutally beaten and stomped by a gang in Harlem then left unconscious in the middle of the road - where he is run over by passing car, as crime spikes in NYC"--Daily Mail. More at the New York Post. According to the video, the unidentified victim got into an argument with a man and woman. Two men apparently attacked and chased the victim into the street. The video shows three black men standing over the victim, who is lying in a crosswalk, stomping directly down on his head and neck, and kicking him in the side. This type of attack--particularly the stomping on the head/neck--is use of lethal force. After the three attackers leave the body, the man was then struck by a car causing even greater head injuries. According to the Post, "Police have said that the gang ran the mans [sic] head over with a car after his [sic] was beaten unconscious." It is difficult to ascertain the race of the victim, but on the video, you can see a gap between his coat/shirt and pants showing light colored skin which suggests he was white or Hispanic. 
• Laws on the use of force have become so restrictive that security guards are essentially useless: "Video captures the moment SHOPPERS and clerks try to stop brazen thieves looting swanky Louis Vuitton store in New York while mall security look on and do nothing"--Daily Mail. In a more civilized time, a person could use lethal force to stop the commission of a felony or stop a criminal fleeing when he or she had committed a felony.
• "Why was Bob Saget's death ruled an accident? Head injury was so severe it was like he'd been hit with a BASEBALL BAT, says doctor as autopsy report reveals 'major trauma' which 'could NOT be caused by a slip and fall'"--Daily Mail. Interesting. When Saget's death was first reported, we were told he had died in his sleep and there were no visible signs of trauma.
• Karma: "US-born Chinese figure skater Zhu Yi falls AGAIN and breaks down in tears at Olympics... a day after being branded a 'disgrace' by her countrymen for finishing last after giving up American citizenship to compete for Beijing"--Daily Mail. Zhu, born Beverly Zu, decided to compete for China in Olympics and changed her name and US citizenship. She "finished with the lowest score of the event at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium yesterday after she failed to land a jump and fell on the opening combination, and botched another jump later in her short program."
• "Despite their popularity, a new study has revealed that face masks could be making it more difficult for children to recognise faces – and in turn could affect their ability to make friends."--Daily Mail.
• O Canada:
• "Ottawa mayor declares state of emergency over 'totally out of control' Freedom Convoy protests as police seize supplies and threaten to ARREST anyone bringing gas to refuel the nearly 1,000 vehicles"--Daily Mail. 
• "Ottawa police decree is illegal, Justice Centre warns."
• "Heavily Armed Tactical Police Units Move In and Confiscate Fuel from Ottawa Freedom Protest Truckers"--The Last Refuge.
• "Ottawa Police Seize All Fuel and Propane Tanks From Freedom Convoy Trucks, Cut Off Supply Route For Protesters"--Gateway Pundit. 
• "Ottawa Police Threaten Immediate Arrest of Protesters, as U.S.-Canada Border Nearly Shut Down" by Rick Moran, PJ Media.  
• "'This is far from over': Freedom Convoy truckers 'hold the line' and continue to block access from Canadian side of Ambassador Bridge after cops cleared them away earlier. Protesters march in Ottawa and NY Gov. prepares for Niagara Falls disruption"--Daily Mail.
• "Police Arrest Protesters who Remained at US-Canada Bridge"--Breitbart. 

I think this observation from The Last Refuge should be kept in mind for any future spicy times in the United States:  

 

    Let this serve as yet another example of how police units will respond to carry out the orders of government officials regardless of what laws, limits or duties ordinary citizens may project upon them.

    When told to load YOU into the cattle cars, or fire upon any resistance effort, every single police officer will follow orders; and they will execute those orders with extreme prejudice, without distinction for constitutional limitations.  In the era of COVID compliance, all police officers are jackboot security agents of the authoritarian state.  Conduct your affairs accordingly.

But, moving on, anyone with two brain cells to rub together will have noticed the difference between how the leftist politicians (who claims to represent the working class) reacted to the truckers protest versus how they reacted to BLM and Antifa. Basically, instead of giving them room to protest, the truckers have been the victim of government interference, harassment and, now, arrest.  Why? Glenn Reynolds explains in a New York Post op-ed:

    So we’re finally seeing a genuine, bottom-up, working-class revolution. In Canada, and increasingly in the United States, truckers and others are refusing to follow government orders, telling the powerful that, in a popular lefty formulation, if there’s no justice, there’s no peace.

    Naturally, the left hates it.

    For more than a century, lefties have talked about such a revolt. But if you really paid attention, the actual role of the working class in their working-class revolution was not to call the shots — it was to do what it was told by the “intellectual vanguard” of the left.

    A working-class revolution led by the working class is the left’s worst nightmare because the working class doesn’t want what the left wants. The working class wants jobs, a stable economy, safe streets, low inflation, schools that teach things and a conservative, non-adventurous foreign policy that won’t get a lot of working-class people killed. It’s not excited about gender fluidity, critical race theory, “modern monetary theory,” foreign adventures and defunding police.

And the truckers want back their freedom. This is antithetical to the political left because the left is, at heart, autocratic. Even some of those on the left recognize this. For instance, in Spiked we read:

 Once working-class protests were often organised by leftists or even Communists, but many of today’s working-class radical movements take on a different, more populist and distinctly anti-statist character. One can question the positions adopted by protesters, particularly on vaccines, but also recognise that the new wave of working-class unrest, whether in Canada or among the gilets jaunes in France, reflects a deep-seated frustration with diktats issued from above by an increasingly authoritarian state.

"Generally," the author continues, "these movements are not embraced but are largely met with disdain and even horror by gentry progressives and their media allies." And they are met with disdain and horror because "[t]hese protests in the US, Australia and Europe are not led by Marxist intellectuals in quest of a new world order, but by those seeking to restore an increasingly threatened world, where individual workers still possess some power and small independent artisans or merchants can support a middle-class lifestyle."

    Thus, in New Zealand, whose prime minister is the living embodiment of "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," it is reported that the government began using increasingly aggressive tactics in an attempt to disperse its own truckers protest.

They turned on the lawn sprinklers to soak all of the protesters and their belongings. When that measure seemingly failed to impress the protesters, they broke out an old tactic intended to drive them away. They set up huge speakers and began blasting the camp with pro-vaccine advertisements and loud, blaring music, including some old hits by Barry Manilow and the “Macarena.”

Lest you laugh and think that this is harmless, the article explains:

If the tactic of blaring music at people in an effort to disrupt their sleep cycles and force them into compliance sounds familiar, you’ve probably spent some time studying your history. It’s the same tactic that the United States Army used against drug cartel kingpin Manuel Noriega in 1989 when he was holed up in the Vatican embassy in Panama City. They blasted the building with heavy metal music for days until he finally surrendered.

 I would add that it was also used against the men, women and children at the Waco compound before the ATF finally burned them to death.

• More: "General Strike!"--Gates of Vienna.  A comparison between the trucker protests and the General Strike of 1926 in Britain. 
• After doing such a bang-up job investigating bat viruses and gain-of-function in Wuhan China, EcoHealth Alliance has now received a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) contract worth $4,675,023 to perform the same type of work in Liberia. Now I have to wonder how long it will be until some super strain of Ebola might spread across the globe. Also another example of how the well-connected do not seem to face consequences for screwing up or covering up.
• Evil: "Vermont Plans To Enshrine Legal Abortions Right Up To Birth"--The Federalist. 

VIDEO: "Multiculturalism is a 'Sickness'"--Paul Joseph Watson (11 min.)

A recently declassified U.S. intelligence report reveals that China's military and intelligence leaders view the United State's multiculturalism as a strategic weakness.

Commentary & Analysis:

• "Sic Semper Tyrannis" by Michael Walsh, The Pipeline. Walsh dives into an analysis of the uselessness of lockdowns and how it illustrates the failures of the ruling elites:

    And so we near the end of the Great Pandemic Hoax of 2019-22, an unprecedented and breathtaking power grab by governments around the world to seize powers far beyond their constitutional allotments and to transform a relatively minor flu virus — however originated and for what ill purposes — into a weapon of mass economic and emotional destruction whose effects will be felt for years and decades to come. It has been a textbook example of tyranny.

    Consider it a warning shot, though, because while Covid may finally have been exposed for the non-apocalyptic event it always was, such tyranny is only the beginning until we put a stop to it. Put a stop to extra-legal "emergency" measures that are transparently and insultingly fraudulent, and which are invoked in the name of the "greater good." Put a stop to the notion of judicially sanctioned "protected classes" in a formerly classless society. Put to stop the notion of a "New Normal" of privation, deviancy, and spiritual and material penury imposed by Leftists as they continue their centuries-old task of undermining every tenet of Western Civilization in the name of "equity" — in a world in which equality is aspirational at best and equity is impossible.

    And, once and for all, put paid to the notion that "when you've got your health you've got everything,"  the motto of a nation of neurotic hypochondriacs that is fundamentally at odds with every principle of the moral and socially productive life. For under this seemingly anodyne contention lies a wealth of mischief, chief among them the idea that your fellow citizens pose an existential threat to you by their refusal to conform, and thus can and should be restricted, incarcerated, or even killed as the need arises. And all in the name of Socialism, whether National or international.

As we've seen via a recent study by the Johns Hopkin University (a study of studies, really), the lockdowns imposed by states, countries, and municipalities everywhere in the name of "mitigating" the spread of an illness with a 99 percent survival rate in the name of public health were completely ineffective.

    Far better to have done nothing at all; instead, families were separated, the elderly (those most at risk from the respirational difficulties caused by the likely Chinese-manufactured bioweapon) died alone and often in squalor; weddings and funerals were canceled or held "virtually"; businesses were shuttered and driven into bankruptcy; more than two years of schooling were ripped away from forcibly masked children; and colleges and universities continued their descent into mere parental-money shakedown rackets by offering education-by-Zoom as they continued with their main mission of gobbling up real estate to take it off the tax rolls and fatten their endowments.

    And the only people held responsible for this sanctioned crime wave were... you.

Read the whole thing. 

• Thank goodness that we have Israel to remind us that nations do not have friends, they only have interests. Global Research has run an article with the title "Israel Will not Support Washington against Russia and China: Israel Confirms its 'Neutrality in the New Cold War'." This is what we get by lavishing billions of dollars on Israel's defense every year. The money quote from the article is this: "Israel pragmatically balances between the US and Russia, and if anything, it’s tilted a lot closer towards the latter in recent years since Moscow has done more to ensure Tel Aviv’s regional security concerns than Washington has through the Kremlin’s 'passive facilitation' of its literally hundreds of anti-Iranian bombing operations in Syria and other related measures." 

    It shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with the history of Israel's relations with the U.S. On June 8, 1967, Israeli forces attached the U.S.S. Liberty severely damaging the ship, killing 34, and wounding 171. Israel suffered no consequences as a result. Israel constantly spies and steals technology from the U.S., with the Jonathan Pollard affair being the most public example of this. Pollard sold military secrets to Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. This is still probably the largest intelligence breach in U.S. history. Pollard was arrested en route to the Israeli embassy and jailed for 30 years. Upon his release, he was unapologetic for betraying his country in favor of his tribe, and was given a heroes welcome when he arrived in Israel.

Related:

• "Israeli Spies in the US"--Middle East Research and Information Project (1986).

The Pollard affair took Washington and Tel Aviv by surprise. Wolf Blitzer, Washington correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, in a book published just several weeks before Pollard’s arrest, wrote that there is no real fear in the US government that American Jews are leaking information to the Mossad, the Israeli equivalent of the CIA. “Experienced US intelligence officials readily acknowledge that the degree of cooperation between the CIA and the Mossad is already so close that the two organizations do not really have to spy on each other. Despite infractions on both sides,” Blitzer explained, “US and Israeli intelligence organizations have maintained a discreet arrangement since the 1950s, banning covert operations against each other.”

• "Israel's Economic Espionage in the United States" by Duncan L. Clarke, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Summer, 1998), pp. 20-35. Relating that Israel has regularly carried out an aggressive campaign economic espionage against the United States since 1948 (i.e., since its inception). 
• "How Israel Spies on US Citizens"--The Nation (2018).

    An investigative documentary by Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera scheduled for broadcast earlier this year was expected to cause a sensation. Its four 50-minute episodes centered on the young and personable James Anthony Kleinfeld, British, Jewish, an Oxford graduate who speaks six languages, including Dutch and Yiddish, and is well-informed about Middle East conflicts—seemingly a natural fit for a Western foreign ministry or a major think tank.

    The documentary showed Kleinfeld being enthusiastically recruited for his skills by The Israel Project (TIP), which defends Israel’s image in the media, and associating with senior members of organizations that support Israel unconditionally, especially the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), the powerful US lobbying group. For five months, he mixed with them at cocktail parties, congresses, and conventions, and on training courses. He won their trust and they opened up to him, abandoning doublespeak and official lines. How, he asked, did they go about influencing the US Congress? “Congressmen don’t do anything unless you pressure them, and the only way to do that is with money.” How did they counter Palestinian-rights activists on university campuses? “With the anti-Israel people, what’s most effective, what we found at least in the last year, is you do the opposition research, put up some anonymous website, and then put up targeted Facebook ads.”

    Kleinfeld’s contacts told him they were spying on US citizens with the help of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, founded in 2006, which reports directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One official said: “We are a different government working on foreign soil, [so] we have to be very, very cautious.” And indeed some of the things they do could be subject to prosecution under US law.

Unfortunately, the documentary was never broadcast as part of a broad push by Arab states to strengthen U.S. support. 

• "Israel Won't Stop Spying on the U.S."--Newsweek (2014). From the article:

    ... Now U.S. intelligence officials are saying—albeit very quietly, behind closed doors on Capitol Hill—that our Israeli "friends" have gone too far with their spying operations here.

    According to classified briefings on legislation that would lower visa restrictions on Israeli citizens, Jerusalem's efforts to steal U.S. secrets under the cover of trade missions and joint defense technology contracts have "crossed red lines."

    Israel's espionage activities in America are unrivaled and unseemly, counterspies have told members of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees, going far beyond activities by other close allies, such as Germany, France, the U.K. and Japan. A congressional staffer familiar with a briefing last January called the testimony "very sobering…alarming…even terrifying." Another staffer called it "damaging."

    The Jewish state's primary target: America's industrial and technical secrets.

    "No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do," said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, one of several in recent months given by officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the State Department, the FBI and the National Counterintelligence Directorate.

 

    The intelligence agencies didn't go into specifics, the former aide said, but cited "industrial espionage—folks coming over here on trade missions or with Israeli companies working in collaboration with American companies, [or] intelligence operatives being run directly by the government, which I assume meant out of the [Israeli] Embassy."

• "Israel accused of planting mysterious spy devices near the White House"--Politico (2019). Israel had planted "stingray" devices around the White House to intercept cell phone communications.

There seems to be a misconception among many Christians, particularly Evangelical Christians, that the Jews are still the chosen people of God and, for that reason, should be given a pass when they engage in conduct injurious to the United States. That is not accurate. Christ stated that "the first shall be last and the last shall be first," clear reference that the gospel was taken first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, but in the last days, the gospel would be provided first to the Gentiles and then, as described in more detail on Revelation, the Jews last. The Jews are not completely forsaken, but they are the prodigal son who wasted his inheritance, while the followers of Christ are the dutiful son. In fact, when Ezekiel describes God's defense of Israel when Gog attacks them, Ezekiel makes clear that the provision of a defense has nothing to do with Israel's worthiness, but is simply to preserve God's reputation and honor.

VIDEO: "Solar Storm Strikes Down SpaceX Starlink Satellites"--Suspicious Observers (4 min.)

And Now For Something Completely Different: 

• "Geologists ‘closely monitoring’ rising magma under Oregon volcanic region"--KRQE. An excerpt:

    ... In a USGS Hazard Notification statement Monday, Cascades Volcano Observatory announced their scientists have tracked an increased rate of ground uplift in the Three Sisters volcanic region found in the southwest corner of Oregon. 

    Using satellite radar images and GPS units, USGS scientists have tracked an increased rate of uplift for a 12-mile diameter region, 3 miles west of the South Sister volcano. According to USGS, the data suggests the ground rose 0.9 inches (2.2 cm) from June 2020 to August 2021.

* * *

    “From 1995 to 2020, the area rose approximately 12 inches (30 centimeters) at its center,” USGS stated in a recent release. “Although the current uplift rate is slower than the maximum rate of about 2 inches per year measured in 1999-2000, it is distinctly faster than the rate observed for several years before 2020.”

    Despite the excitement, USGS and Burns have said that the public is not in any immediate danger. The volcano status is currently listed as “green,” and there is no sign of an imminent eruption.

• "Calorie restriction rewires metabolism, immunity for longer health span"--Medical Xpress. They observed this a long time ago after the Biosphere 2 experiment where a group volunteered to be sequestered in the lab for months. Because of problems with the agriculture, the group had to go on a restricted diet for most the experiment, but came out with much healthier digestive systems than when going into the experiment.
• "Opinion: When It Comes To The USAF And UAP, The Tide May Finally Be Turning" by Robert Powell, The Debrief. Powell begins by noting that the Air Force has not been as serious as the Navy concerning unidentified aerial phenomena. But, he continues:

    Perhaps the tide may be turning though, since the Air Force is beginning to display serious concern on this issue, as relayed to their men and women in the service.

    One day after Chris’s article appeared, an Air Force officer contacted me regarding UAPs. The timing was purely coincidental; it was in response to my inquiry regarding a UAP event that supposedly occurred in late 2021 and involved the USS Kearsarge. During our conversation, the officer described a briefing he had attended in May 2021 preceding a planned exercise.

    During the briefing, he and the other personnel observed a slide presentation that explained what to do if they encountered a UAP. They were clearly instructed to complete the Air Force reporting form, which has drawn-shapes of several different types of UAP they could encounter (plasma-like balls, tic-tacs, disks, etc.). It also featured specific questions, such as whether the UAP interfered with their radar operation. This was all new, the officer pointed out, something that would not have occurred 18 months ago. He found the stigma associated with this subject in the Air Force had significantly changed.

    The discussion then turned to the increased amount of UAP activity reported over the last few years. Two years ago, when first hearing Ryan Graves state they were seeing these objects on a daily basis, he thought Ryan was probably exaggerating. After what he’s seen and heard since then, the officer no longer holds that opinion, and now believes UAP activity encountered in U.S. airspace is actually quite high.

It was quite high over European and Pacific theaters during WWII as well.

• Related: "New infrared image shows 'swarm' of flashing 'Tic-Tac shaped' UFOs chasing four US Navy destroyers off California coast at 70mph"--Daily Mail.