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Monday, November 14, 2022

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

 

VIDEO: ".22 For Self Defense?"--Sportsman's Warehouse (17 min.)
Ballistic gel and bone penetration tests. Related articles below.

Firearms & Self-Defense:

    1. The Two Second Rule. Basically, "anytime you approach a new area stop and spend two seconds looking at it first to make sure it is safe."
    2. Keep Your Head On A Swivel. This means showing some curiosity and looking around you at what and who is around you rather than being so focused you ignore everything.
    3. The Five Foot Rule. Keep at least 5 feet between you and potential threats.
    4. Hand Awareness. "If a person is going to attack you most likely they will do so by using their hands so it is important to see where their hands are."
    5. Arm's Length Awareness. It is at this distance that most attackers will initiate their attack, so be aware of anyone breaking the 5-foot rule and getting within arm reach.
    6. Peripheral Awareness. "To get the most out of situational awareness you need to use both your focus vision (your direct line of sight) and peripheral vision (outside of your direct line of sight)."
    7. Sucker Punch Awareness. This is knowing the signs that someone is about to throw a punch. The author describes essentially four situations where someone might do so: (i) breaking the 5-foot rule and moving to within arm's reach; (ii) when they get overly angry and in your face; (ii) expressing the classic pre-attack indicators through their body language; (iii) they are engaging verbally and then suddenly disengage, turning to their side as if to talk to someone or even turning so their back is to you, suddenly laughing and talking to a friend, etc., intending to distract you and get you off your guard; and (iv) is in your face and suddenly wants to distract you or approaches within arm's length while asking you questions or otherwise trying to distract you.
  • Interesting: "Mythbusting: Shooting A Deadbolt"--Widener's. What their testing showed is that deadbolts are very tough to defeat with firearms, with even multiple shots leaving the bolt locked into place. They tested deadbolts set in both steel and solid wood doors, using 9 mm, 5.56, and 12-gauge buckshot. In none of the cases were they able to blow the door open by shooting the deadbolt even after multiple shots. An excerpt:
    The 9-pellet buckshot seemed to do more damage than the pistol or rifle. On the steel door, the faceplate blew off the front, it also removed the locking knob on the back of the door, and the key wouldn’t go in the lock. The damage to the door was more noticeable, with a large exit cavity in the rear. That being said, even after taking 9 pellets of 00 buckshot, the deadbolt didn’t fail, and the door remained closed.

    Shooting the wooden door was similar. There was nothing left on the front of the lock, the back of the wooden door around the lock was blown out, and the knob was locked into place. The back of the door looked splintered and you could see daylight through it. The deadbolt was non-functional but was still securely locked, and the door never swung open when shot. Myth totally busted.
  • It may not be exciting but it is important: "A Beginner’s Guide To Shooting Glasses"--The Weapon Blog. As the author explains, when looking at Military glasses or goggles, check for the MIL-PRF 32432 Ballistic Fragmentation Standard. For civilian eye wear, look for ANSI Z87.1 or Z87+ ratings. He then goes over your basic clear lenses, polarized lenses, and goggles, the latter of which may be useful when shooting suppressed to keep gas from jetting back into your eyes. 
  • "Safariland Duty Holsters for Field and Concealment"--Mason Dixon Tactical. The author relates: "Although I still have a number of the Blackhawk Serpa type holsters, I generally use the Safariland, hardshell types (ALS and SLS) when I use a mechanical holster." I've noticed that these seem to be a common pick from the operator types in the videos I've watched on setting up and using battle belts. Anyway, after going over some holsters he used in the past, the author writes:
The primary mechanical holster I personally use now is the Safariland 6378, ALS Holster. The ALS is secure enough for what I need, without the redundant ALS/SLS features of the last holster I used in Law Enforcement for a .40cal S&W M&P. Unlike a kydex friction fit holster, the best thing about the ALS is that it has positive retention, but no friction to slow down your draw once the lever is pulled back. Also, the lever is placed in a location that is intuitive to the draw stroke.

He goes on to explain some differences between the ALS and SLS holsters, including ride height.

    • Related: "BATTLE BELT SETUP 101: HOW TO SET UP A WAR BELT?" by John-Caspar Jaanus, Tactical Brute. A comprehensive guide to selecting and setting up a battle belt.
    • Related: "HOW TO SET UP YOUR BATTLE BELT"--The Armory Life. Some more on battle belts, including accessories for your Safariland holster to make it work better with the system.
    • Related: "Load Bearing Equipment: History, Personal Use, and Pro-Tips"--Everyday Marksman. Moving away from the battle belt concept is the more traditional load bearing belt and harness systems. These involve belts that fit high to ride around your actual waist--above your hip bones--rather than around your hips, and generally attached to harnesses (suspender systems). The author goes over some historical examples, including the ALICE system, before looking at a few setups of his own.

  • Stepping down from carrying a duty pistol: "Why Carry a .22?" by Greg Ellifritz, Active Response Training. Ellifritz admits to a carrying .22 magnum Smith & Wesson 351C J-frame and .22 long rifle Ruger LCP pistol on occasion. One of his main reasons is that he no longer is actively chasing criminals so he no longer needs to carry a "get into trouble" gun but can go with a smaller and lighter "get out of trouble" gun. As he explains:
My days of hunting and incarcerating criminals are over.  In armed citizen gunfights, the .22 has remarkably similar “stopping power” to a service pistol in 9mm or greater caliber.  It’s simple. No one wants to get shot with anything.  If I put a couple of .22s into the bad guy’s face, he’s almost certainly going to disengage if he isn’t immediately incapacitated.

The latter point is important because Ellifritz also notes that he has the skill and ability to accurately put his shots into someone's face at close range, and into their head out to 15 yards. As he remarks, "If I didn’t have this skill level, I’d probably want a bigger gun so that I could do more damage with less accurate torso (or even limb) shots.  Higher skilled shooters can simply get away with carrying smaller guns than the average CCW holder." Other reasons he mentions are that he appreciates the lower recoil due to arthritis, he carries in a lot of states and believes that a mistake as to what is legal in a jurisdiction would be more likely forgiven with a .22 than a larger caliber handgun, and carrying a smaller gun makes him think before rushing in where angels fear to tread.

    As to ammunition, he likes the Federal Punch ammo, but indicates that the CCI Velocitor is the most reliable in his .22 LCP.

    • Related: ".22 LR for Self Defense: Ammunition Test and Review" by John P. Snow, Outdoor Life, with the ballistic gel testing done by Jeff Hoffman at Black Hills Ammunition. First of all, despite the title, this is only a test of the .22 Punch ammo from Federal. Also, the thing to remember is that with such a small, low power handgun caliber, you can get expansion or you can get penetration, but you are not going to get both. With that in mind, the Federal Punch did pretty well in their testing both as to accuracy and with the ballistic gel, giving between 13.5 and 14.5 inches penetration from .22 pistols (but only 8.75 inches from a 10/22 rifle due to bullet expansion).
    • Related: "Federal’s 22 Punch" by Richard Mann, Shooting Illustrated. From the article:
    Now, I do not think Federal believes the .22 LR is the ideal defensive-handgun cartridge, but it does recognize that some (perhaps even many) people carry handguns chambered in .22 LR for personal protection. Also, depending on the individual, in some cases a .22 LR handgun might be a best option. (The old adage that “any gun is better than no gun” might not be settled science, but it’s good advice.) With 22 Punch, Federal wanted to maximize penetration while giving a .22-caliber rimfire bullet fired from a compact handgun the best opportunity to damage as much tissue as possible.

    To do this, Federal took a lead core and applied thick nickel plating. But, most importantly, it shaped the bullet so that it had a flat meplat, or nose. Essentially, what Federal has done is create a 29-grain, .22-caliber rimfire bullet that delivers terminal performance similar to a flat-nose, hardcast, non-deforming bullet. Non-expanding, flat-nose, hardcast bullets have been used for hunting with handguns for many years because they can deliver the necessary, straight-line penetration, and because the flat nose destroys tissue better than a round nose. Federal also loads this new bullet in nickel-plated cases, which improve cycling and resist corrosion better than brass cases.

Also:

From a personal-protection standpoint, terminal performance is what really matters. Blocks of Clear Ballistics gelatin covered with a single layer of denim were used for all terminal-performance testing, and the distance from the muzzle to the blocks was 7 feet. Out of the little Beretta, the 22 Punch load “punched” out to 11 inches. Because of higher velocity and no expansion, out of the 4.62-inch-barreled Ruger the Punch bullet pushed much deeper. But, with the much higher velocity out of the 18-inch-barrelled Savage, the bullet mushroomed, and this drastically limited penetration. 

  • Since we are on the topic of .22s: "The Rimfire Report: The Basics of Suppressing 22LR"--The Firearm Blog. Some advice on selecting a sound suppressor and why you don't want to use one intended for centerfire ammunition with .22 LR.
  • "Classic Arms Review: M1 Carbine"--International Sportsman. The author begins by warning readers that his "review is intended to outline general M1 Carbine use and practicality. Readers looking for a detailed discussion of carbine evolutionary changes and parts breakdown should consider other, M1 Carbine-centric sources." Nevertheless, he discusses the purpose for the carbine, its history, a bit about its design, basic breakdown of weapon, discusses the major component parts, and finally a range report. An excerpt from the latter:
Most sources I’ve seen rate the M1 Carbine as a three to five minute of arc (MOA) rifle. While it is far from a sub-MOA shooter, I feel that it is much more accurate than five MOA. Even my well-worn M1 (2+ muzzle erosion) is capable of stacking rounds at 25 yards, and hitting clay pigeons with it at 100 yards is relatively trivial. The M1 Carbine’s peep sights are excellent for range work, and as long as the barrel is in decent shape, groupings in the two to four MOA range should certainly be manageable.
  • And another classic: "History Of Britain's L42A1 Sniper Rifle: Full Review"--Rifleshooter Magazine. The British learned in the Falkland Islands War that it needed a dedicated sniper rifle--the FAL just didn't cut it. Their solution was to bring old  World War II era No. 4 Mk I (T) sniper rifles out of storage and upgrade them from .303 to .308 caliber. This was ostensibly a stop-gap until a new sniper rifle could be selected (the Brits eventually went with the the M85 Parker-Hale), but "[w]hen the M85 Parker-Hale sniper fell short in the first Iraq War, the L42A1 was called from retirement to serve again. When the L96 began having similar troubles in the Afghan War in the mid-2000s, the L42A1 was called up again, serving with Royal Marines and Commandoes once more."
  • Moving from classic firearms to what could have been: "The USMC M16A5 Concept: History and Build"--Kommando Blog. Short take: "the Marines made a concept that essentially emulated the Canadian C7A1- a 20 inch barreled upper mated to a lower with an adjustable stock." This was to retain the ballistic advantage of the longer barrel while addressing issues with using the weapons with body armor, moving in and out of vehicles, and for CQB. However, this is what stuck with me the most from the article:
With the recent adoption of the Sig MCX Spear in 6.8×51 as the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon, there seems to be a sense among some that “what’s old is new again”. Reverting from an intermediate cartridge to a full size cartridge, 30 round mags back to 20 round mags, viewing future warfare through the lens of Afghan combat at 600 meter distances rather than the short range urban engagements more commonly seen in Iraq or, more recently, Ukraine. What’s ironic is that this is typically the attitude you see with the USMC, and they don’t seem to be too inclined to touch the NGSW with a 10 foot pole.
  • "The DOE Shoot On the Move Rifle Qualification"--The Mag Life. The "DOE" being the Department of Energy. The DOE apparently has different shoot on the move qualifications for various weapons, but this article only looks at the submachine gun and rifle qualification.
  • "How to Shoot From Unconventional Positions: Learn How" by Richard Nance, Handguns Magazine. Nance notes that "there are times when shooting from a different position would be beneficial to maximize available cover, make yourself a smaller target, fire more accurately, or fight your way back to your feet if you’ve been knocked down or have fallen." He describes a high kneeling, low kneeling, seated and prone positions for shooting. An excerpt:
If your mobility has been compromised due to a leg injury, you may be relegated to shooting one-handed, as your other hand pushes off the ground to compensate for your wounded leg and propel your body away from the threat and/or behind cover. While this shooting position may occur naturally, being able to register accurate hits one-handed—while scooting across the ground, wounded—is as challenging as it sounds. As such, practicing from this awkward position is a must.

    Tehama County, where about 66,000 people live about 120 miles north of the state capital in Sacramento, is ending daytime patrol because employees keep leaving and salaries are comparatively low. 

    This could prove dangerous, as the county's most populated city of Red Bluff has a violent crime rate higher than around 97 percent of the country, according to Neighborhood Scout. There are about 9.79 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.

    During the 20th century, governments murdered over 200 million people. This figure excludes battle deaths from wars. The tables below are from my just-published article Guns Kill People, and Tyrants With Gun Monopolies Kill the Most, 25 Gonzaga Journal of International Law 29 (2021). The data cover 1900 to 1987 and are mainly based on the scholarship of the late University of Hawaii political science professor Rudolph J. Rummel. The few instances in which different figures are used are explained in my article.

    The tables below do not used the word "genocide," because that term, as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, is too narrow. At the insistence of Josef Stalin, the Genocide Convention applies to some mass murders by government (e.g., targeting racial, ethnic, or religious groups) but not to others (e.g., targeting victims for class warfare or ideological reasons). Hence, prof. Rummel coined the term "democide" to describe noncombat mass murders for any reason.

    As the tables indicate, mass murders are perpetrated by dictatorial regimes of various stripes. Communist regimes are far away the most murderous. The tables list 17 communist regimes that murdered at least 100,000 people. Overall, the communists murdered approximately 168,759,000 from 1900 to 1987.

    On the whole, the most-murderous fascist regimes proved to be less durable than their communist counterparts, so their killing sprees did not last as long. The 1900-87 murder count by fascist regimes was 27,848,000.

    Fascist regimes are those that were explicitly aligned with the political theories of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Mussolini had been a socialist, but he broke with the party because of its internationalist class perspective and its opposition to World War I. Mussolini recast the totalitarian side of (some) socialist ideology into a nationalist mold.

So, really, we should stop using the term communist and fascist and, instead, use the terms "international socialist" and "national socialist". The Democrats have become international socialists. Anyway, the author adds:

As detailed in my article and the citations therein, the overwhelming majority of the above murders were perpetrated against victims who had been assiduously disarmed by dictatorships before the killing began. The behavior and statements of mass-murdering regimes indicate that armed victims are a serious impediment to mass murder by government. As also detailed in the article, the historical record indicates that resistance by intended victims who do have arms can save many lives, even when the targeted groups lack the power to overthrow the regime.

VIDEO: "longhouse: Saws and Choppers"--Hill People Gear (33 min.)
A look at the advantages and disadvantages to saws versus axes, different type of saw blades, different types of ax heads and hafts, and what the author likes best for use in the field.

Prepping & Survival:  

  • "Throwsticks"--Functional Self-Defense. The author writes:
The throwsticks or kylie that Ben is making are awesome survival tools. They’re designed to fly straight and level, and you can throw them a solid 85 meters if not farther. The Australian Aborigines used them primarily for hunting, but they also doubled as close range striking weapons, and you could use them as a close range throwing weapon too.
First, find a safe place to construct your shelter. “Make sure it’s an area that will meet all of your needs, including shelter-building materials and a good signaling site so rescuers can find you,” Krebs says. Check for safety concerns. Are you in an avalanche path? Are there large dead branches or trees above or near you? Once you’ve settled on a location, figure out what kind of shelter you’re going to build.

The remainder of the article discusses a few different types of emergency/improvised shelters and what to do to attract the attention of rescuers.  

    Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)—Thyme is a natural source of iron and is found widely in culinary dishes all over the world. It was used by ancient Egyptians in the embalming process, and has long been believed to purify the body and environment.

    Another herb most flavorful in its dried state, thyme is found in many lamb, tomato, and egg dishes. Its natural expectorant properties make it excellent for throat or bronchial problems. Thyme is a natural antiseptic, and you can make a thyme infusion and gargle with it to coat a sore throat up to three times daily to reduce inflammation. Its antibiotic properties makes thyme a well favored herb in a first-aid kit—ancient doctors used thyme to coat bandages, and it is believed to have anti-fungal properties that assist in healing an infected or fungal toenail. In the event of a respiratory infection, you can make an infusion and then let the affected individual bend over the steaming thyme infusion and inhale. Traditional use of thyme included giving it to children at bedtime to help control bed wetting and nightmares. Tea is the easiest way to administer to children; if they are worried about the taste you can mix it with apple juice (half-and-half).
    If you look at a photograph of a squad of US Marines, you will see that everyone has the same uniform, weapons, optics, and load-bearing equipment (excluding special weapons like automatic rifles). This is partly due to logistical simplicity of the military buying a single piece of kit for everyone, and partly due to effectiveness on the battlefield. If you need to use your buddy’s weapon, you can because it’s exactly like yours. If you need to strip ammo and radios off of your buddy so he can be MEDEVAC’d, you know where everything is because your gear is set up the same way.

    For the Minuteman/prepared citizen, however, it is not always feasible to achieve this level of uniformity. This does not mean that the concept is discarded, just that we need to take a different approach when working with other volunteers in a team. In this article I will describe the advantages of standardization, how to approach this topic with your team, and a list of goals to strive for.

He goes on to discuss why standardization, to a reasonable degree, can be good; how to start your group on the path to standardization; and some standardization goals for a Minuteman type group (or, I would add, a security team) including standardizing on rifle ammunition and magazines, the contents of the kits each rifleman will carry (so no one forgets something critical), medical gear location, radios, certain consumables (like batteries), and clothing (to help prevent a friendly fire incident).
Although uniforms can be a big deal in a combat environment for identification purposes, a more important subset of that need can be one’s headgear, or more specifically, the silhouette of that headgear in a low light environment. In one Unit I served with, all team members were required to wear the same headgear on a patrol, whether it was a watch cap, patrol cap, or boonie hat. This was to help aid in identifying each other in low light.
  • Another from Mason Dixon Tactical: "Defense Logistics: Signaling The Community of Danger." Some non-radio means of signaling a community of an attack or other danger. His system uses an air horn and a flare. Each house or guard post will be assigned a number of blasts to make which can be used to locate where the trouble is at with the flares used to supplement at night or in low light conditions. From the article:
    The signal system works like this. Everyone who is tagged as a “Beacon” will be assigned a number of blasts and have a flare gun. When an attack takes place, the “Beacon” initiating the “Call” (we’ll call it Post #1) will initially give a long blast (example, 5 seconds) twice to get everyone’s attention. After waiting at least 30 seconds, the “Beacon” will then give the number of short blasts they are assigned (example, 3 blasts) twice, ten seconds apart.

    At that time, every “Beacon” down the line will repeat the same number of blasts (the number of blasts assigned to Post #1) to alert everyone in the “Beacon Chain”. Repeating it down the line is to assure the group that everyone will hear it, and everyone knows what number of blasts are assigned to what posts.

    If the attack takes place in a low or no light condition, the “Beacon” initiating (Post #1) will wait thirty more seconds, then fire a red flare from the flare pistol straight up in the air. At that time, the responding Defenders (from different areas) will fire a green flare into the air, acknowledging they know of the attack and are on the way.

He has some advice and tips as to the type of flare pistols, and using the items, so be sure to read the whole thing. 

    Influenza is hitting the United States unusually early and hard, resulting in the most hospitalizations at this point in the season in more than a decade and underscoring the potential for a perilous winter of respiratory viruses, according to federal health data released Friday.

    While flu season is usually between October and May, peaking in December and January, it’s arrived about six weeks earlier this year with uncharacteristically high illness. There have already been at least 880,000 cases of influenza illness, 6,900 hospitalizations and 360 flu-related deaths nationally, including one child, according to estimates released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Not since the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic has there been such a high burden of flu, a metric the CDC uses to estimate a season’s severity based on laboratory-confirmed cases, doctor visits, hospitalizations and deaths.

    • Related: "Ten Myths About the 1918 Flu Pandemic"--Smithsonian Magazine.
    • Related: "Flu comes from outer space, claim scientists"--The Guardian. The article relates that distinguished astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle, and his colleague at Cardiff university, Chandra Wickramasinghe, have noted that all major flu outbreaks since 1761, including the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, coincided with the 11-year solar maxima cycle, and suggest that influenza viruses may be from "dust deposited high in the atmosphere by passing comets being forced down to earth by energy generated by cooler patches on the sun's surface, known as sunspots." You can find out more about this theory at this panspermia website.

VIDEO: "Daylight Saving is a Disaster"--Amy Shira Teitel (12 min.)
Probably more than you wanted to know about the history of Daylight Savings Time.

News & Analysis:
    A recent survey of 1,000 hiring managers in the United States found that one in six, or about 16%, have been told to stop hiring white men.

    Additionally, 14% of hiring managers said they have also been told to deprioritize hiring white women.

    The survey, published by Resume Builder and Pollfish on Wednesday, found that 52% of hiring managers believe their company practices “reverse discrimination” – passing over members of racial and gender majorities in order to meet diversity benchmarks.

    In addition, the survey found that 48% of hiring managers have been asked to prioritize diversity over qualifications, and 53% believe their job will be in danger if they don’t hire enough diverse employees.
The first thing Meek’s neighbor John Antonelli noticed that morning was the black utility vehicle with blacked out windows blocking traffic in both directions on Columbia Pike. It was just before dawn on that brisk April day, and self-described police-vehicle historian Antonelli was about to grab a coffee at a Starbucks before embarking on his daily three-mile walk. He inched closer to get a better vantage, when he saw an olive-green Lenco BearCat G2, an armored tactical vehicle often employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other law-enforcement agencies. A few Arlington County cruisers surrounded the jaw-dropping scene, but all of the other vehicles were unmarked, including the BearCat. Antonelli counted at least 10 heavily armed personnel in the group. None bore anything identifying which agency was conducting the raid. After just 10 minutes, the operation inside the Siena Park apartment complex — a six-story, upscale building for D.C. professionals, with rents fetching about $2,000 to $3,000 a month — was over.

    Russia boasted at the time [the Poseidon was revealed in 2015] that Poseidon would be capable of destroying entire cities by triggering a tsunami.

    But on Thursday, U.S. sources told CNN they had observed the Belgorod preparing for a test - then leaving the testing area in the Arctic Sea, and returning to port without carrying out the trial.

    The failure to test the weapon was likely due to technical issues, it is believed. 

    'This can be seen as part of the bigger picture and Russia's recent military practice, sending ill-trained and under-equipped troops to Ukraine,' a Western diplomat told CNN. 

    'Russia's military industry is going through difficult times, and we can also see that Western sanctions on high-tech military goods are having an effect and must continue.' 

    Losing Kherson means any Russian assault on Odesa is now all-but impossible. It also means that Ukraine can now strike parts of Crimea - the crown jewel of his last invasion, in 2014 - with long-range artillery. Kyiv has already said it plans to take the peninsula back. 

    Russia is now thought to have taken up defensive positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro comprising three lines made up of trenches and canals, covered by artillery and backed by reinforcements from Crimea.

    Western officials briefing journalists last week said they do not expect Ukraine to begin an offensive across the Dnipro any time soon.

    Marines from Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade wrote a scathing letter to their regional governor, claiming they had lost 300 servicemen in a four-day massacre in Pavlivka thanks to the catastrophic planning of Generals Rustam Muradov and Zurab Akhmedov.

    The soldiers claimed Russian commanders were ‘hiding’ the mayhem in the Donetsk region and ‘playing down the number of losses for fear of being held responsible.
  • Interesting: "In the Early Days of World War II, Britain and France Planned to Bomb Russia" by Michael Peck, National Interest. Before Germany turned on the Soviet Union (or, as some argue, pre-emptively invaded the Soviet Union to prevent its planned secret attack on Germany), the two countries were nominally allies, sharing in the conquest and subjection of Poland and with the Soviet Union selling critical raw materials to Germany. From the article:
    ... In the early days of World War II, Britain and France planned to bomb Russian oil fields. The goal was to impede Hitler. The outcome would probably have helped Hitler win the war.

    The idea was foolish, but not irrational. By late 1939, Britain and France were convinced that Germany and Russia were already friends. Stalin had tried hard to form an anti-Nazi coalition before the war, only to meet such resistance and hesitation that he became convinced that the capitalists were plotting to embroil Germany and Russia in a mutually exhausting war while the West stayed on the sidelines.

    While London and Paris dithered over whether to ally with the Communists, Berlin had no such hesitation: on August 23, 1939, Germany and Russia signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Russia gained Eastern Poland and the Baltic states, a prospective breathing space to build up its military strength, and the prospect that Germany and the Western powers would exhaust themselves while Russia bided its strength.

    Yet the real winner was the Fuhrer. The treaty left the Third Reich free to gobble up Poland and Western Europe without fear of a second front in the East. Just as important, the Soviets agreed to supply vital raw materials – especially oil – to the Third Reich, keeping the German war economy running and breaching the Allied naval blockade that had proved so decisive in World War I.

    In Allied eyes, the Soviet Union had changed from Germany's nemesis into Germany's ally. So why not strike the Soviet Union and kill two birds with one stone? Perhaps there was also the frustration of the sitzkrieg, as Allied armies sat impotently behind the Maginot Line while the Germans overran Poland and Scandinavia. Bombing Russia must have seemed easier than confronting the German army on the battlefield.

    Thus was born Operation Pike. Flying from Allied bases in Iran and Syria, as well as neutral but anti-Soviet Turkey, more than a hundred British and French bombers would continuously attack Soviet oil fields in the Caucuses in a night strategic bombing campaign. This was more than idle planning. Unmarked British reconnaissance planes flying from Iraqi airfields actually photographed oil installations at Baku and Batumi in March 1940.
    The horrific toll of the Holocaust, with its crimes against humanity amid the state-sponsored mass murder campaign that killed six [sic: 3.5 to 4] million Jews and millions of others during World War II, has been scrutinized in numerous academic studies, books, films, and other works over decades.

    But one aspect of the extreme cruelty and suffering during this rock-bottom point of human history was never fully examined: Why did roughly 98% of women imprisoned at Nazi concentration camps experience amenorrhea—or the absence of menstruation—shortly after their arrival?

    In a new paper published in Social Science & Medicine, lead author Dr. Peggy J. Kleinplatz of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine suggests the sudden cessation of menstruation among Jewish women at concentration camps was too uniform to be effected only by trauma and malnutrition—a set of explanations readily accepted by the late 1940s and rarely investigated further.

    Her study, blending historical evidence and the testimony of Holocaust survivors, submits an additional hypothesis: Synthetic steroids were being administered in the daily rations given to female captives in a bid to stop their menstrual cycles and perhaps impair their ability to have children altogether.
  • "The Most Dangerous Post-Election Lie" by Rod Dreher. That lie, Dreher asserts, is the belief that Christians will be able to save themselves from persecution via politics. Quoting from Aaron Renn's discussion on the repudiation of pro-life advocacy in this election (my underline):

This is just more evidence that we live in what I called the negative world. Conservative Christians need to understand that the majority of the public simply does not agree with their social positions. This is one reason that the culture war approach is obsolete. This is going to be a painful adjustment for a lot of people who are used to thinking of themselves as a “moral majority.”

After quoting some more from Renn, Dreher adds:

Note that he points out that religious conservatism's interests and that of the "post-Christian, post-MAGA Republican Party" diverge. This is something that is very hard for older Christians to grasp -- I mean, the idea that politics are not the solution. Don't misread me (I mean, everybody misreads me, but I'm going to make another plea here): It's not an either/or. It's not either "throw yourself completely into politics" or "head for the hills." There are no hills to head to. We are stuck in this thing whether we want to be or not. Christians (and other traditionalists) have to do the best we can within political possibility, while AT THE SAME TIME preparing ourselves and our communities for dark and difficult days ahead. We have no choice.

This is why I believe that Christians need to look at the Jewish community as an example: generally pulling together against outside forces whatever the internal disagreements, the quickness to counter-attack and vilify enemies (even ruining them financially if necessary), making sure to have politicians under their thumbs and willing to do their bidding, the willingness to engage in lawfare to advance social positions. In other words, be more like Christ, who drove the money changers from the temple, than Paul, the long-suffering servant. 

    Amid record discontent around the economy, inflation, and education, the Republican Party has narrowly managed to stave off what many thought would be a record-breaking red wave.

    "This was a close call," said one Republican leader in Washington. "We were worried that we would achieve massive victories tonight, but we thankfully snatched defeat from the jaws of victory to achieve a much more proper and sensible red trickle, like the proper gentlemen we are."

    Some Republicans achieved major victories, which were largely ignored by party leadership due to the fact that those Republicans were loud and icky "MEGA-MAGA" culture warriors. "Ron DeSantis won by double digits, and frankly, we find that quite uncouth," said a D.C. consultant while holding up a glass of red trickle victory champagne. "Everyone knows the key to being a good Republican is to muddle your message and make it really squishy so no one knows what you stand for and everyone will like you. Duh!"

    Everyone in the room then golf-clapped politely.

    At publishing time, Republican strategists were researching ways to keep their power in D.C. without achieving so much power that they'd actually have to become compelling leaders.

Unfortunately, it wasn't even a trickle. At the time I write this, it appears that the Dems will, with the help of "independents" control the Senate and if Republicans do control the House, it will be by a very narrow margin. It appears that this was truly a bread and circuses type election with 64% of voters between the ages of 18 and 29, 68% of unmarried women voters, 83% of black voters, and 74% of Jewish voters voted for Democrats.

  • As Europe depopulates, we will probably see more of this: "Salto de Castro: Spanish village on sale for €260,000." The village, which sits in the mountains on the border between Spain and Portugal, includes "44 homes, a hotel, a church, a school, a municipal swimming pool and even a barracks building that used to house the civil guard."
  • "Virtue Über Alles" by Michael Walsh, The Pipeline. As Walsh observes, "For first time since the end of the Second World War, continental Europe is facing shortages: of food and, crucially, of energy." Walsh argues that Europe finds itself in this situation due to "prosperity, combined with virtue-signaling neo-Luddism." 
The dreadful toll of death and destruction of [World War II], combined with the success of European reconstruction under the Marshall Plan, which saved the devastated economies of western Europe, left Europe with two debilitating by-products: the rise of pacifism as an anti-nationalist force and the abjuration of war as a means of foreign policy; and a false sense of economic security, under which they were free to chase their own chimeras of "soft power" and "progressive" living without any heed to reality.
On last night’s Darkstream, I was asked if I could think of a single group of immigrants who genuinely made their new residence a better place for the previous residents. And the only group of whom I could think that truly fit the description was the Conquistadors.

The reason he says this is because, upon realizing that they had encountered a deeply evil society in thrall to a cult of mass murder, "[t]hey fought, desperately, to kill all they must, in order to save who they could, and wipe an abomination from the face of God’s Earth." Read the whole thing.

Chemicals that survive forever in normal water, such as PFOS and PFOA, can be broken down in supercritical water at a very high rate. If we get the conditions right, these recalcitrant molecules can be completely destroyed, leaving no intermediate products and yielding only harmless substances, such as carbon dioxide, water, and fluoride salts, which are often added to municipal water and toothpaste.

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