Bombs & Bants #140 (Streamed 8/28/2024)

 It amazing to think that this was the 140th episode:

VIDEO: "Bombs & Bants Episode 140" (40 min.)

Some Weekend Reading

Active Response Training has released a new Weekend Knowledge Dump. A few things that jumped out at me.

• First, he links to where you can download a free PDF of Stephen Wenger's 3rd Edition of Defensive Use of Firearms. There is also information on ordering a print copy of the book.
• Next up is a link to a PDF of a trauma guideline entitled "Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Injury Response Part 3: Medical Management of Radiation Exposure and Nuclear Events."
• An article from  W. Hock Hochheim on "Home Invaders At My Home!" He includes a good anecdote of when he and his wife were almost the victims of a home invasion, and also goes over the three most common types or tactics of home invasion. 

The only issues I had with the article was Hock's terminology that he defined at the beginning of the article. I'm sure that he intended it to make clear what he was talking about, but he did not use the common definitions of the terms; and I believe it would just add confusion down the road if someone were to adopt his definition of the terms and later used those terms and definitions when interacting with a police officer or prosecutor in describing the crime. 

 

The main issue I had was that he defined "burglary" as "[w]hen your residence or business is broken into and no one is at home or work, that is just a burglary NOT a robbery. Robbery is different." This is completely wrong. Burglary is entering an occupied building with the intent to commit a felony. In some jurisdictions it may only apply to residences, but I believe most jurisdictions extend it to include businesses or commercial buildings as well. Conversely, breaking into an unoccupied building would be breaking and entering. Also note that burglary is a separate crime from the theft, robbery, assault, kidnapping, murder, etc., that a criminal might do after entering the building. Finally, I would point out that robbery is theft accomplished by the use or threat of force (whether armed or unarmed) and does not require entry into a building--you can be robbed on a sidewalk or in a parking lot, for instance. Obviously, these are just common definitions and there might be differences between these and the specific legal elements required by a particular jurisdiction, so check you state and local laws if you want to know the elements or definitions used in a particular jurisdiction.

• An article on "Low Light Concerns – Normal Human Beings," which addresses the needs of a normal person (rather than law enforcement or military) for weapon mounted lights. As to incidents outside the home, the author notes that Tom Givens (Rangemaster Firearms Training Services), who has kept track of his students' armed force encounters, found that none of his students needed any sort of light because the incidents in which they were involved were almost all robberies--i.e., there was always some light because the criminal also needed the light to pick out and approach his targets. Turning to inside the home, the author turns to Claude Werner (The Tactical Professor) who keeps track of incidents of mistaken identity shooting; and while Werner recommends a light of some sort, he insists it should be a separate handheld light, not a weapon mounted light.
  
• An article entitled "Murder as measuring stick" that delves into the problem with using murder as a proxy for overall violent crime. The issue isn't over the short term, but over the long term as advances in medicine and the widespread use of cell phones to call emergency services has resulted in far fewer deaths relative to the number of incidents of violent crime. Thus, comparing murder rates between now and, say, the 1960s as a proxy of violent crime in the 1960s would be inappropriate. And it would be worse the longer the time scale. (Although he doesn't mention the book, I wonder if this is meant as a criticism of the methodology used by the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, who used murders as proxies for violence in past centuries). The author notes, for instance (footnote omitted):

Taking this into account, I would estimate that a murder today represents 4-5 times as much crime and disorder as a murder in 1960, and probably 10 times as much as a medieval murder, with the early 20th century somewhere in between. As such, today’s murder rate being comparable to that of 1960 represents a colossal failure of justice, with overall crime and disorder being several times higher than it was two generations ago.  

Using murder as a proxy for violent crime also fails when comparing between cultures. Again, by way of example, although the U.S. has a much higher murder rate than other industrialized countries (although I would note that this is only when considering the largest population counties), the article points out:

But international victim surveys with a consistent methodology show the US to have similar overall crime rates as Canada or Europe. The major reasons for the high American murder rate are probably Americans using highly-lethal guns (rather than knives or fists) and blacks (who are responsible for more than half of US murders) being more likely to commit impulsive murders rather than property crimes.

• Finally, Greg links to the "Before Mace, a Hatpin Was an Unescorted Lady’s Best Defense" article I had posted about a few days ago.
  

Wells Fargo Employee Died At Her Desk And No One Noticed

A woman working at a Tempe Wells Fargo office died at her desk and no one noticed for four days, according to the news report below. The 60-year old woman apparently clocked in on this past Friday morning, but no one realized she was dead until sometime Tuesday.

VIDEO: "Worker dead at Wells Fargo desk for 4 days"
12 News (3 min.)

And while we are on the subject of uncaring co-workers, Fox News reports: "Co-workers leave Colorado man behind on mountain summit during office retreat." The article begins:

 

    An injured Colorado man weathered a storm and survived a night alone on a mountain after his co-workers left him behind during an office retreat, rescue officials said Sunday.

    The man was part of a group of 15 co-workers who had set off to summit Mount Shavano on Friday, the Chaffee County Search and Rescue South said.

    "In what might cause some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks, one member of their party was left to complete his final summit push alone," the agency said.

    The male hiker, who was wearing all black, reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. and became disoriented as he began his descent. He found that belongings left in the boulder field to mark the path for the descent had been picked up by the previous group as they hiked down.

His co-workers knew that he was having difficulties finding the trail in the early afternoon, but did not bother to contact search and rescue until 9 pm. By that time, a storm had blown in and search and rescue was unable to reach the summit. 

    The following morning, the man regained enough cell service to call 911 for help. He was found above the North Fork drainage in a gully below Esprit Point.

    The man told rescuers that he had become disoriented and fell at least 20 times during his attempt to descend alone. He said that after his last fall, he was unable to get up.

    "This hiker was phenomenally lucky to have regained cell service when he did, and to still have enough consciousness and wherewithal to call 911," rescuers said. "Though he was located in a tertiary search area, it would have been some time before teams made it to that location on their own."

They probably took his red stapler while he was stuck on the mountain.

The Cost Of Illegal Immigration

The New York Post reports on "How the migrant crisis drained $150 billion from taxpayers in a single year." The article relates: "Last year, US taxpayers shelled out some $150 billion in government services and support to help the 20 million illegal migrants in the country, according to a study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)," most of which was borne by state and local governments. The highest spending state, no surprise, was California, which spent $30.9 billion on illegals. 

    FAIR's estimates are higher than what are reported from other sources, but that is because they include costs ignored by other estimates. 

    While most states’ accounts of migrant expenses focus on emergency housing and aid, FAIR’s assessment factored in the full breadth of state services they draw on while in the US.

    Services like education, medical expenses, law enforcement, legal costs and welfare were prominent factors FAIR looked at in its study.

    Those, coupled with the differences in tax revenue compared to expenses, helped contribute to the discrepancies between state reporting and the estimated true cost of hosting migrants.

    FAIR also included the costs of US-born children of illegal immigrants — something many reports don’t factor in.

    “As long as we keep allowing millions of people to come into the country illegally every year, it’s obviously going to continue to increase the costs,” FAIR spokesperson Ira Mehlman told The Post.

    “This seems to be just sort of basic, common sense. If you were going to be bringing in lots and lots of people, many of them working off the books for very low wages, that there are going to be enormous social costs incurred,” he added.

    While on this topic, be sure to check out John Wilder's piece at his Wilder Wealthy & Wise blog on "How Invaders Are Looting Your 401k." An excerpt:

    On Monday’s post I gave an example of propaganda, and how it is used to manipulate public opinion.  The example I chose was the phrase “Diversity is our Strength™” which, when viewed from the standpoint of what diversity really gives us, is Orwellian doublespeak.  Diversity causes problems, so much so that journalist Michael Yon has started calling them what might be more apt:  invaders.

    One of the problems it causes is related to resources.  While not every invader (legal or illegal) is a net cost to the country, most are.  A recent study by the House Homeland Security Commission (LINK) showed that immigrants (just the illegal variety) cost taxpayers at least $720 billion since Biden took office, and have contributed no more than $120 billion in taxes at all levels, for a net loss of $600 billion dollars.

    That’s a huge tax burden, because it assumes that they individual taxpayer is picking up the cost.  So, what kind of costs are in this number?

•     Housing
•     Welfare
•     Schools
•     Police
•     Transport
•     Impacts on Private Property on the Border

    If you assume only 10,000,000 invaders, well, that’s a stunning $60,000 per invader, or for a familia of four, nearly a quarter million dollars.  This gives the term “Anchor Baby” a new meaning, since they are literally anchors on our economy, each one holding us back to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, with a net negative lifetime cost that could be in the millions.

    But we know the answer of how many invaders are devastating our country is higher, and the cost is much higher than the $720,000,000,000 over four years.  On one side, this money is going to support the invaders.  But this is money that should have been spent on our elderly, our veterans, our infrastructure, and our children.  Nearly every single invader, man, woman, or child, is making the Unites States a poorer nation and is taking from those heritage Americans who have the greatest needs.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Related:

• "Group of 20 migrants attempted to enter California school bus picking up students: officials"--New York Post. More on this story here.
  
• "Venezuelan migrant gang takes over apartment complex in Aurora"--Daily Mail. Most brandishing weapons, including a scoped rifle.
• "CalFIRE confirms that illegals are setting wildfires out in San Diego's back country"--American Thinker. The article notes that many of the fires are intentionally set: either to destroy Border Patrol vehicles, or, conversely, to attract the Border Patrol so that the illegals can then take advantage of the asylum process and be transported to a destination of their choice.
  
• "Florida mom left with ‘catastrophic’ injuries when she, baby are struck by migrant Amazon driver who fled"--New York Post. The driver, "Parra-Ovalles, 45, entered the US on a tourist visa in 2019, which expired in 2021, Homeland Security sources told The Post." "She was granted Temporary Protected Status in 2021, which allowed her apply for a work permit."
  

Crooks' Bag Of Holding

In case you haven't played Dungeons & Dragons, a "bag of holding" is a magical bag that appears of normal size from the outside, but is much larger on the inside. Sort of like how Dr. Who's Tardis is bigger on the inside. 

    That is apparently what Trump's would-be assassin must have had. The FBI has released photographs related to their investigation including the photograph above supposedly showing Crooks' rifle next to the bag that he used to smuggle it into the area. I don't know about you, but to me it appears that even broken down, the upper is far too long to have been fully concealed in the bag. Using another photograph in the article showing the assembled rifle next to a ruler, it appears that the upper was about 25 inches in length.

Some Second Amendment News

•  "Fifth Circuit Affirms Illegal Aliens Do Not Have Second Amendment Rights"--Breitbart. The court held that "the phrase ‘the people’ in the Second Amendment does not include aliens unlawfully present in the United States."
• "Massachusetts high court strikes down switchblade ban"--Reuters. The state had argued that knives were not "arms" under the Second Amendment. A unanimous Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court disagreed noting that that knives can be used by someone for offensive or defensive purposes during a confrontation.
• "Hawaii Second Amendment Rights Advocates Openly Carry Swords, Battle-Axes In Public To Celebrate New Law"--Daily Caller. The new law allows for the open carry of deadly weapons in public.
  

Acute Stress Inoculation For Defensive Shooting

An interesting article at the MagLife blog on "Stress Inoculation: Breathing and Heart Rate Matters." The issue is the acute stress that a person experiences in a self-defense encounter. The author observes that "[s]tress inoculation starts with conditioning your body and mind to function with an elevated heart rate and breathing." Thus, he recommends physical exertion on the shooting range (where allowed) and participating in dynamic competitions such as IDPA, USPSA, or IPSC. But the primary suggestion he has is adapting and using a "suicide" drill into your practice:

If you’ve ever played basketball, you’re familiar with “suicides.” This conditioning drill requires players to start at one baseline, sprint to the free throw line, and then back to the baseline. Next, they sprint to the half-court and back to the baseline, followed by the opposing free-throw line, which goes back to the baseline, and so on. This conditioning drill translates nicely into a shooting regimen. For example, with a target set up downrange:

•     Start at the 50-yard line and sprint to target.
•     Sprint to the 25-yard line, draw, and fire two rounds on target.
•     Holster and sprint to the target and back to the 20-yard line. Draw and shoot two more rounds.
•     Holster and sprint to the target and back to the 15-yard line. Draw and shoot two more rounds.
•     Continue this routine in five-yard increments until the five-yard line is reached.

You can complete the drill at the five-yard line, having sprinted around 200 yards. If you work in reverse back to the 25-yard line, you’ll have covered nearly a quarter mile. You can pace this drill as hard as you want and tailor distances and speeds. If inclined, this drill can be done in full gear, e.g., plate carrier, duty belt, etc. However, use good judgment and listen to your body. This drill has an imaginative component to it. You can induce grip fatigue by carrying plates or dumbbells in your hands (I use old brake rotors) between shooting stages or conduct push-ups, burpees, or other exercises at each five-yard increment. This drill involves physical exertion, an elevated heart rate and breathing, fatigue, and some critical thinking with shooting mechanics and shot placement.

If you can't do these at a shooting range, he notes that you might be able to do this at home or other locations using an airsoft pistol, dedicated dryfire laser system, or an unloaded firearm.

Give A Man A Hammer: Pompeo Urges Using Military Against Cartels

Former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo has written an editorial published in the New York Post calling for Trump, if elected, to use the military against the Mexican drug cartels. 

    He starts off by calling for the border wall to be completed, and the deployment of "military resources under NORTHCOM’s command to finish the border wall efficiently, and we should keep those resources there until the flow of migrants has been meaningfully reduced." We've been off and on at war with Mexico ever since the two countries began to share borders, so a military presence at the border makes sense so long as they also have the authority to use force against anyone trying to sneak into the United States.

    "Next," he continues, "we should focus our energy on degrading and destroying the primary cause of illegal immigration: transnational drug cartels that help terrorists cross into our country undetected, manufacture and distribute poisonous drugs that kill our citizens, and drive an immigration crisis that has destabilized our nation." 

    That is one of the dumbest things a politician has ever said. The cartels may be making money off illegal immigration through operating protection rackets, but the primary cause of illegal immigration are: industries and businesses (including farmers and construction companies) that want the cheap labor; NGOs (including many churches) that encourage and assist illegal aliens; and federal agencies and state and local governments that, at best, turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, or, at worst, actively encourage it through offering freebies to illegals. Unless we eliminate benefits and legal protections for illegals, and crack down on the people and organizations employing illegals or otherwise assisting them--including heavy fines and prison time--a focus on the border will ultimately do nothing. Moreover, a big draw for illegals is the probability that they can eventually get a work permit if not citizenship. We need to close the doors on almost all immigration--legal and illegal--just as we did in the 1920s.

    Because of the widespread control and influence of the cartels, Pompeo also believes that we will need more foreign entanglements. He states:

    While military action against the cartels may seem appealing, these facts mean that precision strikes and joint operations alone are not enough to take them down.  

    We must establish a new status quo, one based on the principle of reciprocity.  

    If any country, be it Mexico or otherwise, stands with us in fighting back against dangers that threaten our homeland, then we should stand with them and support them in every way possible.

    We should engage in joint military operations, targeted strikes, intelligence sharing, and dynamic training programs with such allies.

This will make the U.S. even more popular among the people in Latin America as it will inevitably lead, as history shows, to the U.S. supporting dictators so long as those dictators pay lip service to fighting cartels.

     "Finally," he concludes, "we should strongly consider officially designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations." I predict that if the cartels are designated foreign terrorist organizations, they will become foreign terrorist organizations. And they will be operating within the United States.

    To sum up, then, as the brush wars in the Middle-East wind down together with the public appetite for such wars, we need (according to Pompeo) to start some closer to home. Or, as may be more likely, at home.

Safe And Effective News #2

• "All-Cause Deaths Are Surging Among Covid-Vaxxed, Study Warns"--Slay News. Reporting on a study published in Microorganisms that examined data on excess deaths and "found all-cause death risks to be even higher for those vaccinated with one and two doses compared to the unvaccinated and that the booster doses were ineffective," as well as "a slight but statistically significant loss of life expectancy for those vaccinated with 2 or 3/4 doses."
• "US and UK all-cause cumulative excess mortality graphs clearly show that our interventions were counterproductive"--Steve Kirsch's Newsletter. 

    This article shows you graphs which are monotonically increasing; this means all our interventions either were useless or made things worse.

    My estimate is that the COVID shots killed around 1 person per 1,000 doses. So around 650,000 Americans lost their lives to the shots.

    The cure was worse than the disease.

• "Record-level data from Czech Republic FOIA proves that the Moderna vaccines increased all-cause mortality by over 30% (and the Pfizer vaccines weren't safe either)"--Steve Kirsch's Newsletter.
• "My battle for the truth about Australia’s spiralling death rate" by Senator Ralph Babet, The Conservative Woman. 

Since 2021, more people have been dying than expected in our nation. You’d have to go back to the horrors of the Second World War to find as many excess Australian deaths as we experienced in 2022. The phenomenon of excess mortality has continued into 2024.

• "Top virologist says long covid is real – and it’s caused by the vaccine"--The Conservative Woman.
• "Army Admits Link Between COVID Vaccine and Soldier’s Heart Condition"--Legal Insurrection.
• "Explosive Study Once Removed by Lancet within 24 Hours, Now Peer-Reviewed and Public: Reveals 74% of Deaths Directly Linked to COVID-19 Shot"--The Gateway Pundit.
  

The study, titled “A Systematic Review of Autopsy Findings in Deaths After COVID-19 Vaccination,” analyzed 325 autopsy cases and found that a staggering 73.9% of deaths were either directly due to or significantly contributed to by the COVID-19 vaccination.

Hatpins and Self Defense

Atlas Obscura has an article sure to interest the history buff, particularly those who are also interested in self-defense topics. The article is: "Before Mace, a Hatpin Was an Unescorted Lady’s Best Defense." Between the 1880s and early 1920s, large elaborate hats and large elaborate hair styles were the fashion for women. And to keep the large hats on the piles of hair required a tool: hatpins. In addition, as the article relates:

This period also saw more women were walking alone or in unaccompanied groups, which some men found either morally affronting or desperately alluring. Unchaperoned women began to experience sexual harassment on the street or on public transportation more than ever before. But, for “perhaps the only time in American history,” writes Kerry Segrave, in The Hatpin Menace: American Women Armed and Fashionable, 1887–1920, “virtually all American women went out and about armed with a deadly (though legal) weapon.” That weapon attached their hats to their hair—and it was so effective that within a decade, proposed legislation to curb these accessories to assault had bubbled up across the United States.

As the article recounts, the hatpins were notorious for inflicting scratches and pokes on passengers on crowded public transport or venues, but women also found them useful for fending off "mashers" or otherwise protecting their person. 

... In Chicago, in 1910, a woman wrote this letter protesting potential legislation: “I always feel safe going home late at night with a hatpin available for protection. Before leaving a streetcar, I always carry a hatpin ready in my hand until I am safe within the door of my house.” She added: “Thousands of other women undoubtedly can speak from their experience of how a stout hatpin has been an effective defence in times of danger.” ...

And efforts to legislatively restrict hat pins were met with fierce opposition from women. Rather, it was changing fashion and laws protecting migratory birds (and their feathers) that spelled the end of the large hats and their accompanying hatpins.

You Are Here

     Civilizations may last for centuries and be extremely eventful; Imperial Rome is a prime example.

    But autumn ends, and a civilization becomes a culture gone frozen in its brains and heart, and its finale is anything but grand. We are now far into what the Chinese called the period of contending states, and the collapse of Caesarism. 

    In such a period, politics becomes an arena of competing generals and plutocrats, under a dummy ruler chosen for low intelligence and complete moral plasticity, who amuses himself and keeps the masses distracted from their troubles with bread, circuses, and brushfire-wars. (This is the time of all times when a culture should unite — and the time when such a thing has become impossible.) Technology flourishes (the late Romans were first-class engineers) but science disintegrates into a welter of competing, grandiosely trivial hypotheses which supersede each other almost weekly and veer more and more markedly toward the occult. 

    Among the masses there arises a "second religiousness" in which nobody actually believes; an attempt is made to buttress this by syncretism, the wrenching out of context of religious forms from other cultures, such as the Indian, without the faintest hope of knowing what they mean. This process, too, leads inevitably towards a revival of the occult, and here science and religion overlap, to the benefit of neither. Economic inequity, instability and wretchedness become endemic on a hitherto unprecedented scale; the highest buildings ever erected by the Classical culture were the tenements of the Imperial Roman slums, crammed to bursting point with freed and runaway slaves, bankrupts, and deposed petty kings and other political refugees.

From Probapossible Prolegomena to Ideareal History by James Blish (1978) (quoted at Atomic Rockets).

Boeing, Boeing, Gone

I have mentioned a couple time in posts and in responding to comments that I believed one of the issues facing Boeing as to the Starliner program is that Boeing was too wed to cost-plus contracting. I came across a May 6, 2024, article by Eric Berger at Ars Technica that points out the same issue. The article is "The surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all," and in it Berger observes:

    ... Boeing's space division had never won a large fixed-price contract. Its leaders were used to operating in a cost-plus environment, in which Boeing could bill the government for all of its expenses and earn a fee. Cost overruns and delays were not the company's problem—they were NASA's. Now Boeing had to deliver a flyable spacecraft for a firm, fixed price.

    Boeing struggled to adjust to this environment. Regarding complicated space projects, Boeing was used to spending other people's money. Now, every penny spent on Starliner meant one less penny in profit (or, ultimately, greater losses). This meant that Boeing allocated fewer resources to Starliner than it needed to thrive.

Berger later concluded:

In hindsight, it seems obvious that the strain of operating in a fixed-price environment was the fundamental cause of many of Boeing's struggles with Starliner and similar government procurement programs—so much so that the company's Defense, Space, & Security division is unlikely to participate in fixed-price competitions any longer. In 2023, the company's chief executive said Boeing would "never do them again."

But Boeing's size also worked against it. For instance:

    There was no single flight software team at Boeing. The responsibilities were spread out. A team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida handled the ground systems software, which kept Starliner healthy during ground tests and the countdown until the final minutes before liftoff. Separately, a team at Boeing's facilities in Houston near Johnson Space Center managed the flight software for when the vehicle took off.

    Neither team trusted one another, however. When the ground software team would visit their colleagues in Texas, and vice versa, the interactions were limited. The two teams ended up operating mostly in silos, not really sharing their work with one another. The Florida software team came to believe that the Texas team working on flight software had fallen behind but didn't want to acknowledge it. (A Boeing spokesperson denied there was any such friction.)

    In a fixed-price contract, a company gets paid when it achieves certain milestones. Complete a software review? Earn a payment. Prove to NASA that you've built a spacecraft component you said you would? Earn a payment. This kind of contract structure naturally incentivized managers to reach milestones.

    The problem is that while a company might do something that unlocks a payment, the underlying work may not actually be complete. It's a bit like students copying homework assignments throughout the semester. They get good grades but haven't done all of the learning necessary to understand the material. This is only discovered during a final exam in class. Essentially, then, Boeing kept carrying technical debt forward so that additional work was lumped onto the final milestones.

The result of this is that Boeing never ran integrated, end-to-end tests of the software for the entire planned 48-hour initial unmanned test flight. Consequently:

    Due to a software error, the spacecraft captured the wrong "mission elapsed time" from its Atlas V launch vehicle—it was supposed to pick up this time during the terminal phase of the countdown, but instead, it grabbed data 11 hours off of the correct time. This led to a delayed push to reach orbit and caused the vehicle's thrusters to expend too much fuel. As a result, Starliner did not dock with the International Space Station.

    The second error, caught and fixed just a few hours before the vehicle returned to Earth through the atmosphere, was a software mapping error that would have caused thrusters on Starliner's service module to fire incorrectly. This could have caused Starliner's service module and crew capsule to collide. Senior NASA officials would later declare the mission a "high visibility close call," or very nearly a catastrophic failure.

Problems also arose with the propulsion system, which Berger partially blames on a rocky relationship between Boeing and the propulsion subcontractor, Aerojet Rocketdyne.

    It's an interesting article, and all the more tragic because, being written in May 2024 before the launch of the crewed test mission, Berger seemed at least hopeful that Boeing had overcome its problems and would finally have a successful mission. But instead, there have been more propulsion and software issues such that NASA did not trust the Starliner capsule to safely return its astronauts to Earth and decided that they will now return on a SpaceX craft. 

Enjoying Cooler Weather?

We finally broke out of the 100+ F (38+ C) weather a couple of weeks to more mild days in the 90s (32+ C). But these past few days have been unseasonably cool--yesterday, for instance, was 10 degrees less than normal for this time per year. It is a welcome change, although it may presage an early fall. But SW Idaho is not the only place experiencing cooler weather. The New Scientist reported on August 19: "Part of the Atlantic is cooling at record speed and nobody knows why." From the lede:

Over the past three months, the shift from hot to cool temperatures in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean has happened at record speed. This emerging “Atlantic Niña” pattern comes just ahead of an expected transition to a cooler La Niña in the Pacific Ocean, and these back-to-back events could have ripple effects on weather worldwide.

The article continues:

    The swing towards cooler temperatures in both oceans is a welcome change after more than a year of record heat at land and sea, largely driven by the rise in greenhouse gas emissions and a warm El Niño pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean that developed in mid-2023.

    “We are starting to see that the global mean ocean temperatures are going down a bit,” says Pedro DiNezio at the University of Colorado Boulder. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), global sea surface temperatures this past July were slightly cooler than in July 2023 – ending a 15-month streak of record-high average ocean temperatures.

The article also lists some of the possible results of the interaction between the two ocean patterns:

    The two potential La Niñas are likely to influence weather patterns around the world due to their effects on temperature and humidity. A Pacific La Niña is generally associated with dry weather in the western US and wet weather in East Africa, while an Atlantic Niña tends to reduce precipitation in Africa’s Sahel region and boost it in parts of Brazil. The two La Niñas could also have opposing influences on the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season: the Pacific La Niña is expected to increase the likelihood of Atlantic hurricanes when it arrives in September, but the Atlantic La Niña may weaken certain conditions, such as atmospheric wave activity, required for hurricanes to form.

    The cycles could also influence each other directly. Exactly how is challenging to predict, but there is reason to think the Atlantic La Niña could delay the development of La Niña in the Pacific, slowing its cooling effects across the global climate, says McPhaden. “There could be a tug of war between the Pacific trying to cool itself and the Atlantic trying to warm it.”

Meanwhile, according to CBS, "California experiences rare August snowfall in Sierra Nevada Mountains near Mammoth."

VIDEO Short: "Assassinations Are The New Normal"

Whatifalthist warns that with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, we have entered a period where assassinations will be the new normal. 

VIDEO: "Assassinations are the New Normal"--Whatifalthist (1 min.)

Related (?): "How Mike Lynch's co-defendant in US fraud trial died within hours of him after the ultra-marathon runner was fatally struck by a Vauxhall Corsa"--Daily Mail.

The Enrichment Report #3

A selection of articles demonstrating how countries, local communities, individuals and businesses benefit from immigration and diversity:

• "Target’s sales bounced back after closing crime-prone stores — and other chains could do the same"--New York Post.
  
• "Exclusive | Denver Tren de Aragua gang violence spills over into Aurora, Colorado"--New York Post. A Venezuelan gang.
• "DoorDash and Uber Eats infiltrated by Venezuelan migrants who are illegally showing up at your door"--Daily Mail.

    Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants are illegally working as food delivery drivers across America, DailyMail.com can reveal, showing up to your door under names and identities that don't belong to them.

    The troubling development is a consequence of the one million Venezuelan citizens who have flooded into the US, largely illegally, during President Joe Biden's time in office, with many entering through the US-Mexico border.

    It raises huge concerns about the safety of the home delivery apps and the consumer's ability to trust who is actually delivering food to their home and family - with customers' personal information potentially placed in the hands of dangerous street gangs.

• "Immigrant hotel owners say NYC bill that bans outsourcing jobs would ‘destroy’ their American Dream"--New York Post. The bill would require hotels to be licensed and restrict their ability to "outsource" labor. The intent of the bill is to crack down on crime and sex trafficking. Be sure to read some of the comments to the article.
• Daily Turkic on X: "Kurdish immigrants in Stoke, UK, have declared independence and are expelling locals. You can hear them speaking Kurdish."
• "Exclusive | Principal of NYC school that faced turmoil over rampant antisemitism is being removed, replaced with Muslim educator"--New York Post. That'll fix everything. 
• "Cars are set on fire and police officer injured by explosion next to French synagogue in 'clear criminal attack'"--Daily Mail.
• "Female tourist, 29, found naked and stabbed to death 'by Tinder date' on paradise island Mauritius 'had her tongue cut out so she could not call for help'"--Daily Mail. Russian woman mutilated and killed by local with whom she had a fling. 
• "Staten Island man, 62, attacked by mob of teens during his nightly walk, suspects arrested: ‘I no longer want to live here’"--New York Post.
  

Update on the German Diversity Festival Stabbing

“Islamic State claimed responsibility Saturday for a knife attack at a festival in Germany that left three people dead and eight hurt,” reports the New York Post. Although authorities had arrested a couple suspects--including one arrested at a refugee center--the one believed to have been the actual stabber has been identified as 26-year-old Issa Al H., an Syrian asylum seeker who has been under a deportation order since 2023. But, according to Breitbart, "following his deportation order, Issa Al H. disappeared from his residence in the Western German city of Paderborn. He re-appeared several months later, but rather than removing him, he was reportedly granted 'subsidiary protection, for people from countries with civil wars and transferred to a refugee centre in Solingen, where Friday’s attack took place." Another example of the German government favoring refugees over the German people.

DEI In Action: Boeing Astronauts To Return On SpaceX

The wait is over. NASA officials unanimously decided that it was not safe to return the Boeing Starliner astronauts to Earth using the Starliner capsule. Instead, the pair will be returning on a SpaceX Dragon capsule in February 2025. Unfortunately, this means that to make room for the two, the crew coming up on the SpaceX craft will be reduced from 4 to 2.

Boeing has learned a lesson from the whole experience: they will never do another fixed price development contract. Apparently things are too different and difficult outside the cost-plus contracting world. Keep in mind that Boeing received twice as much money as SpaceX to accomplish the same thing and has yet to have a successful mission while SpaceX has been operating crewed craft for years. 

Cultural Enrichment At German “Festival of Diversity”

The Guardian is reporting that "Three killed and four seriously injured at diversity festival in Germany." The article reports:

    Three people have been killed and four are seriously wounded, German police have said, after an attack at a festival in the city of Solingen in the country’s west.

    An earlier report from German news agency dpa cited unidentified police sources as saying the weapon was believed to be a knife.

    No one has been arrested. The festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday.

Most news outlets are simply describing the festival as a "festival" or "street party," but the New York Post notes that "[t]he 'Festival of Diversity,' marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics." The Post also reported that the perpetrator was on the run. Deutsche Welle has additional details about the incident, but no description of the suspect. In fact, almost no one is providing a description. Times Now News, however, relates: "Witnesses described the suspect as an 'Arabic man,' though he remains unidentified and at large."

VIDEO: "Was Hitler far-right or far-left?"

A short video from PragurU explaining that while it is wrong to characterize Hitler as right-wing (he was a socialist, after all, and hated capitalism), he wasn't entirely left-wing either because he divided the world by race rather than class, as was the case with the Marxists of the time (although the video notes that Leftists--at least in the West--have turned to using race to categorize the world over the past couple of decades). 

    I disagree that Hitler could not be wholly leftist because of his racial theories. Other thinkers of the day that are considered leftist--e.g., the Frankfurt School and Antonio Gramsci--had moved away from the standard Marxist class struggle to adopt other theories of struggle or oppression (e.g., critical theory and cultural hegemony, respectively); and the Italian fascists and German national socialists should be seen as part of this same exploration of different theories of struggle outside of the traditional Marxist paradigm of inter-class conflict. The fact that the modern Left has embraced racism against whites and, more recently, Jews, in their quest to produce a utopia merely underscores the fact that racism is not incompatible with Leftist thinking. Hitler may not have been a communist, but he clearly was otherwise a socialist and in favor of big government interjecting itself into every nook and cranny of a person's life--i.e., the very definition of far-left.

VIDEO: "Was Hitler far-right or far-left?"
PragerU Shorts (2 min.)

Video Review of Lithuanian MRE

A couple weeks ago I had linked to a video review of a U.S. Army LRP meal from the 1970s or '80s. The same channel has a new video up reviewing a modern Lithuanian MRE-style ration packet:

VIDEO: "Lithuanian MRE - Beef Stew w. Vegetables - Very Fresh"
The Cosmic Freight Train (21 min.)

Federal Court Tosses Auto Weapon Charges On 2nd Amendment Grounds

Shooting News Weekly reports that "District Court Tosses Machine Gun Possession Charge, Rules They’re ‘Bearable Arms’." 

District Judge John Broomes ruled that the the government failed to meet its burdern [sic] under Bruen and Rahimi to show historical analogues for banning the kind of machine guns possessed by the defendant (a converted AR platform rifle and a GLOCK switch-equipped pistol). In fact, it doesn’t sound like they tried very hard.

Indeed, the government has barely tried to meet that burden. And the Supreme Court has indicated that the Bruen analysis is not merely a suggestion.

Ouch.

Importantly, this decision says little about what the government might prove in some future case. Rather, under Bruen’s framework for evaluating Second Amendment challenges, it is the government’s burden to identify a historical analog to the restrictions challenged in this case. This the government has failed to do. The court expresses no opinion as to whether the government could, in some other case, meet its burden to show a historically analogous restriction that would justify [18 U.S.C.] § 922.

In fact, the district court's reasoning is in line with the reasoning of United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939), which upheld restrictions under the NFA on short barreled shotguns only because they were not weapons that would used by a militia or for the common defense. In my opinion, under the reasoning of Miller, the NFA restrictions on firearms should never have been held Constitutional (other than for short barreled shotguns). While Miller has been used to support the theory that the 2nd Amendment only provided for a collective right to weapons (see, e.g., United States v. Neal, No. 20 CR 335 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 7, 2024)), that was not at issue before the Miller court. Rather, the issue in Miller had to do with the type of weapon: whether it was something that would be used by a militia or in the common defense. A point brought up in D.C. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 622 (2008).

    It is also notable, when reading the district court's decision, that the court's reasoning revolves around the distinction between possession of a restricted weapon and what one does with the weapon. This is because the historical examples cited by the government concerned cases where a person both was carrying a dangerous and unusual weapon, and going about terrorizing the public with it; whereas the defendant before the court had only been charged with possession.

U.S. Gov't: Highly Fluoridated Drinking Water Bad For Pregnant Women

That fluoridated drinking water posed a health risk was a long standing conspiracy theory poo-pooed by NPCs everywhere. But then, as I wrote about in May of this year, a study was released that linked consumption of fluoridated water by pregnant women to increased odds of having a child with a neurobehavioral issue--including anxiety, emotional control, and headaches--by the time their infant turned three. 

    News outlets are now reporting on another study that showed deleterious neurological effects from pregnant women consuming fluoridated water. The New York Post reports that "Fluoride in drinking water at twice the recommended limit is linked to lower IQ in kids: US government report." From the article:

    The long-awaited report released Wednesday comes from the National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It summarizes a review of studies, conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico, that concludes that drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is consistently associated with lower IQs in kids.

    The report did not try to quantify exactly how many IQ points might be lost at different levels of fluoride exposure. But some of the studies reviewed in the report suggested IQ was 2 to 5 points lower in children who’d had higher exposures.

So readers won't be alarmed, the article notes that "[s]ince 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water, and for five decades before the recommended upper range was 1.2. The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5." But it nevertheless points out that a relative small number of people live in areas where naturally occurring fluoride in the water raises the level above the 1.5 mg/l level. 

    In addition, "[t]he 324-page report did not reach a conclusion about the risks of lower levels of fluoride, saying more study is needed. It also did not answer what high levels of fluoride might do to adults."

• See also, "Bombshell government report says high levels of fluoride in water is linked to low IQ in children - as map reveals counties at risk"--Daily Mail. 
  

The Enrichment Report #2

A selection of articles that demonstrate how countries, local communities, and businesses benefit from immigration and diversity:

• "California moves ahead with $0 downpayment 'loans' for new homes for illegal immigrants"--Post Millennial.
  
• "Copper thieves caught on camera 'risking death' to steal utility lines in North Texas"--WFFA News.
• "Florida sheriffs break up South American theft ring targeting Asian Americans"--The Center Square.
• "I was fired from IBM because I'm a white man - how diversity targets ruined my career"--Daily Mail. He's now suing IBM.
  
• "Breitbart Business Digest: U.S. Native-Born Workers Work More Intensively Than Immigrants"--Breitbart.
• "Nolte: Hollywood Sold Its Soul to China, Then the Devil Tricked Them"--Breitbart.
• "This Genteel Country Is Now the Rape Capital of Europe"--PJ Media. An article about the UK.
• "Poland allows border guards to shoot at migrants"--RT World News. The result of violent attacks on the border guards by mobs of Middle-Eastern and African immigrants wanting to enter Poland. The guards are now allowed to shoot back when attacked.
• "Former MMA fighter turned anti-gun advocate Lumumba Sayers 'shoots and kills man' at Colorado pool party"--Daily Mail.
  
• "The New York Times Admits that the Biden Regime is Accelerating Citizenship Pathways for Immigrants In Order To Rig 2024 Election"--Big League Politics.
• "Female Fox journalist harassed and chased by migrants while reporting outside shelter"--Daily Mail. Incident occurred in NYC.
  
• "Video shows unruly, masked bikers circling San Francisco traffic cop"--New York Post.
  
• "Judge rejects controversial plea deal for teens in caught-on-camera beatdown of classmate Jonathan Lewis"--New York Post. Lewis, you might remember, was beaten to death by black high school classmates.
  
• "NYC migrants allegedly raped woman at knifepoint in Coney Island"--New York Post.
• "Kamala Harris Vows Amnesty for Millions of Illegals, Nationwide Mail-In Voting"--Breitbart.
• "London 'Peace' Rally Marred by 'Cut All Their Throats' Rhetoric"--Breitbart.
• "The Disunited Kingdom"--IM. Events following the stabbing attack by a Rwandan migrant on school children, killing three.
• "Miss South Africa contest hit by xenophobia row as glamorous finalist Chidimma Adetshina is hounded by vile abuse and calls to remove her from the competition due to her mixed heritage"--Daily Mail. Black South Africans upset that woman who is half-Nigerian/half-Mozambican is competing for title of Miss South Africa. 
• "Hating Men Is Now The Democrats’ Campaign Strategy"--The Federalist. Excerpt:

    Leading up to the event, Democrat operative and “White Dudes for Kamala” organizer Ross Rocketto said, “Throughout American history, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that when white men organize, it’s often with pointy hats on, and it doesn’t end well.”

    To be clear: This isn’t a quote that was leaked by accident. Rocketto implied, out loud, that in any other context except one guided by Democrats, a gathering of white men could result in lynchings or cross burnings. 

• "We're scared to go out at night alone and short skirts mean unwanted sexual attention: Parisian women reveal safety fears after gang-rape of Australian tourist and say sex attack is 'catastrophic' to France's image days before Olympics"--Daily Mail.
  

When Reporters Don't Do Their Research: Eating Bugs Edition

    I recently came across this March 31, 2023, piece from NPR entitled "How a conspiracy theory about eating bugs made its way to international politics," which aired on NPR's show, All Things Considered. The transcript begins with the host saying:

In the past month, elected officials in the Netherlands and Poland have accused their opponents of plotting to force people to eat insects. The idea is also bubbling up in far-right circles in the U.S. NPR's Huo Jingnan reports on how a meme from anonymous message boards is making a leap into real-world politics.

After listening to an audio clip, Huo comments:

That's conservative media personality Michael Knowles speaking last year. Using insects as a source of protein is only at the edges of the policy debate when it comes to cutting climate pollution from agriculture. Scientists focus mainly on reducing meat consumption and eating more plant-based food. Although the idea is marginal, various right-wing media outlets use insect eating as a punchline to mock the climate movement.

Because no serious person would push eating insects as a means to stop the alleged global warming? Right?

    Except that it is a serious proposal, even highlighted by the likes of the World Economic Forum: "5 reasons why eating insects can reduce climate change." Or this article from the BBC's Discover Wildlife magazine: "Why eating insects could help the fight against climate change and save the environment." The latter article notes that humans have historically eaten insects, then adds:

Fast forward to today and insects are slowly returning to the table in the West. By 2050, it’s predicted that there will be nine billion people on Earth. Put simply, our current methods of food production will not be able to cater for such a vast population in a sustainable way.

Given that the world's population is currently 8.2 billion and set to peak around 2050, I don't know why our current methods of food production will be insufficient and neither does the author of the article explain her assertion. But she does argue:

Insects offer a promising alternative to a low-ecological-footprint diet: they are genetically very distinct from humans, so viruses are unlikely to make the jump; they produce only small amounts of greenhouse gas, compared to livestock (to yield just 1kg of protein, a single cow produces 2,850g of greenhouse gas, while insects produce just 1g); they can be fed on organic waste, such as vegetable peelings; and they require only tiny quantities of water. We simply need to accept that eating them is okay.

She continues:

    Our current eating habits are suffocating the planet. Food production is responsible for almost 60 per cent of global biodiversity loss, and contributes to overfishing, climate change and water shortages. In the UK, we’re eating more than two-and-a-half times more meat than the global average, a habit that is to blame for much of the environmental impact of our food system.

    The way we produce and consume meat often requires huge amounts of land to grow animal feed, such as soy and maize. Indeed, growing livestock feed is the biggest driver of deforestation on the planet. Fifty per cent (51 million km2) of the Earth’s habitable land is currently given over to agriculture; of that, more than 70 per cent can be attributed to the meat and dairy industry. Meat production also guzzles oceans of water – to produce just 1kg of beef protein, you’ll need an eye-popping 22,000 litres of H2O. For the same amount of cricket-based protein, you’ll need just 1 litre.

 Ah, so the real problem is that populations in third world countries would rather eat meat than their traditional diets that incorporated insects. 

    But in seeming response to NPR calling it a fringe conspiracy theory that governments are going to force people to eat insects, the Discovery Wildlife author notes: "Joanna Trewern, WWF-UK’s sustainable diets and behaviour change specialist, is researching how food companies can help consumers to veer towards more sustainable diets." So, is it still a conspiracy theory when an NGO is pursuing a policy to steer consumers into eating more insects?  Or how about when, as the article also relates, "[i]n January 2021 the European Food Standards Agency approved the first insect (the yellow mealworm) for human consumption across Europe, which was followed by the lesser mealworm and a couple of others"? After all, we've seen many other "suggestions" turn into government mandates.

Bombs & Bants Episode 139 (Streamed 8/21/2024)

 I was unable to join in, but I assume that everyone else had fun.

VIDEO: Bombs & Bants Episode 139 (43 min.)

For my LDS Readers: The Narrow Neck Of Land

 This video interested me in a couple of ways. First, while I have seen several explanations of the Heartland model that try to locate different geographical features such as the location of the four seas, this one seems more plausible to me by focusing on the Great Lakes and locating the narrow neck of land in regard to those bodies of water. Because the water levels of the lakes were somewhat higher 2,000 years ago, the narrowness is highlighted more.

The second thing of interest to me were the statements of General Authorities prior to the late 1970s that clearly discounted the Mesoamerican/two Cumorah model. Apparently the two Cumorah model had achieved some following well before the 1970s, but I don’t remember hearing much about it until the late’70s or early’80s. Since then it has become the dominant theory among the body of the Church. I find it puzzling that it would become dominant in face of prior statements, but I think reflects a shift away from the North American tribes being considered the Lamanites to Central and South American populations being considered the Lamanites. 

VIDEO: “The Narrow Neck”—David Lindsley Studio (27 min)

Weekend Reading

 I'm almost always late on these, so this week without my commentary but timely posted, check out the following:

• A new Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training; and,
• A new newsletter from Jon Low at Defensive Pistolcraft.
  

Local PD Sniper Took Out Trump's Would-Be Assassin?

Interesting piece from the Last Refuge: "Details Surface: USSS Counter Snipers Did Not Stop Assassin Crooks, Butler SWAT Did – Also, FBI Quickly and Quietly Released Body for Cremation." So the two main points from the article is that Crooks' body has already been reduced to ash, so no further investigation can be made in that direction. The other is this:

One detail [in Representative Clay Higgins' initial report] outlines how it was a Butler County SWAT officer who fired the initial shot that stopped Matthew Crooks after 8 shots fired.  The Feds did not initially stop the assassin, the locals did. ...

And, quoting directly from the report:

“The 9th shot fired on J13 was from a Butler SWAT operator from the ground about 100 yards away from the AGR building. Shot 9 hit Crooks’ rifle stock and fragged his face/neck/right shoulder area from the stock breaking up. The SWAT operator who took this shot was a total badass; when he had sighted the shooter Crooks as a mostly obscured by foliage moving target on the AGR rooftop, he immediately left his assigned post and ran towards the threat, running to a clear shot position directly into the line of fire while Crooks was firing 8 rounds. On his own, this ESU SWAT operator took a very hard shot, one shot. He stopped Crooks and importantly, I believe the shot damaged the buffer tube on Crooks’ AR. I won’t be certain of this until I can examine Crooks’ rifle, but I’m 99% sure based upon reliable eye-witness ESU tactical officers who observed Crooks’ rifle before the FBI harvested it as evidence. This means that if his AR buffer tube was damaged, Crooks’ rifle wouldn’t fire after his 8th shot.”

Summer of Love At The Democrat Convention

Richard Pollock, a former leftist agitator himself, predicts wide-spread protests and mob action at the upcoming DNC convention. His article, "Will Chicago Become A War Zone?" He indicates that "[a] vast coalition comprising of more than 200 Palestinian, Marxist, anti-imperialist and progressive organizations have signed on to join the 'March on the DNC 2024' which is planning marches and rallies between August 19 and 21," with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 protestors expected to show up. 

    The crowds are believed to be at a minimum, unruly and at worst, riotous. The single largest part of the coalition, of course, are scores of radical Palestinian solidarity committees, which uniformly call for the end to Israel.  

    The march’s organizational leadership is a Who’s Who of well-known militant groups throughout the United States including Code Pink, Democratic Socialists of America and ANSWER.

And "[s]ocial media posts show that the 'March on the DNC' will bring together pro-Palestinian Islamicists with self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninists, anti-imperialists, anarchists as well as some progressive groups. All are determined to viciously denounce Harris and the Democratic Party."

    The March on DNC’s rhetoric isn’t much different than Behind the Lines. Its main web site is filled with unremitting anger towards the Democratic Party.  ‘We recognize the Democratic Party as a tool of billionaires and corporations,” the coalition statement begins.

    They continue: “Their actions, such as financing genocide in Palestine and war in multiple countries; continuing the mass incarceration of Black and brown people; deporting millions of immigrants; and neglecting campaign promises made to the oppressed communities who represent their voting base, show that the Democratic Party only serves the agenda of the rich and powerful.”

    The coalition’s opposition to Harris is clear. Abudayyeh, the coalition’s spokesman, said the switch to Harris “doesn't change the policies of Democratic Party leadership, specifically their support of the genocide in Palestine, so our movement must continue to apply pressure."

    He added, "When it comes to the genocide in Gaza there is no difference between Biden, Harris, or any of the likely candidates for the nomination. They are all complicit. This is why the coalition will still be marching on the DNC in the tens of thousands."

The DNC is pretending that the protestors have nothing to do with the Democrat party and are not representative of the party. And yet these groups are the DNC's brownshirts that they call out whenever they want to intimidate the population.

For My LDS Readers: Will A President Harris Cause World War III?

The video below relates a prophecy allegedly related by George Albert Smith circa 1946, about the start of World War III and its aftermath. The author acknowledges that the providence of the prophecy is somewhat questionable: while there are Church sources that reference the prophecy, he writes in the description, it has never been released by the Church. In fact, it apparently was only shared privately with a small number of people, and it appears that the author's sources are recollections of what was said rather than transcriptions of Smith's words. I would also note that I have not come across references to this prophecy before. And, as one of the commenters points out, the prophecy (if that is what it was) was apparently only relayed by Smith to a single family and not intended for the Church as a whole. So my impression is that although Smith had a vision or dream, he either was told to not widely reveal it or had doubts as to whether it was a genuine prophecy. 

    It is notable that Smith had used the term "millions shall die like flies" at least one other time: in the 1950 Conference Report, p. 169. His comments about missile silos and nuclear tipped IRBMs and ICBMs seems prescient; but Germany had developed and widely used the V2 which was an IRBM, so perhaps it was just a good interpolation from known facts. 

    Assuming the prophecy is authentic, there is another interesting point. The recollection indicates that the U.S. president at the time of the nuclear war will be a man of a different extraction--i.e., not of British or northern European extraction. My initial thought was Obama was the first president "of a different extraction" because he was half-black; and obviously we didn't have a nuclear war under his watch. But Obama's mother, Ann Dunham,  "was of predominantly English ancestry, with small amounts of Scottish, Welsh, Irish, German and Swiss-German" according to Wikipedia, so perhaps that was enough to disqualify him.

    Harris, if she is elected or otherwise becomes president, would be a different matter: her mother was Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist from India that arrived in the United States in 1958. Her father was Donald Jasper Harris, an Afro-Jamaican (i.e., Jamaicans of predominantly African descent). And even her Irish slave owning ancestor was Irish: i.e., not of English or northern European extraction. 

    But even considering all the foregoing, you might find the account interesting:

VIDEO: "George Albert Smith's Vision of World War III - Church of Jesus Christ"
The Words of Christ (14 min.)

Bombs & Bants Episode 138 (Streamed 8/14/2024)

 A great episode enjoyed by all.

VIDEO: "Bombs and Bants Episode 138" (46 min.)

Indian Army's INSAS Rifle (Updated)

 Vladimir Onokoy has published a couple articles on the Indian Army's INSAS rifle at The Firearm Blog (Part 1) (Part 2). The articles are ostensibly about planned upgrades to the rifle manufactured by a company called Star Aerospace, including a new magazine, folding adjustable stock, pistol grip, new handguard, and a receiver cover with integrated Picatinny rail. This upgrade kit will apparently be the subject of a future Part 3 [update: you can read Part 3 here), because Part 1 goes into the history of the INSAS and why it is probably one of the worst combat rifles in general use and Part 2 relates the author's experience with the rifle and what he learned from others that have actually used the weapon.

    First, some history. Onokoy writes:

    INSAS is an abbreviation that means Indian Small Arms System. It was developed in the 80s by the Small Arms System Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to replace SLR, an FN FAL variant used by Indian forces, which was produced in-country.

    INSAS is manufactured by the state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which recently was divided into several smaller companies. In 1993, the first batch of 1500 INSAS rifles was officially handed over to the army by the Ishapore factory.

    INSAS is not a copy of any existing design and more of a compilation of many different rifles. The charging handle location is similar to HK G3, the overall design often reminds people of Galil (and let’s not forget RK 62, the Galil’s predecessor), but at the end of the day, it is an original design.

The problem is that the rifle is poorly designed and manufactured and, therefore, very unreliable. Onokay writes:

    Here is what I was told: the stories are true, and one of the main concerns for soldiers was magazines. Not just cracks in the magazine body - locking lugs breaking off.

* * *

    Some officers told me that the receiver cover of INSAS does not hold zero. This same complaint was also published by the Times of India:

    Zeroing (adjusting the sight for aim) has to be done each time the rifle is opened to clean or for any other reason. Lack of proper zeroing hampers the working of night vision device.

    The Indian army still trains in bayonet fighting, so soldiers were complaining to me about bayonets bending during practice and lugs not retaining bayonets properly. The stock would break during hand-to-hand combat practice.

    There were a lot of complaints about the selector: the lever being too soft and switching on or off accidentally.

    But that is not all, often a rifle would fire single shots when the selector is in 3-shot burst mode and vice-versa. At times, rifles also fired in long bursts, even though full auto mode is limited to 3 shot burst only.

    Many officers complained that stoppages were so bad that they had to put the rifle on the ground, barrel up, stock pressed to the floor, and try to rack the bolt carrier using their foot.

    This motion reminded soldiers of a motorcycle Kickstarter, so they started calling the INSAS rifle “Bajaj”, which is a famous brand name for the factory that makes scooters in India.

He also relates his own experience with shooting the rifle, which resulted in at least one stoppage for each magazine he shot.

VIDEO: "How Civilizations Die, According To Arnold Toynbee"

This short video is a summary of Arnold Toynbee's thesis on why civilizations decline and die, which is a result of the moral decline of what he terms the "creative class"--the class that originally comes up with the solutions needed by a civilization to survive and expand, but ultimately becomes concerned not with offering up solutions but attempting to preserve their own power. 

VIDEO: "How Civilizations Die, According to Arnold Toynbee"--ThinkingWest (5 min.)

Dems Hiding Rise In Violent Crime

 John Lott has penned a piece at the New York Post entitled: "Democrats are hiding the rise in violent crime with tricky statistics." Top Democrats and leftist news sites like NPR have recently been alleging that crime rates rose during the Trump administration and fell during the Biden Administration. "But the opposite is true," writes Lott, noting that "Between 2016 and 2020, violent crime fell by 17% under Trump — and soared by 43% under Biden between 2020 and 2022." The problem, he relates, is that "Democrats and the media don’t understand the difference between the number of crimes reported to police and the total number of crimes." I think they do, but are just lying. 

    Lott goes on to discuss the issue of the crimes reported versus the total number of crimes while also highlighting the disconnect between the FBI crime statistics (which show a declining number of reported crimes) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (which attempts to measure both reported crimes and the total number of crimes). Lott points out:

    Since 2020, these two measures have been highly negatively correlated: The FBI has been finding fewer instances of crime, but people are simultaneously answering in greater numbers that they have been victims.

    We know that crime victims report only about 40% of violent crimes and 30% of property crimes to police.

    Prior to 2020, the FBI and NCVS numbers generally moved together.

    But every year from 2020 onward, these figures have moved in opposite directions.
    
    For instance, in 2022, the FBI reported a 2.1% drop in violent crime, but the NCVS showed an alarming increase of 42.4% — the largest one-year percentage increase in violent crime ever reported by that measure.

He also explains the reason for the discrepancies: (1) the collapse of the law enforcement and increase in liberal "catch and release" policies when it comes to criminals has resulted in fewer people reporting crimes; and (2) "fewer than half of all police departments are providing complete crime data to the FBI since its reporting system changed in 2021."

VIDEO: Was "Uncle Ted" Correct?

 In the video below, Whatifalthist begins with some background on the Unibomber,  Ted Kaczynski (who, appropriately enough, was a victim of the MK Ultra program) before examining his ideas on the sickness of modernity and why Leftism is ultimately suicidal. This is not a defense of Kaczynski's crimes, but an exploration of his thoughts concerning modernism, sociology, and politics.

VIDEO: "Was the Unabomber Right?"--Whatifalthist (46 min.)

Examples Of Why You Need A 30-Round Magazine

• "California woman is mauled to death by a 'pack of 25 Great Danes' that have terrorized community for years"--Daily Mail. The woman was killed while hiking on a trail. Animal control is now acting on the complaints it has received for years.
• "Nightmarish moment mob of 30 teen cyclists attacked LA driver and trashed his car for trying to pass them at green light"--Daily Mail. Per the article, "Shailoobek Bazarbai Uulu was left with a broken leg and deep lacerations and cuts on his body after the mob of teens attacked him in Downtown Los Angeles on August 2," and "[t]he group was seen jumping on and vandalizing Uulu's car near the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Hope Street, video obtained by KTLA showed."
  

Automated Cars Driving, Beeping At One Another At Night

 Frankly, I find this very creepy. The Daily Mail reports: "Outraged San Francisco condo residents are being kept awake at night by parking lot full of driverless cars that constantly beep at each other." The article expounds on the information in the headline:

    Furious San Francisco neighbors say they are losing sleep over a parking lot full of driverless cars that continually honk at each other.

    California residents near 2nd Street and Harrison Street in the South of Market neighborhood have recorded Waymo vehicles honking in a nearby parking lot throughout all hours of the day.

    The dystopian video shows the cars driving in circles around the lot with their lights on in the middle of the night as they randomly start beeping at each other.

* * *

    White said he was first disturbed by the vehicles two weeks ago when they were going off around 4 a.m. He has taken his concerns to the company, but is infuriated that there is nothing he can do to make the cars stop.

    'There's no one for me to go down there and have a conversation with, because they're a robotaxi. That's the most frustrating thing, you're just yelling into the void,' he said.

    Waymo told KGO they know about the problem and are working to fix it.

    'We are aware that in some scenarios our vehicles may briefly honk while navigating our parking lots. We have identified the cause and are in the process of implementing a fix,' said the company.

Robotaxis driving themselves around their parking lot communicating to one another in the middle of the night. Nothing to worry about.

Some Interesting Archeaology Discoveries

 I've seen, in recent days, a couple interesting article on archeology findings. The first, entitled "Archaeologists discover world's oldest calendar that could rewrite birth of civilization," discusses a theory that engravings on a 12,000 year old stone pillar that is part of the Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey are a calendar which not only has an accurate 365 day year but also apparently recognizes the Earth's axial precession many thousands of years before it was documented by the classical Greeks. John Wilder discusses this pillar and calendar in his recent post, "Göbekli Tepi: How Beer Created Civilization."

    The archeologists behind this discovery also contend that carvings (I presume on the same pillar) "depict a comet strike that caused a mini ice age for 1,200 years, which wiped out large animals and galvanized agricultural development and complex societies." This is, of course, a reference to the Younger Dryas and the theory that there was an impact event that caused the Younger Dryas. Although the mainstream science just tries to ignore this, there are plenty of respectable scientists in the geology and anthropology fields that have found evidence that tends to support the impact theory. Antonio Zamora (link to his YouTube channel)  believes that this impactor is what caused the elliptical Carolina Bays and similar structures found throughout the mid-West, and that the impactor struck the Laurentide Ice Sheet 12,900 years ago, which is why no obvious crater has been found. 

    The second discovery, although perhaps more mundane, is described in the article, "Archaeologists make ground-breaking discovery set to 'offer a new perspective' on everyday life in the 15th-century BC." This discovery, also in Turkey, is of an Akkadian cuneiform tablet, which was found in the ancient archaeological site of Aççana Höyük, which is a receipt for the purchase of furniture. I wonder what was the return policy? The article also notes:

    In 2018, researchers came across a similar clay tablet that was etched with a complaint from a disgruntled customer.

    The shopper had purchased some copper and was apparently dissatisfied, sharing their thoughts with a shop keeper named Ea-nāṣir in the ancient city state of Ur, in around 1750 BCE.