The Burning Platform's Thoughts On "End Times"

I've written quite a bit about Peter Turchin and his theories of societal upheaval, including a review of his book End Times. Very briefly, Turchin describes how mass social unrest and civil war typically erupt in a country using models of wealthy disparity and elite overproduction. He has applied his model to historical societies and it has been accurate looking backward to discover times of mass unrest and/or civil war; and looking forward he predicted social unrest in the United States during this decade. However, while mass civil unrest can be purely grass roots in its origin, civil war requires leaders and financial backers; and this requires a schism within the elites (i.e., counter-elites) to lead and finance a revolt or revolution.

    Burning Platform has published an piece entitled "You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows," which is the saying that gave rise to the name for the communist/Marxist 1960s and '70s terrorist group, The Weather Underground or Weathermen. 

    Although he begins his post discussing William Strauss and Neil Howe's generational theory of civilizational cycles described in their book, The Fourth Turning, most of his post discusses Turchin's ideas. He quotes the following from Turchin's book:

“When a state, such as the United States, has stagnating or declining real wages, a growing gap between rich and poor, overproduction of young graduates with advanced degrees, declining public trust, and exploding public debt, these seemingly disparate social indicators are actually related to each other dynamically. Historically, such developments have served as leading indicators of looming political instability. In the United States, all of these factors started to turn in an ominous direction in the 1970s. The data pointed to the years around 2020 when the confluence of these trends was expected to trigger a spike in political instability.”

And then the Burning Platform piece expounds on this, including the following:

The “Haves” have so much wealth, so much control over our media, so much unwarranted influence over our political system, so much dominion over our intel agencies and military, and complete domination over central banking, while the “Have Nots” have little chance to succeed or even maintain their standard of living, as their anger towards the “Haves” reaches the boiling point. You can feel it. It will only take one spark to ignite this powder-keg of engineered wealth imbalance to initiate Civil War 2.0.

And as he notes from Turchin's books, the crises that arise due to the immiseration of the masses and enrichment of the elites do not generally have happy endings: 75% of the time, it results in civil war or revolution; and in 20% of cases, the civil war dragged on for a century or more. 

    Lots of good stuff there, so be sure to read the whole thing.

A Look Back At The Stg 44 From Allied And German Eyes

 Earlier this year, the American Rifleman website published an article entitled "What American GIs Thought Of The Sturmgewehr StG44." I believe that the title is a bit misleading. There is only a single short comment from an 83rd Infantry Division report on the weapon, a similarly short quote from a document entitled "Battle Experiences" that apparently was a collection of information from field units in Northwest Europe. The bulk of the article is actually excerpts from documents produced by Army Ordinance or Army Intelligence, with a couple longer excerpts of German guidances concerning the weapon.

    The two excerpts that may accurately mirror what U.S. combat troops thought of the weapon was that it was only good at short range but was outclassed by the M1 Garand at medium and long ranges. Interestingly, however, the German documents cited in the article indicated that the Stg 44 should be as accurate as a rifle out to 450 yards. 

    So why the discrepancy between what the Germans said of the Stg 44's capabilities versus what was observed by U.S. combat troops? A great deal of it probably comes down to the sights. The Stg 44 used a notch and post sight similar to what you would see on an the AK line of rifles, with a similarly short sight radius, whereas the M1 Garand used an adjustable peep sight with a long sight radius. 

    But what the American Rifleman article really focused on was how Army Ordinance and Army Intelligence did not comprehend the nature or use of the Stg. 44. They viewed the Stg. 44 as an attempt to copy the M1 Carbine, probably because the Germans had originally classified it as a machine pistol: the MP 43. And, viewed from that standpoint, it was a failure--as a 1944 Intelligence Bulletin summed up:

The M.P. 43 therefore compares very unfavorably with the U.S. carbine, M1. The German weapon is practically twice as heavy and has no apparent advantage except for the slightly higher muzzle velocity of 250 feet per second.

It also was not, in American eyes, a very good automatic weapon: it got too hot very quickly and, because it fired from a closed bolt, did not cool very well between shots with the potential for cook-offs; it was uncontrollable in automatic fire even using 5 round bursts; and it couldn't be repaired in the field. Other criticisms was that its use of stamped parts made it too easily disabled in the field due to dents, but it was also difficult to repair.

    The official German doctrine for using the weapon did not envision it as a long range weapon or even as a primarily automatic weapon. Gen. Heinz Guderian, as quoted in the article, apparently stated:

    If the assault platoon is equipped with the submachine gun 44 (Machinenpistole 44), the fire power of the company is greatly increased. This platoon should be employed for counterthrusts, in case of hostile penetrations, and at local defense points where the terrain does not permit effective use of such long-range weapons as the heavy machine gun and the 81-mm mortar.

    Up to a range of 450 yards, the M.P. 44 is as accurate as the rifle. The principal value of the M.P. 44 lies in its accuracy and high rate of fire (22 to -28 rounds per minute) as a semiautomatic weapon, and in its alternate use as an automatic weapon, when it is fired in short bursts of 2 to 3 rounds (40 to 50 rounds per minute). Generally, the weapon is set for single fire. Bursts will be fired only when fighting off an enemy assault, making a counterthrust (against a penetration, in close combat), or at very short ranges during combat in trenches, towns, or woods. ...

Weekend Reading

Last week, I had mentioned Jon Low's September 15, 2024, newsletter in my post "The Future Of Self-Defense May Involve Defense Against Gangs/Mobs." I had specifically recommended reading his list of 6 essential rifle skills and included the following quote from Jon:

     These gangs have automatic rifles.  Do you?  These gangs operate in coordinated teams.  Do you?  How is your militia or vigilante team?  Or do you think you can defend yourself and your family from the gangs by yourself?  Because the police are not responding.  Good luck on that.

      As Michael Mann says, "Prevention, not reaction."  If you want zero friendly casualties, you must strike pre-emptively and decisively.  If the police don't show up when good citizens complain of gangs, what makes you think the police will show up when the gangs complain about your militia?  I'm joking.  No, as a matter of fact, I'm not.  

Of course, and as always, there is a lot more in each newsletter, so be sure to check it out if you have not already done so.

    And Greg Ellifritz has published a new Weekend Knowledge Dump. He has links to articles on treating wounds and lacerations, hand held light techniques, a couple articles for fans of revolvers, a guide to universal holsters that actually work well, and more.

Your Tax Dollars At Work: The Darien Gap

 An article at the Daily Mail, "Biden's migrant 'super-highway' revealed: Millions in US taxpayer cash turned the world's deadliest smuggling route into a 'safe' passage... how TODD BENSMAN was threatened for exposing it," explains how your tax dollars made it easier for illegals to flood north through the Darien Gap in Panama.

    If you haven't followed Michael Yon's reporting on illegals, you might not know what is the Darien Gap. Basically, as the article explains, "[i]t's a 70-mile stretch of dense jungle connecting South America and Panama through which 1.5 million migrants from 170 countries have passed from 2021 to August 2024." Coming north from South America, the city of Capurgana marks the beginning of the journey through the Darien Gap. There, migrants are "met on the docks by foot soldiers of the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a powerful paramilitary drug-trafficking cartel that rules the region's smuggling routes," to whom they pay hundreds of dollars for permission to head north.

    At one time, travel through the Gap was dangerous because it was through thick jungle with no roads. Consequently, Bensman says, "[f]or decades, fewer than 10,000 migrants a year passed through towns like Capurgana to cross the Darien Gap." But, and this is the key part:

    But after President Joe Biden came into office, demolished his predecessor's security measures and essentially opened the U.S. southern border, that number increased to 133,000 immigrants in 2021.

    Then, the seven-day crossing was still notorious for rapes, robberies and murders.

    Indigenous inhabitants on the Panamanian side routinely killed migrants for their money and valuables. Women ran the risk of sexual assault from fellow migrants and cartel guides. Flash floods along the river were known to sweep away entire families camping in the middle of the night. The weak and injured were routinely left by the trailside to die.

    Now, nearly everything has changed.

    No longer a torturous seven-day trek, the current passage through the Darien Gap is a two or three-day walk along trails heavily patrolled by Panamanian border police.

    Why? In April 2022, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas signed an agreement with Panama to help ease the humanitarian disaster - that the White Hoyuse [sic] helped create by throwing open America's gates.

    The administration declared its commitment to 'safe, orderly, and humane migration,' worldwide.

    In 2023, U.S. State Department agencies further increased contributions to the United Nations's International Organization for Migration to a staggering $1.4 billion, according to a database that tracks federal spending.

    Hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars began flowing into Panama.

    The nation built new migrant processing centers and welcomed dozens of non-governmental agencies to provide aid to the illegal travelers.

    So much was the investment that the once dangerous passage now resembles an American-built migrant 'super-highway.' As a result, illegal immigration in the Darien Gap has exploded even further.

    Crossings grew to 250,000 by the end of 2022.

    In 2023, 520,000 traversed the Gap.

    Midway through this year, nearly a quarter million had made the trip.

    I believe that Biden, Mayorkas, and probably hundreds of other bureaucrats that assisted in this program, facilitated an invasion of the United States for the purpose of undermining the Constitutional order and advancing their own or their party's political power, disrupting the economy, destroying the native-born peoples of this country, and assisting foreign adversaries and criminal organizations. 

Related: "Documents Reveal Airports Used by Secretary Mayorkas to Fly Hundreds of Thousands of Inadmissible Aliens into U.S. Via CHNV Mass-Parole Scheme"--U.S. House of Representatives, Homeland Security Committee.

What Women Want... In Defensive Firearms

I came across a 2017 article by Mass Ayoob at Shooting Industry Magazine on the topic of "Selling Defense Guns To Women: Perspectives From Successful Dealers." Besides advice on selling firearms to women was also information from a couple gun stores on the firearms that were their best sellers with women (with the emphasis on concealed carry). Notably, these were both stores that offered classes and apparently had ranges, so I suspect the results more likely represent what women choose after having shot different firearms. And while I recognize that the data is, well, dated, it is interesting nevertheless.

    The first gun shop highlighted was Harry Beckwith’s Gun Shop (actually 3 stores) in north central Florida. They noted that the SIG 938 in 9 mm and SIG 238 in .380 ACP (9mm Short) both sold very well, with the .380 Glock 42 and 9mm S&W Shield coming in behind them. The Ruger LCP and S&W Bodyguard .380 were not popular because of the double-action triggers. As far as holsters, the top seller was apparently Can Can Concealment holsters, followed by holsters from a Florida company called Bullseye.

    Next up was the Ukiah Gun Shop in Ukiah, California. They reported: “We have four really popular handguns among women: the S&W Shield, the BERSA Firestorm .380, the SIG P238 .380 and the Ruger LCR .38 Special revolver. The Shield is the single most popular, in 9mm.” Holster wise, the most popular with the ladies were “corset holsters” from Femme Fatale.

    I wish they had information from other stores, but it does give a sense of what women wanted in 2017. It is quite different from the firearms popular with the shooters at the Girl & A Gun (AG & AG) 12th Annual National Conference earlier this year, although there were several smaller framed guns in that list, as well. I'm a little leery of the many lists of the top guns recommended for women, though, because those lists mostly appear as lists of what a particular author would recommend and not what women actually choose.

    But the takeaway I gathered from Ayoob's article is that the women who are looking for a concealed carry pistol are looking for something that is (a) light and small (i.e., easy to conceal without requiring a whole new wardrobe), (b) doesn't require a lot of hand strength to fire (i.e., no DAO triggers), and (c) without substantial recoil (you will note from Ayoob's article that .380s and 9mm were popular, while even for the higher level shooters at the AG & AG conference, there were no .40s, .45s, or 10mm in their top 10 list). I suspect that if Ayoob updated his article today, you would probably see some newer models such as the SIG 365 or S&W's Bodyguard 2.0 or Ruger LCP Max, but the overall characteristics sought by the woman concealed carriers would probably not be much different now than in 2017.

    But Ayoob's article also addressed long arms as well. While modern sporting rifles were popular in Florida, but mostly banned in California, it was interesting to note that in both locations, shotguns were popular. And the action (pump or semi-auto) didn't seem important. Rather, it was the recoil. In the California store, 20-guage shotguns with youth stocks were the most popular with woman shooters; but in the Florida stores (where they taught to shoot off-the-shoulder) women would also buy 12 gauge because the recoil wasn't as much an issue.

Shooting, Hunting, and Electronic Earmuffs

Massad Ayoob, in an article ("Finding Out What Your Customers Want") for Shooting Industry Magazine, shared feedback from a gun store operator that regularly recommends pistol caliber carbines (PCCs) to his customers for home self-defense. At the end of the letter, the store owner added: "And, while we’re on the topic, we like to recommend a set of electronic muffs to keep near the home-defense carbine."

    This prompted Ayoob to relate some experiences and advice concerning the advantages of using electronic hearing protection for gun instructors, hunters, and for self-defense. What it comes down to is not only can electronic earmuffs allow you to hear comments or sounds while wearing them that you would otherwise miss wearing standard earmuffs, but many will amplify sound so that you can actually hear better with the earmuff than if you had no hearing protection and were just using your ears.

    For instance, as to firearm instructors, Ayoob writes:

A lot of firearms mishaps are preceded by the person messing with a stuck slide or muttering “damn gun” or words to that effect. If the instructor can hear it in time — even if the shooter’s body position blocks the range safety officer’s view of his hands — being able to pick up those small sounds can make for a warning heeded in time to prevent tragedy.

And for the hunters, he also relates an African safari he was on where, with the electronic earmuffs, he was able to pick up sounds of animal movement before even his bushman trackers/guides.

    But most of his comments have to do with their "tactical" use including home defense. He writes:

    Remind your tactically oriented customers that gunfire reverberating indoors will temporarily reduce hearing at the moment when they need all their senses to be at their most sensitive and acute. Active muffs will also allow them to hear danger coming sooner than the naked ear might allow. Let them put on a pair, turn them on and turn their foot on the floor. They’ll be able to hear sole on floor or carpet.

    Suppose the customer says, “My home-defense gun has a suppressor, so I don’t have to worry about that.” The suppressor solves only part of the problem. It doesn’t let them hear an intruder’s movements any better; good active muffs will. A suppressor doesn’t mute the alarming and potentially deafening gunfire of the opponent; active muffs do. And they don’t require a long wait and license fee paid to ATF.

Read the whole thing.

Bombs & Bants Episode 144 (Streamed 9/25/2024)

 What do you mean "we can't say that on YouTube"?

VIDEO: Bombs & Bants Episode 144 (50 min.)

Question Everything But...

In early July, Stonetoss published this political cartoon:

Source: "Book Squirm" by Stonetoss.

I don't know what prompted the cartoon, but it seemed rather prescient. On September 2, Tucker Carlson released a video of an interview he conducted of Darryl Cooper, an amateur historian and podcaster of no particular note as far as I can tell. Or he would have been of little note but for the Streisand Effect. For there was an immediate flood of opinion pieces from both the Left and the Right criticizing Carlson and/or Cooper, with little of it actually addressing Cooper's ideas, but rather going straight into ad hominem attacks on Carlson and his audience. I was particularly perturbed because of the number of criticisms posted at or linked through Instapundit. It seemed curious to me that a website and its pundits that normally pride themselves on defending freedom of speech were suddenly and viciously attacking Carlson for interviewing someone with a different take on certain aspects of World War II.

    I have only watched a short (probably 5 minute) segment of the 2 hour interview, but from what I saw and read in the tsunami of articles that followed, the critic's objections revolved around two of Cooper's assertions:

1. That Germany was logistically (food and otherwise) unprepared for the number of prisoners they took in the first several months of their invasion of the Soviet Union; and, faced with the prospect of millions of these prisoners starving or freezing to death during the winter, took the pragmatic step of executing them rather than letting them suffer (much as you might put down a dog). I don't know if Cooper actually described this as an "accident" but it has been transformed by those hating on Carlson and Cooper as Cooper explaining away the Holocaust as an accident.
   
2. That Winston Churchill was the real villain of World War II because, Cooper argues, he pushed the UK into the war and then, later, rejected peace overtures from Hitler, thereby unnecessarily extending the war and causing additional millions of deaths. 
   

There are valid arguments to be made against Cooper's arguments--Ron Unz provides a detailed rebuttal (as well as addressing failures of some of Cooper's critics)--but for the most part, the critics didn't do that. Rather, as alluded to earlier, many of them--including so-called conservatives who normally defend free speech--simply resorted to calling Carlson and his viewers stupid and/or made arguments that boiled down to "how dare he question the established narrative!"

     Although I found the sudden love for censorship from conservative pundits very curious, I ultimately decided not to write about it. That is, until I saw this article in the New York Post: "Hitler’s AI translated speeches go viral on TikTok – with one video topping 1M views – in troubling trend: report."  The problem, as the article indicates, is that "Misguided TikTokers are using AI to translate Adolf Hitler’s speeches into English – and racking up millions of clicks on the under-fire platform, according to a watchdog media report." This, apparently, violates a TikTok prohibition on “promoting (including any praise, celebration, or sharing of manifesto) or providing material support to … individuals who cause serial or mass violence, or promote hateful ideologies.”

    Obviously, there is a certain amount of hypocrisy involved here as no doubt you could probably find countless videos promoting Marxism (the bloodiest ideology ever seen), pushing racial hate (in the guise of DEI and CRT), supporting the abuse of children (i.e., transgenderism), and so on. And although they were together responsible for 100,000,000 deaths, I doubt that speeches from Lenin, Stalin, or Mao would be banned.

    But the removal of the Hitler speeches is rooted in the same condescending attitude that accompanied the attacks on Tucker Carlson and Darryl Cooper: the attitude that the rubes are too stupid to be permitted to listen to certain ideas.

    This is how you get to a world where 15% of internet traffic is cat videos and memes. 

The Trade Federation Has Found Earth!

The photo above was the “cylindrical” “suspected balloon” 40,000 feet above the Great White North in February 2023 days before it was shot down by a U.S. Air Force F-22 jet fighter on February 11, 2023, reports the New York Post. Per the article:

    The airborne object previously described as a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload” was spotted amid three other cases in which North America dealt with unidentified objects in the sky.

    Between Feb. 10 and Feb 12, three objects were spotted floating over North America before they were downed over Alaska, the Yukon and Lake Huron, respectively.

    They were all smaller than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that traveled from Alaska across the United States before it was shot down over South Carolina on Feb. 4, 2023.

The photograph is grainy and low quality--apparently the public can't handle the truth--which may account for it not appearing anything like a cylinder. But it does resemble a certain fictional craft:

Source: Wookieepedia

A Couple From Claude Werner

Shooting Illustrated recently published an article by Claude Werner on practicing with small, pocket sized handguns including shooting drills to test yourself and suggestions on training appropriately entitled "Practicing With Small Handguns." The two handguns that Werner used as examples were a 5-shot J-frame snub nosed revolver and a Ruger LCP, but his suggestions should work for most any pocket pistol.

    Werner starts with a couple practice drills for accuracy. The first he mentions is the qualification course used by the San Diego Sheriff's Department for obtaining a concealed carry permit. He relates the course of fire:

The qualification course set by the San Diego Sheriff's office for obtaining a concealed carry license is an excellent course for practicing with a small carry gun such as a Ruger LCP or Smith & Wesson 642. It consists of 15 rounds fired from 7, 5, and 3 yards, in that order. Five rounds are required at each distance, At 7 and 5 yards, it is shot two handed. For the 3-yard stage, 3 rounds are shot with the primary hand and 2 rounds are shot with the support hand. Of the 15 rounds, 13 must hit the silhouette target to qualify. 

He also suggests a slightly modified version of the NRA Marksmanship Qualification Program Defensive Pistol I course, which he describes. 

    And because practicing your trigger pull is important, he also has a couple exercises to use at the range to test whether you are jerking the trigger, anticipating recoil, etc.: one intended for the revolver and one intended for a semi-auto pistol. 

    Good stuff, so be sure to check it out.

    Another of his articles that also caught my attention recently is "Gunfighter Challenge" that describes a test used by actual gunfighters of the Old West to see whether they were a "good shot" or not. Basically, the test used an envelope 5-inches square, with a stamp (1-inch square) placed on the back side of the envelope (i.e., so it was not visible from the front). This target was then shot 6 times at 10 paces. To be considered a "good shot," the shooter needed to strike the target with all 6 rounds with at least one shot piercing the stamp (i.e., centered in the target). I find this last bit interesting because it measures not only accuracy of the shot, but also the shooters ability to accurately find the center of the target without the "cheat" of a dot or crossed lines.

    Although Werner interprets the 10 paces as being 10 yards, I don't think this is correct. A typical length given for a single step pace (measuring from one foot to the other) is 30 inches (I've seen it shorter in some accounts, but not longer). Using that measurement, the distance would be 8-1/3 yards (or 25 feet). However, a "pace" historically referred to the distance between the same foot after two steps (typically measured heel to heel), or about 5 feet (see also here), although another source indicates between 4-1/2 and 5 feet. If this is what was meant (and it probably was), then the distance to target would be between 45  and 50 feet (i.e., 15 to 16.6 yards). A little more respectable distance to hit a 5x5-inch square six out of six times, with one shot dead center.

U.S. To Send More Troops To The Middle-East ...

 ... in addition to the 40,000 already in the region. Per the article, Pentagon Press Secretary Gen. Pat Ryder explained: "In light of the increased tensions in the Middle East, and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region." The article also notes that the U.S. State Department has warned Americans to leave Lebanon.

Abandoned Seminary In Scotland

The Daily Mail has a photo essay of a Catholic seminary that opened in a wooded area of Scotland in 1966 but closed in 1980. It was converted to a drug rehab center for a while before being abandoned in the late 1980s, according to the article. Here are a couple photos from the article, but be sure to check out the rest of them.

Chicago's Black Gangs Threaten War With Migrants

 The New York Post reported this weekend that "Chicago gangbangers rage against newly arrived Venezuelan migrants as Tren de Aragua moves in: ‘City is going to go up in flames’." The Post interviewed former gang members, current gang members, and black advocates and they are all saying the same thing: the black community is fed up with the perks and benefits showered on illegals, including being treated more leniently by the criminal justice system. And the TdA gangs rapid advances have the black gangs talking about gang wars.

    The article relates:

    [F]ormer gangbanger Tyrone Muhammad ..., who’s gone straight and runs a street patrol and violence prevention program called Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change says Venezuelan criminal gangs flooding shelters and taking over apartment buildings are the last straw for the struggling African-American community. He says they are furious at seeing government money going to what they call “non-citizens.”

* * *

    “When the black gangs here get fed up with the illegalities and criminal activities of these migrants or non-citizens, the city of Chicago is going to go up in flames and there will be nothing the National Guard or the government can do about it when the bloodshed hits the streets. It’ll be blacks against migrants.”

The article goes on to mention that over the past two years, the city of Chicago has spent about $500 million on just 42,000 migrants. "Many have been given money for rent, food stamp cards and even cars — and some landlords have pushed out local African-Americans because they can get more government money for housing migrants." The article goes on to describe how one shelter was outright lying about there not being any crime in the shelter, despite 720 police call outs to that shelter alone. According to police reports, calls to four shelters involved "sex trafficking, child porn, drugs, carjackings, weapons and excessive spousal violence" and the illegal sale of firearms within the shelters. And notwithstanding claims to the contrary, TdA gang members openly hang out in front of or near to the shelters. 

    “The real issue is that America has allowed gangs to enter our country,” said a young Gangster Disciples member, David, standing on a high-volume drug-dealing corner near Martin Luther King Blvd.

    “Gangs that they would consider ex-terrorist groups. They let terrorist groups into our country!” he yelled angrily to the Post.

    “There’s been a lot going on with (the migrant gangs) that nobody’s even hearing about,” Zacc Massie, 27, a street leader who first went to prison in 2015 and just recently got out.

    “They be moving in our own territory and robbing people but they don’t get arrested like we do. I actually talked to one on the translator app. He told me all the things he got going on; how they helped him get a car, an apartment, (EBT) card, all this stuff. They giving them thousands, we get maybe $400 a month. And they don’t even have Social Security numbers! “

    Black P Stone member Corey Rogers took The Post on a drive through the area and pointed out several locations where he said Venezuelan gangs have been “showing the flag,” meaning brandishing their guns. He also showed a reporter a gang Whatsapp thread with texts from gang members threatening turf wars with the Venezuelans.

As Robert Conquest has noted, "Everyone is conservative about what he knows best." And so, while blacks may not like Trump, the people interviewed were unhappy with the Democrats having sold them down the river, so to speak, and talk of growing support for Trump in the black Chicago communities. 

    But if nothing else, the comments in the article presage gang violence between the established black gangs and the newer, but more organized, immigrant gangs like TdA.

More: "How bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua used NYC migrant shelters to build a criminal empire: ‘Hiding in plain sight’"--New York Post. TdA is able to succeed because its members are like fish swimming in the water of the larger immigrant community.   

The Future Of Self-Defense May Involve Defense Against Gangs/Mobs

There is a famous line from L.P. Hartley's "The Go Between" that goes like this: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Well, drop the past. Foreign countries are foreign and they do things different there as well. And when they come to the U.S. or other Western countries, they bring that otherness or differences with them.

    We've lately been regaled with some of those differences when it comes to animals, e.g.:

• "Animal sacrifices on the rise in Queens with chickens, pigs being tortured in ‘twisted’ rituals"--New York Post. 
• "Springfield city manager admitted in March he'd 'heard' about Haitian migrants eating 'domesticated animals'"--Post Millennial. 

But migrant crime extends just beyond torturing and killing our pets, e.g.:

• "In New York, dead bodies are starting to turn up"--American Thinker.
• "Illegal Alien Charged with Five Counts of Child Rape on Martha’s Vineyard"--Breitbart.

    Of real concern are the gangs that have found their way into the country and their increasingly brazen behavior. Most of you are probably aware of the news accounts of the Tren de Aragua, a criminal group from Venezuela, that has had openly controlled the Whispering Pines Apartments in Aurora since late 2023. You've probably scene the videos of some of the gang members with weapons in hand, including an AK style rifle, moving through the complex and entering an apartment. During its reign, the gang has engaged in assaults, threats of murder, extortion and child prostitution. It has been even reported that "Tren de Aragua has threatened to kill (and, in certain instances, has apparently actively attempted to kill) members of Whispering Pines management," and "gang members allegedly stabbed a Whispering Pines resident for refusing to pay 'rent' to the gang."

    Four alleged Tren de Aragua members have been arrested in Aurora in connection to an attempted  murder in July.

    ICE officials told Fox News all four are undocumented immigrants who were detained and released after crossing the Texas border.

You probably saw the news stories and videos even as the Colorado governor and Aurora police department denied any such thing was happening, and claimed that the owner of the apartment complex was responsible for the run-down conditions there. 

    Of course it is not just in Aurora, CO, that the Tren de Aragua gang is taking up residence. They have been active in North Texas according to Dallas law enforcement, and took over a hotel in El Paso. And while the Democrat controlled government of Colorado lets the gang members walk free after arrests, current and former law enforcement are warning that the gang (shortened to TdA) has "unleashed a crime wave from Miami to New York" and is preparing for  major gang wars. 

    ‘There’s about to be a big gang war,' John Fabbricatore, the former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Colorado told DailyMail.com.

    'I believe that they’re setting up their network right now. These guys are setting up faster than MS-13 did. They’re getting into these apartment complexes and what they’re doing is they’re starting with prostitution.'

* * *

    'Prostitution is a big money-maker, and the thing with prostitution is that it brings guys in that they can then sell dope to,' Fabbricatore explained.

    'These guys come in, they meet these Johns and shake them down. See if they want to buy drugs. They’ve started with moving these girls through, and if you go in these apartments, you’ll see these young girls. It’s bad.’

* * *

     At the Whispering Pines apartments, DailyMail.com witnessed TdA gang graffiti all the over the walls, where the transnational organization has clearly marked its territory.

    'That tells me that's TdA property. That's showing, "Hey this is our territory, this is our property.' Along those lines is intimidating the people of that building,' retired FBI agent Dan Brunner explained to Dailymail.com.

     TdA is using the cash to expand, meanwhile arming itself, Fabbricatore, who is currently the Republican congressional candidate hoping to represent Aurora, said.

    'Colfax, the area that they’re in, has been controlled by the Bloods, Crips, Sureños, for years,' he added.

    'These gangs already set up their networks. They’ve been dealing dope in those areas. They control prostitution in that area. So Tren de Aragua comes in and they start to try put their girls on the street, and they start to move dope in the area, you’re going to see push back. We’ve haven’t seen it yet, but I believe it’s about to happen.’

* * *

    Earlier this week, the Aurora Police Department announced the arrests of 10 TdA members, despite having previously denied there was a gang problem.

    TdA has described as the 'epitome of evil' and is best known in their homeland for sex trafficking girls and women and exploiting their fellow countrymen, have now set up strongholds in Denver, New York, Miami, El Paso and Dallas-- as DailyMail.com first reported.

    Since arriving in the United States, TdA is accused of taking part in shootings, shake-downs of other migrants who had were told to pay rent to the gang instead of the property, beatings, and robberies in Colorado.

    'TdA is MS-13 on steroids.' Brunner, who spent years leading an FBI task force to taken down Salvadoran gang MS-13, added.

    Federal law enforcement has been shocked and taken off guard by how quickly TdA has been able to establish itself and eclipse the previous operations set up by gangs like MS-13. 

 * * *

     For now, TdA seems focused on victimizing the migrants, using migrant women into prostitutes, but it's only a matter of time before their tentacles spread.

    'There are some million dollar homes not far from where those apartment complexes are. How long do you think it will be before they go there?' 

That is a good question. How long before they move their activities beyond apartment complexes and shelters that cater to immigrants to regular Americans.

    In his most recent Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter, Jon Low cites to a an article by John Farnam on Ethnic gangs. Farnam warns:

    Here in the Denver area, ethnic Venezuelan gangs (nearly all illegally in this country to begin with) are currently engaging in violent take-overs of entire neighborhoods and apartment buildings, all with scant interference from police.

    This would have been unthinkable a decade ago!

    Now, it is dangerously real.

    To no one’s surprise, the mayor of Denver, the mayor of Aurora, CO, and our state’s governor (all liberals) have gone into “full-spin mode” as they sheepishly render cowardly “word-salad” responses (reminiscent of KDH) to hard questions about this desperate reality.

    Some facts not in dispute:

    1) Many police departments (all over the US) are currently on a “slow-roll” for calls involving violence.

    In many cases, this is an administrative decision, based on universal staff shortages, and political agenda.

    Yet, nervous citizens translate this trend as “abandonment!”

    2) The Aurora, CO PD has identified ethnic-gang-infested apartment complexes as sufficiently dangerous, that no fewer than three LEO’s are to simultaneously respond to calls from there.

    So, while Aurora’s mayor says, in effect, “Nothing to see here,” his PD’s tactics clearly indicate otherwise!

    3) Without fail, liberal politicians create “exemptions”  to gun laws, exemptions that benefit only them!

    In addition, they invariably requisition large cadres of LEOs (who would otherwise be out protecting citizens) to devote themselves to protecting only them.

    It’s fairly obvious that, to them, only their personal safety is important.

 In other words, in some locals, you may be on your own in the face of violent gangs that will become more brazen and confident as time goes on. What to do? 

    Jon Low writes in this regard:

    These gangs have automatic rifles.  Do you?  These gangs operate in coordinated teams.  Do you?  How is your militia or vigilante team?  Or do you think you can defend yourself and your family from the gangs by yourself?  Because the police are not responding.  Good luck on that. 

      As Michael Mann says, "Prevention, not reaction."  If you want zero friendly casualties, you must strike pre-emptively and decisively.  If the police don't show up when good citizens complain of gangs, what makes you think the police will show up when the gangs complain about your militia?  I'm joking.  No, as a matter of fact, I'm not. 

 Also be sure to check out his list of 6 essential rifle skills in the same newsletter. Because even if you don't have automatic rifles, you should have a defensive rifle.

Bombs & Bants Episode 143 (Streamed 9/18/2024)

 “You fool, Warren is DEAD!” Oh, sorry, wrong podcast. Door slams.

 VIDEO: Bombs & Bants Episode 143 (53 min.)

Where To Keep A Home Defense Gun

Sheriff Jim Wilson asks "Where Is Your Home-Defense Gun?" He doesn't actually care about an answer, though. The article is, instead, about good places to keep a home defense weapon with a particular emphasis on responding to a home invasion. As Wilson observes:

The thing to keep in mind about home invasions is that they happen in an almighty hurry. One will almost certainly not have time to go into another room to arm him or herself. For that reason, it is imperative to keep a gun on your person or very close by. And, it is important to study the layout of your house, consider your own personal situation and determine the best way to respond to this sort of quick attack. Talk it over with family members, do some study and planning and make yourselves a harder target. You won’t regret such a proactive decision.

    No surprise, he states that the best place to keep a defensive pistol is on your person as it offers rapid access while simultaneously controlling who can access the weapon. But you can't (or won't) always carry a weapon at home, so then what? 

Almost as quick as having the gun on you is to have several guns strategically located throughout the house in the areas where you spend the most time. The kitchen, the TV room and your office would be good locations and, given your particular situation, you will think of others (like your workspace out in the garage or shop). Simply look at the places in your home where you spend your time, and those are the locations to have a defensive firearm.

A gun safe is far too slow to access a defensive weapon, which is probably why Democrats push gun storage laws. They don't want a homeowner killing a reliable Democrat voter. 

    If you do resort to storing weapons around your residence, Wilson suggests some sort of storage box or case, adding:

One that especially interests me looks like a small shelf like one that you might put a couple of photographs on, or maybe a flower arrangement, but the bottom of it pops open to expose the defensive handgun. Such a device might be just the thing to install near the front door. 

My father-in-law had one of these that used a hidden locking mechanism. To me, a 4-inch thick shelf seemed obvious as a place to hide a weapon, but perhaps that is just because of my experience and reading in home defense. The problem we discovered as we were in the process of moving my father-in-law to a nursing home and selling the house was that we couldn't easily open the shelf/box because the battery that operated the locking mechanism had died. We were able to open it, but it took some time. Just something to keep in mind when you consider different models.   

    Although Wilson discusses keeping a firearm in the kitchen or TV room, the reality is that for most of us, when we are at home, we spend the majority of that time in the bedroom as we sleep at night; so the bedroom is definitely one place you would want to keep a defensive weapon. And since I assume that most of you are not going to be wearing a firearm to bed, you will have to consider a method of storing a firearm that also offers quick access. 

    I've seen (but not tried) some devices (basically a metal bracket) that slide between a mattress and a box spring to which you can attach a holster. It might not be a viable solution if you have small children as it doesn't address the issue of controlling access, but it does offer quick access to the weapon even if you are awoken in the night. 

    There are, of course, plenty of lock box type products on the market, and even secured "quick access" brackets for storing long arms. Lucky Gunner posted a video in 2018 reviewing some of the quick access pistol safes, and thereafter did one for quick access safes for rifles and shotguns. But even a cable lock or locked pistol or long arm case can suffice. (But will you know where is the key at 3 a.m.?)

    If you are forced to resort to hiding a weapon or putting it in a place difficult for a child to access, this article from Texas Gun Club has some suggestions. This article on storing firearms and ammunition from The Provident Prepper also has some good tips on storing a weapon for home defense (as well as for longer term storage). 

• More: "How to Store a Gun for Home Defense"--The Armory Life.
  

Most Centenarians Are Dead

I saw this the other day at the Asahi Shimbun: "Japan’s centenarian population hits new record high." From the article:

    As of Sept. 1, 47,888 individuals had reached the age of 100 this fiscal year or were projected to do so by the end of the fiscal year in March. This represents a 781-person increase from the previous year and is the highest number ever recorded.

    Women accounted for 88 percent of centenarians, with 83,958 women and 11,161 men reaching the milestone.

    When considering the number of centenarians per 100,000 people, Shimane Prefecture had the highest rate at 159.54, ranking first for the 12th consecutive year.

    Saitama Prefecture had the lowest rate, with 45.81 centenarians per 100,000 people, marking the 35th consecutive year at the bottom of the list.

But is it true? Vox Day recently noted that "The Extreme Elderly Don’t Exist." He related comments from a researcher who examined claims of the numbers of centenarians. The researcher wrote:

In general, the claims about how long people are living mostly don’t stack up. I’ve tracked down 80% of the people aged over 110 in the world (the other 20% are from countries you can’t meaningfully analyse). Of those, almost none have a birth certificate. In the US there are over 500 of these people; seven have a birth certificate. Even worse, only about 10% have a death certificate.

The researcher also mentions that "[t]here was a Japanese government review in 2010, which found that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead. The secret to living to 110 was, don’t register your death." And:

Regions where people most often reach 100-110 years old are the ones where there’s the most pressure to commit pension fraud, and they also have the worst records. For example, the best place to reach 105 in England is Tower Hamlets. It has more 105-year-olds than all of the rich places in England put together.

Wikipedia relates that "[i]n 2017, a joint study by Trust for London and New Policy Institute found Tower Hamlets to be the 2nd most deprived London borough (after Barking and Dagenham) based on an average calculated across a range of indicators; with high rates of poverty, child poverty, unemployment and pay inequality compared to other London boroughs." It also has one of the highest proportions of Muslims in England.

You Will Eat Bugs ... And It Will Make You Frisky?

Apparently grasshoppers are being touted as an aphrodisiac. "Eating grasshoppers has been found to boost sex drive, improve sleep quality, promote healthy hair and help with weight management," says the New York Post, before going into the standard lefty myths of global warming and overpopulation:

    As food supplies continuously face changes and uncertainties due to population growth and climate change, experts have increasingly promoted integrating insects into more cuisines.

    About a quarter of Americans are reportedly willing to ingest insect ingredients, and 18% would be willing to eat whole bugs.

    But that number could raise if libidos do. 

The proper response is--as it should be to all leftist "solutions"--"you first".

Now Israel Has Detonated Thousands Of Hezbollah's Hand-Held Radios

 From the New York Post:

    A second wave of blasts rocked Hezbollah on Wednesday as thousands of radios and other devices used by the terror group were detonated across Lebanon, killing at least nine people and leaving more than 300 wounded, security sources and officials said.

    Additional explosions were reported throughout the capital of Beirut and in the country’s south following Tuesday’s massive security breach that caused Hezbollah pagers to explode, killing at least 12 people and injuring another 2,800.

    Some thousands of personal walkie-talkie radios were targeted in Wednesday’s operation, sources told Axios reporter Barak Ravid, which were all ordered from the terror group five months ago, around the same time as the deadly pagers. 

Hungary is now denying that the pagers were manufactured there. CNN has a long (9 min.) report if you would prefer a video.

More On Springfield, OH, And Its Haitian Problem

A lot of information in the "Springfield Haitian Situation Summary" from the Aliens In This World blog. But while the author covers and collects links to Haitians eating and sacrificing various animals (including cats and dogs), the most important point to me was how the invasion of the Haitians was the work of corporations seeking low cost labor:

    In recent years, several new factories, warehouses, and other large businesses have been built in Columbus, Ohio, and along the I-70 corridor. Local people in Columbus, Springfield, Dayton, and other municipalities were anticipating getting jobs at these places.

    Instead, the local warehouse/factory staffing agency near me closed down a few years back, leaving the people who used to work in Columbus through them to find jobs somewhere else. I kinda wondered why that happened, but assumed their staffing contracts had fallen through somehow.

    But now I know. Instead, corporate warehouse/factory staffing agencies brought in a huge number of migrant workers from Haiti, and found them cheap group housing in Springfield. These people are not being taught English or assisted on a path to citizenship. Instead, they are being treated the same as the Mexican/Guatemalan migrant workforce in California or Iowa, at big factories and warehouses, which are controlled by the big staffing agencies. They are subject to being deported at any time that they get fired, so they have to work for that one agency they signed up with.

    The idea is that the staffing agency pays rent on apartments and houses, and then places the migrants into them, while the migrants pay the agency monthly for their beds (often cited as $250 for a cot). In California and Iowa, migrants often have to sleep in shifts; this does not seem to be the case in Springfield. However, there are reports of up to twelve grown adults sleeping in a single two-bedroom apartment, which would be illegal for anyone else. But the staffing agencies get a pass, for some reason.

A possible reason that the staffing agency, First Diversity Staffing, is getting a pass is because it looks like the Mayor of Springfield is making substantial amounts of money by renting apartments for the Haitians.

    Just as a reminder, as the author of "Smoke And Mirrors: What Happens After Biden’s Economic Manipulations Disappear?" points out:

    An even greater concern is the fact that all new jobs created for the past several years have been going to illegal aliens, not legal citizens. In fact, since October of 2019 native-born US workers have lost over 1.4 million jobs. Over the same period, migrants illegally residing in the US have gained 3 million jobs. The new narrative among leftists is that this is a good thing; they claim that the US needs illegal immigration and open borders in order to support the jobs market and “bring down inflation.”

    I’m doubtful that the jobs boost to illegals is real, either. More likely the migrant jobs data is rigged because it’s much harder to track and confirm. But these people don’t seem to understand how inflation works – Greater population means higher resource demand, and that helps drive up prices (as we’ve seen in housing). It doesn’t bring prices down, nor does it reduce the existing money supply.

In the end, the support for immigration--legal or otherwise--comes down to money and pliant voters. But mostly money. It is key for the wealth pump that has been transferring wealth from the middle class to the ruling elites for the past 40+ years.

Say "No" To A Carry Rotation

In "Ditch the 'Carry Rotation'" at Shooting Illustrated, Chris Cypert points out the downsides to a daily carry rotation (i.e., using a different handgun depending on mood or according to a schedule). His argument basically boils down to the fact that with so many different handguns that are going to have different trigger pulls, manual of arms, aiming points, etc., a regular carry rotation will result in having a handgun which you have not really mastered as the handgun on which your life may depend. 

    As an example, he observes:

Just examining grip angle, any shooter who has switched to or from a Glock handgun has likely noticed issues with transitioning between Glocks and non-Glocks. With its unique 22 degree grip angle, a Glock handgun differs just enough from the more common 18 degree 1911-mimicking grip angle to cause issues with many people. When one switches to a Glock, there is an adjustment period as shooters typically present the gun and find themselves naturally pointing the muzzle high. Likewise, when Glock shooters switch to non-Glocks, they may find themselves needing to retrain their presentations to avoid pointing low. This same holds true for other semiautomatic pistols as well as revolvers, and if we’re switching back and forth between guns on a daily basis, it will inevitably affect our performance compared to just carrying one gun consistently.

A similar problem can result in switching between weapons with double-action triggers, single action triggers, and "safe-action" triggers such as in Glocks. 

    Cypert recognizes that there are going to be times where the situation demands that you carry something different than normal: perhaps you have to go to a smaller pistol due to heightened concerns about concealment, or you decide to go bigger because you going hunting/camping or going somewhere posing a heightened danger. In that case, Cypert recommends at least sticking to the same general style of firearm "that changes as a little as possible of the mechanics of shooting and manipulating your gun under stress." For instance, if you normally carry a Glock 19 but need something smaller use a Glock 26, 43 or 48; or if bigger, stick with a larger Glock pistol (e.g., a Glock 20 in 10 mm). 

    Sometimes you don't have the option of sticking to the same general style. For instance, if I want something more powerful than a 9mm semi-auto for carrying while camping or hiking, my option (absent buying a new pistol) will necessarily be a revolver. But since I know that I'll be camping or hiking before hand, I can at least practice with the firearm in question to refamiliarize myself with its manual of arms and presentation before a trip, even if all I have time for are a few dry fire sessions.

Another Sign of Election Season

When the leaves turn brown, the weather cools, and the incidents of acute flaccid myelitis go up, you know another election is around the corner. 

    US wastewater samples are showing an alarming increase in a respiratory virus that has been linked to polio-like symptoms.

    An enterovirus variant, EV-D68, can lead to acute flaccid myelitis, which can cause weakness or paralysis, typically in kids.

    “We are detecting EV-D68 nucleic acids in wastewater across the country now, and the levels are increasing,” Alexandria Boehm — program director of WastewaterScan, a nonprofit monitoring network, and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University — told NBC News this week.

It spikes every other year, with spikes in recent years in 2016, 2018, and 2022. 2020 did not have a spike, attributable by the health community to Covid lock downs, but one has to wonder if the border wall and efforts to control illegal immigration played a role.

The Invisible Hand Of The Market

Although I'm not sure this is what Adam Smith meant by the "invisible hand". From Zero Hedge: "A 'Mystery' Buyer is Propping Up the Markets." The article notes that after large sell offs of the S&P stocks in early August and early September, "someone" stepped in buying up stocks right and left and was able to quickly erase losses in the value of the S&P. 

    Again, this is blatant manipulation. No REAL buyer with deep pockets does this stuff. This was someone who was CLEARLY intent on propping up the stock market at all costs.

    Who is doing this?

    It has to be the Fed… or the Fed courtesy of a proxy.

    No other investor has bottomless pockets and PANIC BUYS stocks like this. Again, this is not some investor who’s trying to make money… this is someone who wants stocks higher no matter what.

    Again, this has to be the Fed. In fact, I believe that at some point in the next few months, the Fed will openly admit to buying stocks with a new QE program.

Obviously this is not the first time something like this has happened: the federal government and the Federal Reserve intervened in the 2007-2008 financial crisis and probably has been doing so on a regular basis since. But the timing of this suggests that there is a political motivation: to keep people from seeing their 401k's from crashing before the election.

Israel Triggers Pagers To Explode (Updated)

    In  the Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson, which includes the classic cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, corporations and governments protected computer systems from hackers using ICE (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics). A deadly version of this (Black ICE) would fry a hacker's brain. 

    While we are not quite there yet, the Daily Mail reports that Israel figured out a way to hack the pagers used by Hezbollah for communications and cause them to explode in synchrony. As a result, hundred of pagers exploded injuring hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, officials and civilians, including at least three dead (update: the New York Post is now reporting 2,800 injured and 9 dead). Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured, the article relates. 

    Victims were seen sporting significant wounds as they lay on the ground surrounded by terrified bystanders in images shared to social media and broadcast by Lebanese and Israeli networks. 

    Yet more harrowing clips taken inside Lebanese hospitals showed how some unfortunate victims sustained massive head injuries, gaping wounds in their legs and abdomen, or had their hands blown off by the powerful explosions.

    How did Israel pull this off? Another article explains:

    One source close to Hezbollah claimed that the incident came as a direct result of an 'Israeli breach' of its communications, though this has not been confirmed and Israel has not yet commented.

    A different official said on condition of anonymity that the cause of the explosions was likely the lithium batteries that power the pagers.

    While lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in consumer electronics, they can overheat and catch on fire - even exploding violently in some cases.

    This is due to a phenomenon called thermal runaway, a chemical chain reaction which occurs when the battery experiences a rapid temperature change.

    As this chemical reaction progresses it can lead to a sudden release of energy which can cause devices to explode with intense force and heat.

    Thermal runaway is triggered when the battery is overheated, punctured or overcharged.

    There is yet to be any official confirmation on what caused the pagers to detonate simultaneously, however, Lebanese military sources have suggested that the devices were detonated as part of an Israeli attack.

    It is possible that Israeli forces or some other actor could have hacked these devices and remotely overcharged the battery, triggering a thermal runaway.

    Pagers often use unencrypted communications channels and outdated software, making them extremely easy targets for an attack.

    One-way pagers are passive receivers and so cannot be tracked, but when a message is sent it activates every pager transmitter in the area.

    By hijacking the broadcast signal, an adversary could have conceivably infected every single pager on the network simultaneously. 

    A virus could have been implanted into the Hezbollah pager network and allowed to remain dormant on the devices until it had spread widely.

    This malware may have been remotely triggered or activated on a pre-programmed timer.

    Video shows that the devices appeared to receive a message moments before the devices detonated.

    This signal could have been the trigger for the explosion or it may have been used to ensure that the fighters were holding the devices when they exploded.

    If these explosions are the product of a cyberattack then this is an exceptionally rare case of cyberwarfare causing disruption to physical infrastructure.

Yet another reason to be careful of using or carrying your cell phone or a notebook or laptop computer. If it can be done to the pagers, you know someone will want to try and do the same with other devices. In fact, anything that connects to a computer or the internet and uses any sort of software controlled recharging is vulnerable. 

Update: Besides the larger number of injured and dead noted above, the New York Post also reports that "[t]he devices that detonated were all the latest models acquired by Hezbollah in recent months and distributed to its members, with the devices suspected of being tampered with, three security sources told Reuters."

2nd Update: The New York Post reports:

    The Israeli spy agency Mossad allegedly intercepted Hezbollah’s shipment of new pagers months ago and rigged them with high explosives — resulting in the stunning attack on the Lebanese terror group Tuesday, according to a new report.

    Mossad agents reportedly placed Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a highly explosive material, inside the batteries of the pagers, sources told Sky News Arabia, according to a translation from the Times of Israel.

    The devices were then detonated by an external signal that caused the batteries inside to overheat, the sources added.

Anonymous Conservative has additional information indicating that the pagers, manufactured in Taiwan by Gold Apollo Co., Ltd., were held up by Jordanian customs after the logistics company responsible for delivering them refused to deliver them to Lebanon. 

3rd  Update: The New York Post reports that Gold Apollo is denying that they manufactured the pagers, but they were made by BAC Consulting KFT based in Budapest, Hungary; each had 1 to 2 ounces of explosives; the number of wounded is now listed as over 3,000 and one of the dead is a 9 year old girl. 

4th Update: Now there are reports indicating the Israel set up shell companies to manufacture the pagers, including the BAC Consulting company. But people involved in running the companies are denying knowledge of the plot. 

    According to the New York Times, one of the Mossad shell companies was B.A.C. Consulting in Budapest, Hungary, set up to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo.

    Gold Apollo's chair, Hsu Ching-kuang, told journalists Wednesday the firm has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years.

    'According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,' Gold Apollo said in a statement.

    At least two other shell companies, one in Sofia headed by a Norwegian businessman were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

    It is not known how involved in or aware of the ultimate plan were the legitimate business people running the companies, such as British-educated physicist Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, who has denied any knowledge of the plot.

    B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But for Mossad the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary.

    Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers speaking to the NYT.

I will be interested to see if there are lawsuits and/or criminal charges brought against those companies and the people running them.

St. Louis' Underground River

Not an urban ruins video, per se, but an urban exploration video that discusses how a 9-mile section of the River Des Pres running through a portion of St. Louis (including Forest Park) was buried and eventually run through a series of concrete tunnels. The video also shows sections of the tunnels with some explanation and tour by a manager working for the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD).

VIDEO: "Exploring the Underground River Beneath St. Louis"
Oddity Odysseys (16 min.)

Liberals are both stupid and evil

 The late Charles Krauthammer famously observed: "To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil." That liberals are stupid seems self-evident, but Krauthammer put it down to liberals believing, deep down, that everyone is a nice person; and if they aren't nice, it is because they were deprived. "If only we could get social conditions right — eliminate poverty, teach anger management, restore the ozone, arrest John Ashcroft — everyone would be holding hands smiley-faced, rocking back and forth to 'We Shall Overcome.'" Thus, they are incapable of understanding the world as it is. As Krauthammer points out: "Who else but that oracle of American liberalism, The New York Times, could run the puzzled headline: 'Crime Keeps On Falling, but Prisons Keep On Filling.'" But since liberals are so stupid, "the conservative attitude toward liberals is one of compassionate condescension."

    On the other hand:

Liberals are not quite as reciprocally charitable. It is natural. They think conservatives are mean. How can conservatives believe in the things they do — self-reliance, self-discipline, competition, military power — without being soulless? How to understand the conservative desire to actually abolish welfare, if it is not to punish the poor? The argument that it would increase self-reliance and thus ultimately reduce poverty is dismissed as meanness rationalized.

And, therefore, to explain why conservatives would oppose the, to-them, self-evident good that comes from progressive policies, liberals engage in demonizing conservatives. After all, under the religion of the left, the only reason that the left cannot create their utopia is because they are being stymied by earthly demons and traitors: i.e., conservatives and moderates. 

    Krauthammer uses, as an example, how at the time he first published his article, liberals liked to blame election losses on "angry white males." 

The “angry white male” was thus a legend, but a necessary one. It was unimaginable that conservatives could be given power by any sentiment less base than anger, the selfish fury of the former top dog — the white male — forced to accommodate the aspirations of women, minorities and sundry upstarts.

    But while unaddressed by Krauthammer, the "angry white men" motif did not appear out of nowhere. As we now understand, it was the root and essence of the neo-Marxist critical thinking school which has given us critical race theory, critical gender theory, DEI, and many other gifts. But it wasn't all that original because it was just a gussied up version of the standard socialist/Marxist strategy of demonizing one group to bring the rest under their control.

    For Stalin, the hated group to be rounded up and slaughtered were the Kulaks. Although Mao Zedong pretty much killed and starved everyone by the end of his evil life, the initial focus of the public hate under his rule were the intellectuals. Hitler focused public hate on the Jews. Pol Pot, of Cambodia, was more broad, with public hate extending to intellectuals, foreign nationals, Cambodian Christians, and Buddhist monks.

    For the modern left in the United States, the group to be hated are white, straight, males (aka, the "angry white males"). I can only assume that the reason that "angry white males" and their allies have not been rounded up and shipped to concentration camps is that the left still doesn't exert the control over government as it needs. Nothing that another decade or two of immigration won't correct.

    But it is due to the liberals' overwhelming need to demonize conservatives that we see Democrats blaming Republicans for the attempted assassinations of Trump. "If it wasn't for the Republicans being so evil," the liberals explain, "we wouldn't have to suggest violence; so it is really the Republicans' fault."

More:

• "Hillary Clinton blasted for saying Trump is a 'danger to the country and the world' less than 48 hours after the assassination attempt"--Daily Mail.
  

I'd Watch It ...

VIDEO: "Thundarr the Barbarian as a 1980s Dark Fantasy Film - Super Panavision 70"
A.I. Film Forge (2 min.)

TSA Warns Of Rise In Passengers Trying To Carry "Cat's Eyes" Onto Planes

One of the consequences of the constant effort to disarm Americans so that they are helpless in the face of a terrorist or other violent criminal is an arms race to develop defensive tools that might get through a security checkpoint and into a non-permissive environment. And thus this recent headline from the Daily Mail: "What are 'cat eyes'? TSA issues urgent warning over surge in passengers carrying banned items." The article describes them as follows:

    Cat eyes are self-defense weapons similar to brass knuckles, but have pointed edges shaped like a cat's ears.

    The user slips two of their fingers through two holes - the eyes - then close their fists so the sharp [sic: pointy] edges [the ears] are sticking out. This allows the person to slash at others with a punch.

Basically, the "ears" of the cat head shape act like spikes on a knuckleduster, but the device has the overall appearance of a cute cat's head. And the TSA does not like them because an increasing number of people are trying to sneak them through airport security. 

    The TSA has been aware of the proliferation of cat eyes since last year, when the agency amended a rule to classify cat eyes as a type of brass knuckle.

    Brass knuckles, like cat eyes, are not allowed in carry-on bags but can be stowed away in checked bags.

    If a passenger is found to have cat eyes in their bag at a security line, officers will pull them aside and search their bags.

    They can either return the weapon to their car, hand it off to someone that isn't traveling with them or hand it over to an agent so it can be disposed.

John Wilder Talks Color Revolutions and the United States

 His post is "Are We In The Middle Of A Planned Revolution? Yes." He covers the basics of color revolutions and why he thinks we are in the middle of one.

Another Attempted Trump Assassination

What with the Emmy Awards this weekend, many of you might not have heard that there was a second assassination attempt on former president Trump. (I'm just joking--I didn't know about the Emmy Awards on Sunday until I was catching up on some headlines and, frankly, wonder how many people even care). 

    As you probably heard, a devoted Democrat and confirmed globalist, Ryan Routh, was waiting in ambush to shoot Trump as the candidate was golfing at his Trump International Golf Club in Florida. Initial reports apparently were that there had been a shooting near the golf course but unrelated to Trump. Now we are told that Routh, a convicted felon, had been hiding out anywhere from 300 to 500 yards from where Trump was playing when a Secret Service Agent spotted him and engaged him with gun fire. (Routh, fortunately, seems to have had lousy fieldcraft). Routh fled the scene, leaving behind a scoped AK [update: SKS] style rifle, body armor, and a Go Pro camera. Routh was arrested shortly thereafter.

    There are a few questions about all of this, including the biggie: how Routh knew that Trump would be golfing at that particular time and place. Some have suggested that the information was leaked to him. Maybe someone who does not want to see peace in Ukraine. Of course, Routh might have just hung out there every weekend hoping for a shot. I would also like to know if he had ties to Leftist groups. The public might have been able to discover the answers, but Routh's X account was quickly taken down and his Facebook account was scrubbed.

    But because of the hubbub over this, one thing you might not have heard about is that the affidavit of an ABC News whistleblower was released and shows that the Harris Campaign was exercising considerable control over the debate, including requiring live "fact checking" of Trump (which is why only Trump was being "fact checked" and not Harris). 

    But back to the second assassination attempt. Anonymous Conservative has collected links and is probably the best source for additional information I've come across (see his daily news brief for today and his post, "Another Trump Assassination Attempt, Trump Is Safe And Unharmed"). And some more article:

• "Alleged Trump Fla. Assassin Was Democrat Voter, Biden Donor and Ukraine Loyalist"-- Headline USA.
• "Ryan Wesley Routh Fought in Ukraine War"--Newsweek.
• "Alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh donated exclusively to Democrats since 2019"--New York Post.
• "The Story Behind Trump's Second Assassin Took a Strange Turn...and It Involves the Media"--Townhall. About the New York Times having interviewed Routh concerning Ukraine. As Glenn Reynolds notes, it appears that Routh might have been working with diplomats and/or intelligence agencies as late as last year.
• "Democrats shouldn’t be surprised by Trump’s would-be assassins"--The Spectator. Roger Kimball argues that the attempted assassinations are the inevitable results of Democrats incessantly demonizing Trump for the past 7 years (i.e., the Left's Trump Derangement Syndrome).