Bombs & Bants Episode #147

 Our pre-election show ...

VIDEO: Bombs & Bants Episode #147 (52 min.)

VIDEO: "History And The Headless Horseman"

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

One of my favorite Halloween stories since I was but a wee lad has been Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." My first exposure was undoubtedly the Disney version, probably shown from a movie projector in a darkened school classroom, which I still enjoy. But the written story became a favorite as well. 

In the following video from The History Guy, he explains that there is some actual history behind "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and also discusses how the popularity of the story has influenced the real world as various towns and locales have changed names to better match the descriptions in the story.

VIDEO: "History and the Headless Horseman"
The History Guy (17 min.)

Conspiracy Realities

The other day I posted about the intelligence agencies' hypocrisy in warning about conspiracy theories that threaten the election. While the intelligence agencies continue to spout the same lies that election interference is just a right wing conspiracy theory, I discussed the actual conspiracy by former and then-current (as it turned out) intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian "disinformation." Since then, others articles have been published about other conspiracies to keep Trump from office or running again:

• "Jake Tapper Is Lying About CNN’s Key Role In The Russia Collusion Hoax"--The Federalist. Mollie Hemingway notes that, in an interview with J.D. Vance, "Tapper claimed, falsely, that all he and his colleagues did was report that the FBI was investigating the matter [the Russian collusion story]. He further claimed, falsely, that his viewers would not have been led to believe that Trump had conspired with Russia[.]" But, as she relates, Tapper knew the dossier to be fake, but he and CNN were willing parties to try and legitimize the Russian dossier. From the article:
  

    Hillary Clinton and DNC operatives had spent the better part of 2016 trying to push their Russia collusion disinformation operation out to anybody who would run with it. It was so weak that almost no one bit and those who did were exclusively partisan activists. They had, however, managed to get the FBI to run wild with it, even using it to help secure a wiretap to spy on an American.

    But the point was really to get the made-up dossier out into the public. Clinton and the DNC designed and developed the Russia collusion dossier through Fusion GPS. That group claimed that the author of the dossier was Christopher Steele, who they pitched to the press as some kind of former British super spy. He turned out to be something of a politically motivated joke who had outsourced the collection of information to a guy who seemed to brainstorm outlandish ideas for the dossier with his drinking buddies and who had previously been the subject of an inconclusive FBI counterintelligence investigation into whether he was a Russian spy. And the “most important contributor” to the Russia collusion hoax dossier was identified by the Wall Street Journal as a disgruntled Russian public relations executive with a reported drinking problem.

    Even years before that all slowly came out, no serious journalist would touch the dossier of made-up stories and unsubstantiated claims because they would almost certainly get sued. It was a real conundrum for Democrats. And there was a real problem inside intelligence agencies. They had just spent the previous year running an insane investigation into whether Trump was himself a Russian spy and had gone after key people associated with his campaign, including incoming National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.

    At an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, FBI Director James Comey discussed what to do about the Russia collusion operation with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Obama gave guidance about how to perpetuate the Russia collusion hoax investigations. They discussed whether and how to withhold national security information, likely including details of the investigation into Trump himself, from the incoming Trump national security team. Imagine if Mike Flynn learned that Comey’s people had been spying on Trump campaign affiliates and investigating him.

    An ostensibly similar briefing about Russian interference efforts was given to Trump on Jan. 6, after which Comey privately briefed Trump on the “pee tape” allegation contained in the Clinton-funded dossier. The extra briefing was because the intelligence couldn’t be included in an official intelligence report as it was that much of a joke and hadn’t been verified by any legitimate institution, even if the FBI had used it to secure a warrant on an American. Comey told Trump — and later memorialized in memos — that he was giving the briefing because CNN was “looking for a news hook” in order to publish a story about the dossier and he wanted to warn Trump about it.

    You will never guess the news hook CNN used to publish their story about the dossier. OK, you did guess and yes, it was that Comey had briefed Trump about the dossier!

    The leak of the briefing of Trump was used to legitimize a ridiculous dossier full of allegations the FBI knew to be false and that multiple news organizations had previously refused to report on for lack of substantiation, and it created a cloud of suspicion over Trump’s incoming administration by insinuating he was being blackmailed by Russia. BuzzFeed, using the CNN story as justification, published the full dossier hours later. It was all very convenient.

And it wasn't just a one time matter for Tapper or CNN: as the article discusses, the network repeatedly returned to the Russian dossier and Russian interference themes throughout Trump's term of office.

• "Whistleblower: James Comey had FBI ‘honey pot’ spies infiltrate Trump’s 2016 campaign"--Washington Examiner. The article begins:

    The House Judiciary Committee is examining a whistleblower report that the FBI targeted Donald Trump soon after he announced his presidential campaign in June 2015, an off-the-books operation ordered by FBI Director James B. Comey that predated the Crossfire Hurricane operation.

    An FBI agent involved in the probe revealed the off-the-books criminal investigation on Tuesday in a protected disclosure sent to the committee.

    The whistleblower disclosure said two female FBI undercover agents infiltrated Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign at high levels and were directed to act as “honeypots” while traveling with Mr. Trump and his campaign staff on the trail.

Although this article doesn't name names, The Last Refuge claims to know their identities.

• More: "Report: Whistleblower Claims There Was an Off-Book FBI Investigation Into Trump Ordered by Comey"--Hot Air.
  

• "Facebook execs suppressed Hunter Biden laptop scandal to curry favor with Biden-Harris admin: bombshell report"--New York Post. From the lede:

The FBI warned major US tech companies ahead of The Post’s first reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop in October 2020 that Russian agents were preparing a strikingly similar document dump — and once the scoop materialized, Facebook executives discussed calibrating censorship decisions to please what they assumed would be an incoming Biden-Harris administration, a congressional investigation found. 

Also:

    The FBI has possessed Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop since December 2019 and knew that files cited by The Post in its coverage came from a Delaware computer repairman and not the Kremlin — but, after preemptively discrediting the world exclusive to Big Tech, the FBI kept silent publicly as 51 ex-intelligence officials suggested and then-candidate Joe Biden outright alleged that the files came from Russia.

    The Post’s reporting showed that Biden, while vice president, interacted with international business associates of his son Hunter and brother James — including in countries where he helped steer US policy, such as China and Ukraine.

    The reports were widely, if belatedly, corroborated by other news outlets and the files were even used by federal prosecutors in court — but only after Biden defeated Trump in November 2020 by narrow swing-state margins, which some Republicans say was in part due to the cloud of suspicion over the laptop.

• "Uh, Oh, Again: Homeland Security Role in Bizarre Election Day 'Tabletop Exercise' Denied"-- Racket News. An excerpt:

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, has been the subject of multiple Racket stories in recent years. A year ago, we followed up a House Weaponization of Government Committee report with Twitter Files documents detailing the Homeland Security agency’s help forming the Election Integrity Partnership at Stanford, which mass-flagged social media content in the last presidential election.

    Now, a week before another presidential vote, the agency again stepped in it, in a seeming effort to quell conspiracy theories that are almost certain to achieve the opposite.

    CISA went unintentionally viral in recent weeks when its participation in a “large scale” cybersecurity exercise on Election Day in Atlanta was announced by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA). When Kentucky Senator Rand Paul sent DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas a WTF letter, CISA said the event was canceled. Now, despite both DHS and CISA being listed as “pivotal organizations” at the event, with the Election Day exercise scheduled to be led by a CISA official named Klint Walker, the organizers, i.e. the people who wrote the brochure below, are reportedly telling reporters DHS/CISA had “no involvement” with the event.

•  Finally, Mike at Chicago Boyz explains the implications of all this government interference and what he expects following the election in an article entitled "The Coming Storm". As he sees it, the United States is on the precipice of a disaster and he lists three reasons why. 

    First, is a voting system that seems designed to allow fraud and create mistrust. 

 

    Second, the recent coordinated flurry of stories comparing Trump to Hitler (and his followers as Nazis). This, he believes, is to provide a moral imperative for stopping Trump from taking office.

    Third is the declining support of the U.S. Constitution among Democrats. Democrats have long viewed the Constitution more as guidelines than laws, but Mike notes that almost half (49%) of rank and file Democrats believe the Constitution should be rewritten. 

     So where is this going? He explains:

 

    There’s been a lot of head scratching on the Right concerning what the Democrats are trying to accomplish with their “Hitler Talk.” In reality the Right is missing the point of the exercise: it isn’t to convince the undecided but rather to set the framework for the post-Election Day battle. While Republicans and the Right in general see an election as being composed of discrete phases of before and after, the Democrats and the Left see it as an integrated whole and their communications strategy now reflects that view.

    That’s not to say there aren’t immediate benefits for the Democrats with their “Hitler Talk.” It could strengthen their base and prevent defections. But the primary target is the post-election.

    Given the existing conditions of the undecided nature of the post-election environment, a narrowing of the stakes for victory and scope onto a select number of actions, and the apocalyptic rhetoric of the Democrats, you will have the potential for a catastrophe. If you can claim that you are trying to stop Hitler, then you have permission to let your freak flag fly, and there will be plenty of opportunities to do it.

    The third reason acts as the removal of a boundary for action. If the electoral system provides the terrain, the Hitler talk provides the motive. Then, the third reason — the decline of belief among Democrats in the Constitution — increases the scope of possible action by the Democrats.

    When I state this situation to friends, their primary objection to it is that it is too fantastic; what course of action would the Democrats actually take that would amount to more of a Jamie Raskin-led hissy fit? I find this objection to be a weak reed, and state that the experience of the past 40 years — from the sudden collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, to the various color revolutions — has shown that my friends’ sentiments lack a certain degree of imagination given underlying realities.

    In 2020 there was an exercise called the Transition Integrity Project which was conducted to game out various post-election scenarios. It involved a veritable who’s who of the Washington establishment such as David Frum, John Podesta, and Donna Brazile. While most of the attention focused on the scenarios which gamed out a Trump defeat, there was one scenario (Game 3) where Trump achieved a clear win but lost the popular vote.

    As he explains Game 3, the presidential candidate (Biden) first retracted his concession and convinced three state governors to hold recounts, resulting in a different slate of electors being sent to Washington. The next step was to get California, Oregon, and Washington states to threaten to secede from the Union unless Republicans agreed to structural reforms including creating additional states (that would be solidly Democrat controlled) giving Democrats complete control of the Senate, and eliminated the Electoral Collage to allow the president to be selected by popular vote. 

       You will note that all of these reforms would effectively terminate what little federalism remains in our federal government, and concentrate power in the big blue enclaves and remove what little power remains to the smaller, more rural states.

People Leaving Organ Donor Programs After Harvesting Mistake

From PJ Media: "People Opting Out of Organ Donor Programs After Reports of a Donor Mistakenly Declared Dead." The incident in question is one I recently posted about, where doctors very nearly harvested organs from a man--33-year-old Anthony Hoover (known as "TJ")--who was very much alive. In the wake of the story garnishing national attention, "Donate Life America found an average of 170 people a day removed themselves from the national donor registry in the week following media coverage of the allegations – 10 times more than the same week in 2023[.]"

    The headline, I think, misstates the issue. I doubt it was the fact that Hoover was mistakenly declared dead, but rather that after Hoover showed signs of life during a test of his heart, "[i]nstead of stopping the procedure, the cardiologist gave TJ a paralytic called rocuronium and sedated him further with midazolam and fentanyl so the test could be completed." And, further, that once Hoover was in the operating room and the staff there realized he was still alive, the organ harvesting entity--Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA)--reportedly directed its employee to find a doctor that would go ahead with procedure anyway. In short, I think that what upsets people is that KODA and at least one of the physicians involved appeared willing to kill the man in order to harvest his organs.

Gun & Prepping News #4

 Just some articles that caught my attention for one reason or another:

• "Can You Use 9mm Pistols as Handgun Hunting and Trail Guns?"--American Hunter. The author notes that "the answer to the question of 9mm pistols for handgun hunting appropriate game is a resounding yes." Take note of the "appropriate game" part. He goes through some of the hunting or bear defense rounds available, but warns that your state's game laws may not allow 9 mm for hunting. I think it is a mistake to confound a hunting weapon with a trail gun. The 9 mm can be used for defense against vicious animals up to and including bear, although it may take multiple shots and bullets capable of deep penetration. A hunter, however, strives for "one shot, one kill," and the 9 mm seems a little weak for that in medium size game or larger. It may be capable of taking medium game but can it do so reliably? 
• "Why More Bullets Are Better Than Less"--Tactical Anatomy. The author, James Williams, explains:

Ammunition is dissipated amazingly rapidly in a gunfight. If you don’t put your adversary down, and I mean down, with your first 2 to 5 rounds, you’re almost certainly going to be dealing with incoming fire. Which means you’re going to be moving to cover, and your adversary is going to be moving, too. Hit ratios drop into the low single digits when both fighters are moving, the statistics show. And you know you’re going to be firing while moving to cover, because you want to keep your enemy off-balance so he can’t draw a good bead on you while you do so. 

He also relates: "When I was still an active member of my county’s SWAT team in Wisconsin, on my armor vest I carried 9 single-stack magazines for my SIG P220 service handgun (72 rounds), and five 30-round magazines for my M4 carbine (150 rounds). Most of the rest of the guys on the team were similarly kitted-out." Of course, that would be too much for someone carrying a handgun concealed (at least if they wanted everything to be concealed) but Williams suggests that the armed citizen use a high capacity handgun as a primary weapon and carry at least one spare magazine. 

The issue of how many rounds you should carry has been debated. I have discussed this before, as well as going over arguments by Massad Ayoob and John Correia on the issue (see "Whether To Carry An Extra Magazine").

Related posts:

• "Ayoob: The Necessity of High Capacity Magazines"
• "Guns Mag.: 'Why Not Pack A Pair?'"
  

• "Handgun RDS Failure? No Dot, No Problem"--Guns America. The author goes over using backup iron sights, preventative maintenance, and why a red dot might crap out, before going over a few techniques:

1. "Guillotine- The name comes from the curve on top of a Trijicon RMR. The top of the optic (i.e. guillotine) is held at the target’s neck putting the window on the chest.  If the window appears smaller than the chest, the target is in range for this technique."
2. "Man on TV- This is similar to Guillotine. You look through the body of the optic to line up the front and rear windows of the RDS. barrel. This works best with closed RDS."
3. "The Crown- Used for headshots, the top of the optic sits on the target’s head like a crown. ... [T]he optic covers the target’s head and the top of the optic forms a crown (or owl’s horns with the Trijicon RMR) on top of the target’s head. If the window is obscured, you may have to hold a little lower to see the top of the target."
4. And although this is not so much a technique as an alternate type of backup sight, "Stripe and Dot- Use a paint pen to put a stripe on top of the optic and a dot on the back. This is almost as effective as BUIS for lining up the pistol and target."
   

He includes some photographs so you get a better idea of what each looks like.

• "Guns Of The Professionals"--National Rifleman. A look at the rifles and calibers used by three famous African big game hunters: Harry Selby, John Kingsley-Heath, and Wally Johnson. The article relates that Selby initially used a Rigby .470 Nitro Express double rifle, but after the rifle was damaged, was forced to use was a bolt-action chambered in .416 Rigby ... and he never looked back. Kingsley-Heath's weapon of choice was a Westley Richards double rifle chambered in .470 Nitro Express, although he also used a Westley Richards bolt action chambered for the .425 Westley Richards cartridge. Johnson often used a Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H Mag. Although the .375 is considered small for African big game (too small in some countries), "[i]t was the .375’s versatility that endeared Johnson and so many others to this all-around cartridge."
  
• Going to the opposite extreme: ".32 ACP: The Round that Made the Auto Pistol"--The Mag Life. A history of the .32 ACP, why it has hung around, and an examination of whether there is still any place for this cartridge. The cartridge appears to excel in the role for a very small handgun, particularly if it is a simple blowback pistol. The problem is that very few handguns are manufactured for this cartridge and they are all (other than the KelTec) old designs that make use of metal frames and, for that reason, are too heavy for the size of the weapon.
  
• "Hickok’s Mistake"--Shooting Illustrated. Sheriff Jim Wilson reminds us that "Wild Bill" Hickok was killed when his murderer came up behind him in a gambling saloon and shot Hickok in the head. That is, Hickok was not paying attention to his surroundings.
• "Winter is Coming: Are We Running Out Of Gunpowder?" by Robert Sadowski, The Truth About Guns. The author notes that "[g]lobal instability with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine is draining the market of gunpowder." Meaning, production has shifted to meet military needs. Supplies of large rifle primers, which must also be imported, have likewise tightened up.
  
• "10 Mistakes Newbie Fire Builders Make" by Tim MacWelch (republished from Outdoor Life). Note the first two especially: picking material up from wet ground; and using rotten wood. 
• "How to Hike Downhill Safely and Comfortably" republished from Popular Science. The first two points raised in the article have to do with footwear (including a suggesting as to lacing a boot for a decent) and picking a route, but the article also discusses the biomechanics involved, the technique involved, and training/exercises to help with downhill hiking.
• "Stock Up For Survival: Essential Food Storage Tips For Emergencies"--Zero Hedge. The author is writing in the context of having 72-hours of food and water in the aftermath of a disaster, but also suggests planning for two weeks or even a month if your budget and storage space allows. As the author notes, "Whether facing natural disasters like flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, or chemical spills—or personal emergencies—such as illnesses, accidents, or losing your job, having food, cash, and other necessities tucked away can mean the difference between thriving and surviving." He then briefly goes over the amount of water you might need, selection of foods, storage strategies, cooking without electricity, food spoilage, common mistakes, and mentions extension offices as an additional resource for those interested in food storage.
• More: "Home Prep Guide: What You Need To Last 2 Weeks In An Emergency"--The Epoch Times.  Advice (and a nice graphic which you can download) on prepping for a natural disaster, including topics such as a family communication plan, evacuation plan, and a shelter in place plan. The graphic also goes over food and water storage, health and hygiene needs, shelter and tools, communication and power preps, and financial preps and important documents to have on hand. 
• "Mountain House math at CostCo"--Commander Zero. A closer look at the Mountain House "Just In Case" (get the pun?) 5 day meal kit. Short take:

So keeping an eye on those calories-per-serving and servings-per-container, you can see that if you add up the entire caloric value of this box you get…an average of 1488 calories per day. Thats about 75% of your daily 2000 calories. And thats 2000 calories for just sitting there doing nothing. Factor in chainsawing downed trees, hanging looters, hauling supplies, etc, etc, and you’ll see that 1488 calories is better than nothing but you better plan on adding a few notches to your belt.

Or, the author recommends, adding some extra canned or packaged foods to the mix. 

• "Gear for the Hard Times: DIY Water Purification for your Family"--The New Rifleman. The author states that "[a] good water system will be a) portable, b) reliable, and of course c) potable." But, he notes, while the Berkey filters generally check the boxes, they are expensive. He wanted something cheaper and that could be easily constructed and/or repaired. Thus, he provides instruction for constructing something similar in size to the larger models of Berkey filters using a couple 5 gallon food grade buckets, a ceramic dome filter, and adding a water spigot.
  

Evolution In Action: Influencers Drown After Refusing Life Jackets

I didn't think I would so soon run across another story worthy of the "evolution in action" moniker, and yet here we are. From the Daily Mail: "Influencers drowned during yacht party after 'refusing to wear life jackets because they would ruin their selfies and tans', police say." 

Mark of the Beast Update: Kuwait Bars Financial Services For Unregistered

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Rev. 13: 16-17.

Vox Popoli noted a piece from Armstrong Economic entitled: "Kuwait Suspends Services to Thousands for Failing to Submit Biometric Data." The key part:

    Kuwait has forced over one million citizens to hand over their biometric data in one of the most extreme pushes for digital ID. Kuwait introduced a national electronic ID (eID) that they say will assist with identification verification, digital signatures, E-government access, and the secure exchange of data. The deadline to file for this mandatory program was September 30 and the consequences for failing to comply were swift.

    On October 1, the Ministry of Interior announced that those who failed to submit their data would be prohibited from all electronic services such as withdrawals, transfers, and account transfers. One cannot even withdraw cash. Around 35,000 people have been blocked out of their bank accounts and are unable to even view the balance. A few weeks later, those in noncompliance has their electronic bank cards deactivated. Visa, MasterCard, and K-Net all abided by the government’s rule.

    Beginning on November 1, The Kuwait Banking Association stated it will implement a “complete block” on all accounts, which means one cannot even withdraw funds if they go to the bank in person. Expatriates have until December 31 to submit their biometric registration.

The "no man might buy or sell" part is coming along smoothly. 

    Vox Day adds: "Notice that there isn’t one word of protest out of all the organizations that profess to be dedicated to human liberty, democracy, and the will of the people." Of course there has been no opposition or protest. There is nothing to preclude the Antichrist system from preceding the Antichrist.

Intelligence Agencies Warn That Conspiracy Theories Pose Threat To Election

NBC News reports that "Extremists inspired by conspiracy theories pose major threat to 2024 elections, U.S. intelligence warns." Based on the headline alone, you might be forgiven if you thought it was about the 51 intelligence officials who signed a letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop story was fake immediately before the crucial final debate between Trump and Biden in 2020. Of course, the laptop and the information contained therein were real. Even the government admits as much: during the prosecution of Hunter Biden for gun and tax crimes, both the FBI and Department of Justice confirmed that the laptop’s contents were authentic. But the letter likely helped Biden eke out a win over Trump. It was, in effect, part of a larger intelligence community operation to take down Trump and manipulate the outcome of the election--our own "color revolution" you could say. It begs the question of why should we ever again trust the intelligence community?

More:

• "CIA Listed Some Signatories of the Hunter Biden Laptop Letter as Active Contractors"--National Review.
• "New Information Shows CIA Contractors Colluded with the Biden Campaign to Discredit Hunter Biden Laptop Story"--CIA Subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee. 
• "‘Spies Who Lie’ leader, cosigners were on CIA payroll when they falsely claimed Hunter Biden laptop was Russian fake"--House Judiciary Committee.
• "Ex-intel officials double down on signing 'patriotic' letter against Hunter Biden laptop: 'Woefully ignorant'"--Fox News.

Evolution in Action ...

The New York Post reports: "Teen girl killed and another fighting for her life after falling while subway surfing in Queens."

VIDEO: The Antichrist Revealed

Not a video naming the Antichrist as "so-and-so" but instead reviewing the various scriptures referring to the Antichrist to get a better view of what is the Antichrist and his role in the Tribulation and as a sign of the times.

 VIDEO: "The Antichrist Revealed"
Gospel Lessons (15 min.)

Before I forget: Greg Ellifritz's Latest Weekend Knowledge Dump

I had a busy weekend and so forgot to post about the new Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training published last Friday. If you haven't had the chance, go check it out, as Greg has compiled a list of particularly interesting and useful articles. I won't go over all of them that I found useful or interesting, but here are a few:

• A link to an article from the Suited Shootist on tuckable holsters. And by this, the author does not mean a mere IWB holster with visible clips, but something where both the gun and the holster (including clips) are hidden from view. He gives some pointers as to what to look for as well as what he uses or likes.
• An article on open hand versus closed hand strikes. I was actually thinking of this the day before I read the article as I watched an action movie with lots of fisticuffs and wondered how many of the fights, if real, would have led to broken fingers. The author notes that you could probably go through your life fine just abiding by the general guideline of "hard weapon to soft target, and soft weapon to hard target," but notes that there is a lot more to the subject, including discussing the 5 types of impact and how each can related to possible damage to your hand.
• In light of a Democrat politician recently "shooting" a reporter when the bullet bounced back from a too close of steel target, Greg helpfully includes a link to Action Target's article on safely shooting steel targets including the type (thickness) of AR500 steel to use (or not use) with different calibers and types of ammunition, as well as the generally accepted safe distance. 
• Greg included a link to an article by Massad Ayoob entitled: "Run and Gun: The Oscar Plasencia Incident." Although the incident involves a police shooting, there are lessons there for the civilian shooter including tips like don't wear a kevlar vest where it is visible to a criminal because it will just encourage them to take a head shot; don't try and estimate how rounds you shot in an encounter (you'll probably be wrong); and some of the psychological impacts a person might have following a defensive shooting.

It was hard to narrow my list even this far, so be sure to check out the whole thing, especially as he has links to a couple other articles that would probably be of special interest to preppers. 

The Realist: Zombie Apocalypse Movie Theater, Part II

 A guest post from the Realist.

Post apocalyptic movie theater set up inside an
abandoned warehouse. (Midjourney AI Image Creator)

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this article were purchased by myself. I did not receive free samples, evaluation models, or other compensation from any manufacturer or retailer. I have no formal relationship with any manufacturer or retailer mentioned in this article - I have only been an arms-length customer. All brand names and product names used in this review are the trade names, service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Further, this article reflects my unique circumstances and subjective opinions with regard to performance and other characteristics of the products discussed. Your mileage may vary.

    As I said at the close of the first Zombie Apocalypse Movie Theater (ZAMT) article: "The equipment described above is just a snapshot of my current equipment configuration. I expect that equipment mix to continue to evolve." That equipment mix has evolved, and I have shifted my focus to trying to simplify the setup of a portable theater for austere environments.

    My research has continued, including looking at several more projectors, and looking at utilizing Bluetooth speaker systems with built-in amplifiers to achieve a wireless or nearly wireless movie theater setup.

Cheap Projectors

    I continued to look at cheap projectors just to see what the minimum capabilities might be. Besides the ultra cheap (YG300, 360x240 resolution) twenty dollar projectors (sometimes over $50 on Amazon), I looked at other projectors that were around thirty-five dollars each.

    Only one of the cheap projectors, the Besus "J19 Mini Projector" with 480x360 resolution did not disappoint me. The slightly higher native resolution made a big difference in perceived picture quality. With a vertical resolution of 360 pixels (360P), the picture didn't seem pixelated like it does on lower resolution projectors. The 360P specification will become important later in this article.

    Overall, my opinion about cheap projectors remains unchanged: avoid the cheap projectors. Their quality seems spotty, and even when they work properly, they have very limited performance.

Anker Nebula Mars 3 (left), ETOE D2 EVO (center), and
Kodak LUMA 75 (right) projectors. 12 ounce soft drink can for scale.

Anker Nebula Mars 3 Projector

    The Anker Nebula Mars 3 projector is my current best projector. It is a 1000 ANSI lumen DLP portable HD (1920x1080 native resolution) projector. It has a fairly large 185 Wh built-in battery, allowing it to run for several hours on battery power. It has built-in speakers driven by a claimed 40 watt amplifier.

    The Mars 3 runs Android and has WiFi and limited Bluetooth connectivity. It can operate as a Bluetooth speaker (e.g. paired with your smart phone to play music), but it cannot use Bluetooth to transmit audio to a separate Bluetooth speaker.

    In my very brief light measurement session, I did not obtained an ANSI lumen number I trusted. The projector was so bright, there was significant light reflection off various room surfaces that biased up the light measurements I was taking. But, I have no doubt it outputs 1000 ANSI lumens in its brightest operating mode.

    The Mars 3 is fairly large (6.3 x 10.2 x 9.8 inches), with its smallest dimension being 6.3 inches. I wanted a hard case to protect it, but it is too thick to fit in any of the inexpensive Chinese hard cases, so I ended up spending a fair amount of money on a genuine Pelican case. (For a lot less money, I probably could have purchased a large surplus ammo can and lined it with foam rubber to protect the Mars 3.)

    I am annoyed that the Mars 3 cannot use Bluetooth to connect to external speakers.

Kodak LUMA 75 DLP Projector

    I purchased this projector as more of a novelty - an almost shirt-pocket sized projector. It is a 57 ANSI Lumen (my measurement) portable projector with a native resolution of 640x360 (360P). It measures 3.5 x 3.5 x 0.9 inches in size. It has a built-in battery that is claimed to operate the projector for two hours. It has one small speaker, driven by a claimed 1.5 Watt amplifier. The projector is charged using a 5 VDC USB-C cable, and can operate from an external USB power source. It did not come with a remote control.

    Due to its size, the LUMA 75, is a very basic projector. Navigation of its simple user interface and volume adjustment is accomplished via five touch buttons on the top surface of the projector. Focus is adjusted using a thumb wheel on the side of the projector. There is no keystone adjustment. It can play video via an HDMI cable, or play movies stored on a USB flash drive.

    The LUMA 75 does handle various aspect ratios I have tested (4:3, 16:9, 2.35:1) properly.

    With only 57 lumens of light output, maximum usable screen size will be limited. An online calculator that calculates screen brightness based on screen size and projector light output recommends a screen size no larger than 36 inches diagonal for acceptable brightness (15 foot-Lamberts) in a completely dark room. I was personally testing the projector with a diagonal screen size of 48 inches (8.3 foot-Lamberts), and thought it was acceptably bright.

    For its diminutive size, I really like this projector.

ETOE D2 EVO Projector

    I have been interested in a "sealed light engine" LCD projector, which is claimed to be dust proof, since learning such a thing existed. But, their prices typically start at around $150. I found the ETOE D2 EVO projector on TEMU for $84 - apparently, a clearance price. (The updated ETOE D2 EVO Pro is available on Amazon for more than I think it is worth)

    It is fairly compact with dimensions of 4.45 x 5.31 x 5.83 inches, and weighs a modest 3.6 pounds. The D2 EVO runs Android and has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.

    It has a claimed 400 ANSI lumen output, but I measured more like 157 ANSI lumens. Even with the light output being less than half what the manufacturer claims, it seemed fairly bright for such a compact transmissive LCD projector.

    Especially for the price, I really like this little projector. It has a bright sharp (after focusing) image, with the corners being less soft than I've seen before in transmissive LCD projectors. I like the dust proof "sealed light engine", which could be a very important feature in a post-apocalyptic scenario were filtered clean indoor air may no longer be common.

    One downside of this projector, which I am seeing on a lot of other projectors, is that the projector itself only has a power button. It is unusable without its remote control.

Monster X6 (left), ECOXGEAR Boulder Max Pro (right), and
Zealot S49 (bottom center) Bluetooth speakers. 12 ounce soft drink can for scale.

Bluetooth Speakers

    Sometime after I finished the first ZAMT article, I started looking at portable amplified speakers to reduce setup complexity. Again, like everything else, manufacturer specifications are exaggerated.

    The Bluetooth amplified speakers I have looked at are monophonic - they take the stereo signal, combine it into a single audio channel, and amplify that signal. Of course, you can always directly plug an audio cable into the speaker to use it as a standard amplified speaker, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having Bluetooth speakers. There are Bluetooth speakers that can be set up to be left or right channel for stereo sound, but I have not experimented with any of those speakers.

    I first experimented with some inexpensive Bluetooth speakers (Zealot S49) that were only a little bigger than a soft drink can. The manufacturer claimed these speakers had 20 watts output, but I seriously doubt it - a half watt is probably closer to the truth. They sounded muddy and were not as loud as I hoped.

Monster X6 Speakers

    I was first exposed to the Monster X6 speakers at my employer's "all hands" meeting held in a large warehouse-like building. But for the horrible acoustics (echo, combined with the speakers sitting on the floor), they would have been adequate for the room that was seating several hundred people.

    A couple weeks later, I saw the Monster X6 speakers on sale at Sam's Club. They are a PA and Bluetooth "Party Speaker". I bought a pair and brought them home. They claimed to output up to 600 watts. They have Bluetooth in addition to an amazing number of wired connectivity options. They require 120 VAC. Each speaker came with a tripod stand and an inexpensive microphone. These speakers also have a pair of wheels and an extendable handle so they can be pulled like a rolling suit case.

    What makes them a "Party Speaker" is that they have a bunch of LEDs on the sides of the front grill and around the woofer that will light and change color to the music being played - cute for a party, but annoying in a theater environment.

    In testing, I overheated them - but fortunately didn't kill them. Just before I shut them down because I was smelling something overheating, the pair were drawing 150 watts - 75 watts for each speaker. No, they were not 600 watt speakers, although they were really loud (I was wearing the hearing protection I would wear when shooting at an indoor range).

    The Monster X6 speakers are really big (27.5 x 20.5 x 12.0 inches, 38.8 lbs. not including the stand), so I started looking for smaller Bluetooth speakers, but not too small.

ECOXGEAR Boulder Max Pro Speakers

    Again at Sam's Club, I came across ECOXGEAR Boulder Max Pro speakers on sale. While they are still large-ish, they are much smaller (15.5 x 11.4 x 19.8 inches, 30.8 lbs.) than the Monster speakers. The ECOXGEAR speakers are Bluetooth "party" speakers, they are IP67 waterproof (their marketing videos show the speakers floating down a stream), and they are battery powered (7 AH 13.8 volt lead-acid rechargeable). All external jacks (120 VAC, audio-in, microphone, USB) are behind fairly substantial waterproof covers. 120 VAC is required to recharge the built-in battery, and of course, the speakers can run off 120 VAC. The manufacturer claims they output up to 100 watts - I doubt it. These speakers also have a pair of wheels and an extendable handle.

Wireless Speaker Latency

    Audio latency between the projector and wireless Bluetooth connected speakers turned out to be a much bigger problem than anticipated. Audio latency is observed as audio and visual events (e.g. speaking lip movement, sharp noises) in the movie not being synchronized.

    I expected to observe some Bluetooth speaker latency, but it was more noticeable than expected. I observed an estimated latency of around 200 milliseconds (one-fifth of a second). This 200 ms latency observation is consistent with what I expected from my reading on the subject.

    Then I had a bright idea to try using a small analog FM transmitter. These FM transmitters used to be very common in the era where most vehicles only had an AM/FM radio, and there was no other way to connect an audio source (e.g. MP3 player) to the vehicle's audio system. The FM transmitter plugs into the earphone jack of the audio source and transmits a weak short range signal that can be picked up by a nearby FM radio.

    The FM transmitter worked beautifully (no audio latency) when I was picking up its signal using an analog FM radio. However, when I used the built-in FM receiver of the party speakers, I observed a latency of 480 milliseconds (almost one-half of a second) - this was completely unexpected and completely unacceptable.

    Some projectors have audio latency adjustments, but I have not seen that capability on the low cost projectors. The Mars 3 projector, which lacks Bluetooth transmit capability, has a latency adjustment - up to 250 milliseconds.

Dealing With Audio Latency

    There are several ways of dealing with the audio latency:

    (1) Ignore it. Much of the time, the 200 ms Bluetooth latency shouldn't be a serious distraction.

    (2) Try to adjust it out or minimize it if the projector has a latency adjustment.

    (3) Run an audio cable from the audio output (headphone jack) of the projector to the amplified speaker or speakers. (This still reduces complexity over using a separate audio amplifier as I did in the first ZAMT article.)

    (4) Use analog FM radios to receive the audio from the FM transmitter, then connect those radios, via their headphone jack, to the amplified speakers. But, this increases setup complexity.

    The analog FM transmitter I experimented with was the Scosche FMT7-SP1 FM transmitter, which was around ten dollars. It is fairly small, powered by two AAA cells, with an attached six-inch cable with a 3.5 mm stereo plug to be plugged into a headphone jack. To get acceptable performance, this analog FM transmitter must be coupled with an analog FM receiver to eliminate latency.

    (5) Use a special purpose low-latency Bluetooth wireless audio transmitter/receiver set. These require a short cable for the required 5 VDC power, and a short cable for audio. This option has simpler setup than using analog FM radios, since no tuning of radios is required.

    I purchased a special purpose low-latency Bluetooth wireless audio transmitter/receiver set that had a claimed 20 millisecond latency. In practice, the latency was imperceptible. The receivers can be powered from the USB port built into the speakers. The transmitter can similarly be powered by the projector if you have a spare USB port.

Media Player

    The media player discussion of my first ZAMT article still applies. DVD and Blu-ray disc players, USB flash drives loaded with movies, along with any other video source you might have available are all valid options.

    I've noticed that with the NEBULA Mars 3, Kodak LUMA 75, and ETOE D2 EVO, a composite video input has been omitted. However, inexpensive composite-to-HDMI video converters are available if needed, and they work fairly well. These converters need 5 VDC, and the projector's USB plug can provide the necessary power for the converter. These converters tend to run a bit warm, which may reduce operational life - they are cheap, get two.

Almost Completely Wireless Theater

    With a battery powered projector (with a short patch cord to a Bluetooth transmitter), battery powered Bluetooth speakers, and movies loaded on a USB flash drive, it is possible to have an almost completely wireless improvised movie theater.

    Of course, I could always rely on the built-in speakers of the battery powered Mars 3 or battery powered Kodak LUMA 75 with movies stored on a USB flash drive to be completely wireless.

    In most scenarios, electrical power, even if provided by a power station, will still be needed to run the major components. Battery powered Blu-ray players are rare and expensive, so a Blu-ray player will most likely be powered by 120 VAC. Further, having a battery powered projector and speakers does not obviate the need for a reliable power source - those battery powered components will need to be recharged after use.

Conclusion

    Even before a zombie apocalypse, there are many circumstances where a semi-portable movie theater that can operate "off grid" would be desirable.

    I set out to assemble an entirely wireless movie theater, but quickly discovered that being entirely wireless was impractical. Bluetooth audio latency turned out to be a worse problem than expected, so I explored several alternatives to minimize audio latency while also minimizing setup complexity.

---

Resources:

• This YouTuber provides good reviews of video projectors. He uses uses test equipment to objectively measure performance characteristics of the projectors being reviewed. His focus is the home theater, but he also reviews portable video projectors.
• This article explains why projector lumen output matters, and provides recommended lumen output ranges for various environments. I personally think their recommendations, based on my own observations with my equipment being used in a dark room, are a little high. But, their recommendations provide a starting point in analyzing needs.

The Myth of Poisoned Halloween Candy And Hidden Needles

     I am, just barely, old enough to remember going out on Halloween (and it was Halloween back then, not some pagan sounding "Harvest Festival" where you half expect people to be burned alive in wicker cages to propitiate the gods) and being able to collect homemade cookies, candy, candied apples, and other treats. But that quickly changed in the late 1970s when stories of applies with needles or razor blades starting making their appearance in the media, followed by reports of poisoned candy. Soon, homemade cookies and doughnuts were replaced with coupons for a doughnut or large cookie at the local grocery store; and it quickly became the norm to only hand out commercially produced and packaged candies. Eventually, police agencies were offering to search through candy for suspicious items; and hospitals were offering to x-ray bags of candy. For awhile it was popular to take kids around to stores or to shopping malls to trick-or-treat, but that also faded away. Now it seems that we are stuck where kids go trunk-or-treating at events sponsored by churches or other groups, or are dutifully driven around by parents to relatives. It's safer that way.

    But what if this was mere paranoia, looming larger in the public psyche than the odds of it happening in real life?

    I recently happened across an article from the History Channel website entitled "How Americans Became Convinced Their Halloween Candy was Poisoned." It begins:

    Rumors of tainted, poisoned or otherwise murderous Halloween candy handed out to unsuspecting youngsters are as much a part of the Halloween tradition as costumes and sing-song pleas for sweets. The myth goes like this—no kid is safe on October 31 because psychotic murderers may hand out tainted treats to trick-or-treating children.

    But is poisoned Halloween candy a terrifying threat or an urban legend?

    “Many, if not most, reports of Halloween sadism are of questionable authenticity,” write sociologists and criminal justice experts Joel Best and Gerald T. Horiuchi. 

In fact, stories of poisoned candy seem entirely to be urban legend. There are only two cases involving Halloween candy described in the article:

    In 1964, for example, a New York woman named Helen Pfeil was arrested for handing out things like ant poison and dog biscuits to kids. When questioned, the housewife said that she was joking and that she gave the items to kids she felt were too old to be trick-or-treating. Though no children were poisoned during the incident, law enforcement didn’t find her actions funny.

    The most infamous Halloween poisoning took place on October 31, 1974. That’s when a Texas man named Ronald O’Bryan gave cyanide-laced pixie sticks to five children, including his son. The other children never ate the candy, but his eight-year-old son, Timothy, did—and died soon after.

    Though nobody saw O’Bryan put the cyanide in the candy, investigators learned that O’Bryan had recently taken life insurance policies out on his children. He was convicted of murder and executed via lethal injection in 1984. Though it’s been decades since the crime, the “Candyman” murder still looms large in the memories of many parents on Halloween.

And, in the latter case, the murderer wasn't even targeting trick-or-treaters generally, but his son and his son's friends. He mistakenly thought that poisoned Halloween candy was so common that it was the perfect way to cover up his crime.

    The article "Trick or truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering" from CBC News, indicates that there were "4 cases of tampering reported between 2008 and 2019, but none resulted in injury or death" although I can't determine from the story whether these were only in Canada or included all of North America. But the reporter also reached out to Joel Best:

    "I couldn't find a single report of a child killed or seriously injured from a contaminated treat received during trick-or-treating," he said. "This is a contemporary legend, and that's all it is."

    Best identified about 200 confirmed cases of candy tampering in the U.S. and Canada since 1958.

    "The attempts to systematically follow up on all reports concluded that the vast majority were hoaxes," Best said.

    "Is it possible that someone maliciously passes out treats with the intent of harming children at random? Of course. But this raises the question why there usually aren't multiple reports from the same area." 

    Best said in some instances, kids tampered with their own candy to get attention, or a friend or family member played a prank that went awry or a foreign object ended up in candy during the manufacturing process. 

It goes on to describe the two incidents mentioned above as well as a few others: a dentist in California who distributed laxative laced candies to children; an incident from Toronto, Canada, in 1968 where a mentally ill man actually had booby trapped apples with razors and needles, and poisoned some candy; and a 2000 case out of Minneapolis where four teenagers received chocolate bars with needles. But, as the article concludes, the real danger on Halloween is trick-or-treaters being struck by cars.

    As for Joel Best, who literally wrote the book on these types of incidents: "Best never inspected his children's Halloween candy and doesn't think it's necessary for parents to do so."

“All I can say is I don’t know of a single case of a child killed by a Halloween poisoner,” says Best. “I’ve seen five news stories that attributed deaths to Halloween poisoning. In one case, it was the child’s own father, and the other four were all retracted.”

Additional sources:

• "Why the urban legend of contaminated Halloween candy won't disappear"--NPR.
• "Why Halloween’s ‘Poison Candy’ Myth Endures"--Atlas Obscura.
  

The Enrichment Report #7

A selection of articles showcasing the benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion:

• "States with highest and lowest average IQs revealed in map"--Daily Mail. 
• "Closing the Border to Terrorists: Cooperation between Mexican Cartels and International Terrorist Organizations"--Small Wars Journal.
  
• They really, truly, hate you: "Neiman Marcus quietly bans ‘Christmas’ from iconic 98-year-old gift catalog — and workers are livid"--New York Post. Most likely ordered by the gay CEO, Geoffroy van Raemdonck.
• Related: From earlier this year: "Neiman Marcus rocked by accusations that CEO hires ‘mostly gay or European men’ and ‘white and Asian women’ for top posts"--New York Post.
• "Gay-face IS real: You can tell a person is homosexual just by looking at their features, say experts"--Daily Mail. 
• Related: "Gay VOICE is a thing: You can tell a man is homosexual from the way they talk, say scientists"--Daily Mail.
  
• Helping each other out: "Trans suspect accused of killing Pennsylvania officer was earlier released without bail by leftist nonbinary judge"--Post Millennial.
  
• "The staggering number of medals female athletes lost to trans opponents revealed in explosive UN report"--New York Post. The lede: "Female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to transgender rivals competing against them in women’s sporting categories, an eye-opening United Nations report has revealed."
• "Woke doc refused to publish $10 million trans kids study that showed puberty blockers didn’t help mental health"--New York Post. The article relates:

    A prominent doctor and trans rights advocate admitted she deliberately withheld publication of a $10 million taxpayer-funded study on the effect of puberty blockers on American children — after finding no evidence that they improve patients’ mental health.

    Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy told the New York Times that she believes the study would be “weaponized” by critics of transgender care for kids, and that the research could one day be used in court to argue “we shouldn’t use blockers.”

Or as J.K. Rowling succinctly summed it up: "We must not publish a study that says we're harming children because people who say we're harming children will use the study as evidence that we're harming children, which might make it difficult for us to continue harming children."

• "Parents horrified after discovering why their 13-year-old son had extra money in his bank account - as preschool teacher is arrested"--Daily Mail. Gay teacher was paying 12 and 13 year old male students to send salacious videos to him for money.
• Looking out for one another: "H-1B visa: Company supplying thousands of tech workers to Silicon Valley discriminated against non-Indians, jury finds"--MSN.

The lawsuit claimed Cognizant ousted many non-Indian workers by first taking them off projects and “benching” them without work, then keeping them benched until firing them in accordance with a company policy.

• The November surprise: "Hundreds of thousands of migrants are being held in southern Mexico until US Election Day — and are eager to rush border"--New York Post. The Biden Administration reached a deal with Mexico to hold Central and South American migrants in Mexico until after the election in a cynical attempt to reduce the number of border crossings. "Meanwhile, the administration increased 'parole' programs that flew migrants directly from countries like Venezuela, thus avoiding the border entirely." But once the election is past, the illegals will be released to head north. 
• Related: "Biden-Harris admin shipping migrants to Arizona and Texas to hide border problem before Election Day: ‘It’s about optics’"--New York Post.
  
• "Canada Scales Back Immigration Targets, Trudeau Admits Policy Failed"--Newsweek. 

    Trudeau's government initially allowed 500,000 new permanent residents into Canada in each of the next two years, but on Thursday, the prime minister said next year's target changed to 395,000 new permanent residents, followed by 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

    "In the tumultuous times as we emerged from the pandemic, between addressing labor needs and maintaining population growth, we didn't get the balance right," Trudeau said. "Immigration is essential for Canada's future, but it must be controlled and it must be sustainable."

    Canada's population climbed to 41 million in April. In 2019, the population was at 37.5 million.

• So much for being a sanctuary city: "Open Border Backlash As NYC 'Deports' Thousands Of Migrants To Texas, Illinois, And Florida"--Zero Hedge. 
• "Migrant crisis cost $150B in 2023, forcing some areas to cut police and fire services: report"--New York Post. Per the article, "[o]f that figure, calculated by Washington DC-based non-profit Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), $67 billion came from the federal government, but the majority of the burden was shouldered by states and local governments."
• "Tiny Ohio town sees population double with influx of 3,000 migrants from African nation as mayor blames ‘open border policy’"--New York Post. The lede: "A small Ohio town is the latest victim of the Biden-Harris administration’s open border policy after 3,000 migrants from the West African nation of Mauritania moved in in the past year — lured by TikTokkers who are posting instruction videos with maps of the Cincinnati suburb."
  
• "Gruesome new details in murder of woman, 60, 'by neighbor' in remote Utah town"--Daily Mail. The dead woman was helping out a family of Philippine migrants; the husband in that family tied her up in her car and brutally stabbed her to death before fleeing back to the Philippines. 
• "Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in NYC"--New York Post. 

    The Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee who specialized in intelligence in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

    Vikash Yadav, 39, faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors first disclosed last year and have said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.

    Yadav remains at large, but in charging him and releasing his name, the Biden administration sought to call out the Indian government for criminal activity that has emerged as a significant point of tension between India and the West over the last year — culminating this week with a diplomatic flare-up with Canada and the expulsion of diplomats.

• "Revealed: The Israeli Spies Writing America’s News"--The Free Thought Project. A look at a number of "former" Israeli spies that are now working in the U.S. for news organizations and social media companies.
  
• "Brutal murder of 19-year-old woman has exposed clash between ‘New France’ and Catholic conservative ‘Old France’"--The Catholic Herald. Murderer is a 22-year-old Moroccan illegal that stayed in France after his student visa expired.
  
• "‘I did it to kill her’ — Afghan migrant to confess to attempted murder in Denmark after pushing woman in front of train"--ReMix.
• "Jihad Party Gains Ground in Belgium"--Gates of Vienna. 
• Europe Invasion on X: "African migrant gangs continue to loot UK supermarkets."
• "Terrifying moment two masked men 'with machetes' go head to head on a busy London high street - as witnesses cry for them to 'stop'"--Daily Mail. No arrests.
  
• "TSA air marshals too busy targeting Jan. 6, terror suspects to police migrants flying around US without IDs: sources"--New York Post.
  
• "Migrant man found hanged in NYC park was suspected of repeatedly raping underage relative: sources"--New York Post. The man was Manuel Delgado, an asylum seeker from Peru. 
• "Police officer shoots dead knife-wielding Malian at Verona train station sparking heated political debate on rising migrant crime"--ReMix. African migrant tried to stab police officer to death. 

    According to Corriere del Veneto, the man had caused significant disturbances throughout the night, including breaking a station window and assaulting local police officers. After being chased off temporarily, he returned to the station around 7 a.m., where he attacked a transport police officer.

    In self-defense, the officer fired three shots, one of which struck the assailant in the chest. Despite immediate attempts to resuscitate the man, he succumbed to his injuries on the scene.

• "Shocking reason teenager body-slammed OBGYN in horrifying attack on hospital floor"--Daily Mail. Black adult male (he was 19) disagreed with doctor's prescribing a pain killer to his mother so he got angry and tried to kill the doctor.
  

Oath of Fealty: Saudi Arabia To Build Giant Archology

 The New York Post reports that "Saudi Arabia breaks ground on $50B Mukaab, the ‘world’s largest building’ — which could hold 20 Empire State Buildings." The $50 billion, cubical "skyline-redefining Mukaab will clock in at 1,300 feet high and 1,200 feet wide when completed — giving it enough volume to contain 20 Empire State Buildings," the article relates. It purportedly will feature 104,000 residential units, 9,000 hotel rooms, fine dining, retail space, offices and restaurants. "[G]reen spaces will be accessible within 15 minutes of any location in the cube." Similar to the Sphere in Las Vegas, the building will also have giant LED displays on the outside of the building that will be able to show pictures, designs, or messages.

    And, from the Daily Mail:

    Once completed, the cube will host an enormous atrium with a spiralling tower at its heart, and will have nearly 22million square feet of space for shops, cultural and tourist attractions.

    Promotional videos show renderings of an immersive virtual reality, with dragons and huge holographic people moving through the development.

    Surrounded by a cube structure, the inner spiral can display realistic images around the building.

    Renderings show spacecraft flying overhead, huge mountain ranges and towering waterfalls all projected on to the sleepy desert scene.

Ragnarok Part XII - South Korea Considers Supplying Weapons and Munitions to Ukraine

According to The War Zone, South Korea may respond to North Korea's provision of men and material to Russia by sending its own weapons and advisors to Ukraine. The article, entitled "South Korea Could Send Advisors, Weapons To Ukraine Over North Korean Troop Movements," indicates that the first North Korean troops are expected to arrive in Russia's Kursk region today. It is also believed that North Korea has been supplying fighter pilots to Russia. In response, South Korea is considering sending advisors and weapons to Ukraine, which might include the Cheongung-II medium-range surface-to-air missile system,  K9 self-propelled howitzers (as well as shells), K2 main battle tanks, and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers.

Journalist Mark Halperin Hints At October Surprise

Hint: it won't be true. Newsweek reports: "Mark Halperin Says He's Been Pitched Story That Could 'End' Trump's Campaign." From the lede:

    Veteran political journalist Mark Halperin, who was among the first to report that President Biden would withdraw from the race in July, revealed on Tuesday that there is a "certain story" that has been pitched to major news outlets that — if true — could derail Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign in its final days.

    Speaking on his "Morning Meeting" show on YouTube, Halperin shared that although he does not believe the story is accurate, its impact—if it were—would be the October Surprise the political media has been waiting for.

    "I know of one story... I don't believe it is true. But if it's true, it would end Donald Trump's campaign," Halperin said, adding that he's aware of various efforts to influence the race's outcome with less than two weeks until Election Day.

In other words, it is something completely made up--like the "Russia, Russia, Russia" story, the golden shower allegations, the allegations that Trump has dissed on American troops or complained about the cost of a soldier's funeral, or the latest claims that Trump wants to be like Hitler--that they just need a few "respected" media outlets to publish so the Democrats can point to the news reports and say "it's in the news, it must be true." And the tell on this is that the story is being pitched (i.e., a sales campaign) to the media rather than something the media (which is already biased against Trump) would immediately embrace.

    What could it be? Well, if this is any foreshadowing, it could be some allegation linking Trump to Jeffrey Epstein. See, e.g., "Donald Trump groped me in what felt like a ‘twisted game’ with Jeffrey Epstein, former model alleges" from the Guardian. Per the article:

Williams [the former model], who is 56 and a native of Pennsylvania, has shared parts of her allegation on social media posts in the past, but revealed details about the alleged encounter on a call on Monday organized by a group called Survivors for Kamala, which supports Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The Zoom call featured actor Ashley Judd and law professor and academic Anita Hill, among others. ...

Anita Hill, you may remember, is the person who tried to derail Clarence Thomas' nomination hearings for the Supreme Court by fabricating allegations of sexual misconduct by Thomas.

"Our Democracy" in Practice in Austria

 From Breitbart: "Austrian Establishment Shuts Out Election-Winning Populist Party From Government." 

    Breaking from tradition, the populist Freedom Party will not be given a chance to form a government despite winning last month’s elections.

    Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen announced Tuesday that incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer would be granted the chance to form a new government, despite his centre-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) coming in second place at 26 per cent of the vote behind the Freedom Party of Austria’s (FPÖ) 29 per cent.

When the elites say "our democracy" what they mean is that it is "their democracy" and the plebs get no say.

Greg Ellifritz Discusses Institutional Memory And The Shooting Arts

 Greg Ellifritz has published a new article at his Active Response Training blog on "Institutional Memory." The gist of the piece is that too many trainers and students don't know of the pioneers of defensive shooting or even of the many that have further pushed it along and developed the art of self-defense with firearms. As an example, he notes that when he mentioned in two recent classes that Ed Lovette had died, none of his students knew who he was. 

    But perhaps more importantly, not only are many students ignorant of the identity of these pioneers and past teachers, but they don't know what they contributed or taught about shooting. And because of that, they lack the "institutional knowledge" that would come from studying this prior work, including what worked and what hasn't. And the problem with forgotten lessons is, as Greg points out, that sometimes the art regresses when some new fad gets picked up that had previously been tried and found wanting. 

    Greg points out that much of this problem lies with the fact that so many people get their knowledge on defensive shooting from the Internet, but the prior art, so to speak, is mostly to be found in old articles and books. To assist people with this issue, Greg has listed many of the significant books on shooting by past masters and some other resources. So be sure to check it out.

Kamala Harris Is The Ultimate DEI (Didn't Earn It) Candidate

Red State reports that Kamala Harris was admitting to Hastings School of Law at the University of California under a program called the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP). The program supposedly was to "make an outstanding legal education accessible to those who come from disadvantaged economic and educational backgrounds." Those in the program were given an expanded orientation to teach critical skills and provide better opportunities to network; and they were given one-on-one tutoring after orientation. "Harris, the daughter of two college professors, who grew up attending private schools in Canada, was not, in the least, economically or socially disadvantaged," yet, somehow, was still able to take advantage of the program to get into school. Or, as the article sums up:

    To get into law school, Harris was a beneficiary of a program that wasn’t intended for someone of her economic or social status. She almost certainly lied on her application or at a minimum knew that her politics would fit with the LEOP selection committee. Harris was “waved in” because of a lie or because of politics. Harris has consistently used the "system" she decries, and she gained positions that she did not deserve and did not earn. She gamed the system.

     Not very “equitable” of her, it seems.

In other words, a typical Marxist.

Safe and Effective News #3 (Updated)

 Some recent articles explaining why the lockdowns and vaccinations were so necessary and helpful:

• (Update: removed Fox News article that turned out to be from last year).

• "Bad consequences from the medical profession’s panic/lies over COVID continue to build"--Behind The Black. Zimmerman's post summarizes a few articles concerning the long term damage to the medical profession because of its knee-jerk, totalitarian response to Covid including: trust in physicians and hospitals dropped from 71.5% in April 2020, to 40.1% in January 2024; Moderna's profits from vaccine sales have dropped so precipitously that even with cutting back operations, it is not expected to turn a profit until 2028; and the lack of clinical trials for Covid boosters has prompted the Florida Department of Health to recommend against people having the boosters.
  
• "Lethal drug given to US service personnel – and hundreds died"--The Conservative Woman. The drug in question was remdesivir, an antiviral administered to Covid-19 patients; and it was because of this drug that the masses were prohibited from using Ivermectin. Probably because remdesivir was a fairly new drug and the drug company profits had to be protected. The article goes on to relate:

According to the whistleblower’s data, 941 military service members — 63.9 per cent of those who were treated with remdesivir — died between March 2020 and March 2024, with deaths peaking between November 2020 and July 2021.

• "Your children couldn’t go to school in 2020, but the elites could attend sex parties"--Washington Examiner. The pandemic couldn't have been that bad, then, or those in the know wouldn't have engaged in such activities.
  
• More: "While Your Family Members Died Alone, Lockdowners Had Sex Parties"--The Federalist.
  
• "New Zealand pushed covid vaccination while heart disease was soaring"--The Conservative Woman. Using data from Health NZ and the NZ health insurance industry, the article sets out a table showing the skyrocketing number of people presenting for emergency treatment for heart issues following the roll-out of the Covid vaccines, adding:

    For the benefit of our overseas readers, these figures need to be read in the context of covid incidence in NZ. Because of border closures, quarantine and lockdowns, NZ had close to zero covid cases until February 2022. Pfizer mRNA covid vaccination became available in February 2021 for older people and those at risk. General availability for those under 40 years started towards mid-2021. Legislation making covid mRNA vaccination compulsory for those in various state employment sectors (vaccine mandates) was enacted in November 2021. The mandates were also adopted by the vast majority of private employers.

    With this timeline in mind, the close association between covid mRNA vaccination and chest pain and/or heart disease among younger people becomes very clear. The surge in ED chest pain admissions began well before covid infection took hold in NZ but immediately after the covid mRNA vaccination programme began. The incidence of chest pain and heart disease took off in 2021 as more of the age group were vaccinated.

    While the OIA [equivalent to a FOIA] figures are only by year and for the under-40s, 2021 official weekly figures for vaccination and mortality for all age groups combined, that we reported at the time, show a very close association. All cause death rates rose in tandem with mRNA vaccination.

    The OIA figures suggest approximately a tenfold increase in chest pain and/or cardiac events among those under 40, probably associated with the administration of mRNA vaccines. Moreover the figures to June 2024 indicate the trend is continuing.

• "How Fauci’s inner circle shielded the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s U.S. collaborator"--U.S. Right To Know. Per the article, "EcoHealth Alliance, which collaborated on novel coronavirus discovery and engineering projects with the Wuhan lab," "leveraged connections in Anthony Fauci’s inner circle to survive federal scrutiny and keep millions in public funding flowing without turning over key data, new records show."

     At the time, officials at the National Institutes of Health’s central headquarters or “Building One” — at the demand of the Trump White House — had suspended EcoHealth’s existing NIAID grant and sought lab notebooks and unpublished genomic data as a condition of getting its funding back. This information could have shed light on the coronavirus research in Wuhan before the pandemic.

    But aided by allies within NIAID, millions continued to flow to EcoHealth, and Daszak would not ask his longtime collaborators in Wuhan for information sought by the U.S. government until 20 months later, in January 2022 — two years after the pandemic began.

    Some of the NIAID officials who helped Daszak [the head of EcoHealth] were key to approving his coronavirus research in Wuhan in the first place, including gain-of-function research, research that can enhances the pathogenicity or transmissibility of a pathogen. Some of these NIAID officials had spent years championing gain-of-function research as worth the risks, congressional transcripts also show. Namely, Morens and another NIAID employee named “Jeff T.” were the liaisons between the scientific community and Fauci during the years-long debates about gain-of-function research leading up to the pandemic, one email shows. After the pandemic arose, Morens and another NIAID scientist named Jeffery Taubenberger wrote an editorial defending EcoHealth and referred to people concerned about gain-of-function research as “luddites” and “the complaining crowd.”