Cosmetic Surgery To Change Eye Color

 I came across this article at the New York Post: "Doctor charges $6K per eye to change eye color forever: ‘This is scarier than any horror film’." Oddly, all the people pictured with their eye color changed apparently opted for blue or gray colored eyes.

The Diversity Report #18

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

• "Christian Iraqi who burnt Koran in Sweden sparking huge protests is shot dead 'in live stream assassination'"--Daily Mail. The victim, Salwan Momika, was shot dead in an apartment in the city of Sodertalje, Sweden, on Wednesday night. Yet another victim of the "Religion of Peace". 
• "Knifeman who stabbed rail user in the neck for bumping into him at French subway station is arrested after member of his family recognised his face in shocking video"--Daily Mail. The name of the knifeman is not stated in the article, but it mentions that he was arrested at his home in the Venissieux neighbourhood of Lyons, which neighborhood is described in many websites I checked as being home to a large immigrant population, a significant percentage being from the Maghreb region of North Africa. According to Wikipedia, "Today, Vénissieux is classified 'ZSP' for Priority Security Zone and tarnished due to its high crime rate."
• "Disabled French Man Raped by Illegal Algerian Awaiting Deportation—Heroic Whistleblower Fined €500 for Exposing Rapist"--RAIR Foundation. From the article:

 In an appalling miscarriage of justice, a case unfolding in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, has left the public outraged and questioning the priorities of the judicial system. A young disabled man, a vulnerable individual suffering from a mental disorder, was brutally raped in the public toilets of the Atlantis shopping center in November 2024. While the alleged rapist, an Algerian man under an Order to Leave French Territory (OQTF), remains in custody, the security guard who exposed the crime now faces a suspended prison sentence and financial penalties.

The guard was being prosecuted because he leaked security footage of the crime to the public to draw attention to the incident, allegedly violating the rapist's privacy. His real crime was in helping expose how much crime is committed by migrants.

• "'Deeply alarming' new report shows '1 in 12' people in London are illegal migrants as Home Office fails to publish population data"--GB News. "A previously confidential report alleges that almost 600,000 people live in the nation's capital without the right to be in Britain - meanwhile, the Home Office does not provide any official figures on the scale of the problem," the article reports.
• Meanwhile, Poland which has been active in keeping out migrants, experiences low crime rates and no terrorist attacks:

 VIDEO: "Poland Begins Shxxting Migrants: Poland STANDS FIRM Against Immigration with MASS Arrests at Border"--Traveller (8 min.)

• "NY has 670K residents who are illegal migrants — including 42,300 undocumented restaurant workers"--New York Post.
  
• Liberal hypocrisy: "NYT: It Is Just a Clump of Cells if They're American; It Is a Child If the Mother Is 'Undocumented'"--Hot Air. Also, after examining polling information from around the world, the author notes:

    The thing is that we are not talking about a few people wanting to have a better life. It's not all moms and dads who are just like you and me.

    It's 28% of Latin America. 37% of Sub-Saharan Africa. 26% of the Middle East and North Africa.

• "4X Deported Alien Gets Life Without Parole for Killing 5 Honduran Migrants in East Texas"--Breitbart. The article reports: "San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said the plea resolves all of the cases that came out of an incident on the night of April 28, 2023, when Francisco Torres Oropeza murdered five of his neighbors."
• "Dem DA's outrageous decision after girl, 11, 'was raped by migrant in Boston shelter'"--Daily Mail. Per the lede: "A migrant allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl in the stairwell of a state-run shelter in Massachusetts - only to be moved to another shelter that same day rather than being sent to jail."
• A different incident from that above: "Why 'illegal' migrant arrested for appalling child sex crime won't be deported"--Daily Mail. Another crime committed against an 11 year old.
• "Migrant admits he strangled woman on her 21st birthday in upstate NY Airbnb before dumping body in woods"--New York Post.
  
• "Factory car park is empty and Home Depot store is eerily quiet amid social media claims illegal immigrants are staying away amid Donald Trump's crackdown"--Daily Mail.  
• I suspect there are many other NGOs with the same incentive: "Catholic Bishops Came Out Against Trump's Illegal Immigration Policies. Here's How JD Vance Responded."--Town Hall.
  

 “As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement. And I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? We're going to enforce immigration law. We're going to protect the American people,” he said.

• "Americans back Trump's order to end birthright citizenship as he faces onslaught of legal battles"--Daily Mail.  Contrary to what you might see in the news, the 14th Amendment does not guarantee citizenship to anyone that is born within the U.S., but only to those born inside the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction. Thus, when the Amendment passed, it did not include Indian tribes because the tribal members were subject to jurisdictions other than the States. This had to be changed by an act of Congress. Ditto with the children of diplomats and invaders. These are all well recognized exceptions. Thus, it is no stretch to say that kids born to those here illegally or temporarily are not entitled to citizenship. 
• "OpenAI says it has proof DeepSeek used its technology to develop its AI model"--New York Post.

    OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, says it has proof that the Chinese start-up DeepSeek used its technology to create a competing artificial intelligence model — fueling concerns about intellectual property theft in the fast-growing industry.

    OpenAI believes DeepSeek, which was founded by math whiz Liang Wenfeng, used a process called “distillation,” which helps make smaller AI models perform better by learning from larger ones.

    While this is common in AI development, OpenAI says DeepSeek may have broken its rules by using the technique to create its own AI system.

• "The New AI Race With China Shows Why Trump Needs To Crack Down On H-1Bs"--The Federalists. An excerpt:

    Maybe, just maybe, the Chinese have cracked the code for super-cheap AI and stand ready to revolutionize the global tech landscape thanks to hard work and good ole Chinese ingenuity (And, of course, the enlightened leadership of the CCP). But an old adage still rings true: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

    It’s far more likely that the Chinese are lying through their teeth about the reported costs of their new AI and exactly how they developed this new technology. Tech mogul Palmer Luckey called DeepSeek’s AI “legitimately impressive” but called the supposed development cost “bogus” and rightly admonished those who have uncritically parroted “Chinese propaganda.”

    The whole thing stinks of a Chinese op to hinder American AI development, make money shorting Western tech stocks, and strike a blow at Nvidia. Based on history, China’s seemingly miraculous latter-day Great Leap Forward in the AI sector is likely due to a concerted effort to infiltrate American tech companies and steal their technology. In fact, Microsoft and OpenAI have opened an investigation into whether a group linked to DeepSeek improperly gained access to important OpenAI data, Bloomberg reported late Tuesday.

    And their agents in this scheme aren’t James Bond-esque spies deftly slipping past lasers and circumventing fingerprint-encrypted doors. They’re the “highly skilled” workers we’ve invited into Silicon Valley through H-1B visas. 

    China has honed its reputation as a world leader in industrial espionage over the last few decades. In 2017, the U.S. Trade Representative reported that Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property amounts to anywhere between $225 billion and $600 billion each year. The Center for Strategic and International Studies identified over 200 incidents of Chinese espionage in the U.S. alone since 2000. Of those incidents, 54 percent “sought to acquire commercial technologies,” and 90 percent of the perpetrators involved were Chinese nationals.

    Chinese nationals account for the second highest number of H-1B recipients, after Indians. Specifically, China represents the top source for “top-tier” AI researchers for Silicon Valley, according to Business Insider. 

Not only will we sell them the rope to use to hang us, we will also handsomely pay the hangman.

• A few days ago, I saw a car sporting a few liberal bumper stickers, including one calling for Medicare for all. I thought of that bumper sticker when I read this article: "Miranda Devine: Contentious RFK Jr. hearings reveal the border crisis under the Biden administration is why our health care has faltered"--New York Post. Key point: "It stands to reason that if you have an extra 10 million to 20 million new potential low-income patients, none of whom has contributed a penny in net taxes, you will get a blowup in Medicaid and Medicare costs."
  
• From a post on X by Wall Street Apes:

    San Diego resident shows doctors office that’s “always full” is now EMPTY now that everyone is hiding from ICE raids and Border Patrol

    Anyone in San Diego, California will tell you doctors offices are ALWAYS PACKED

    Proof illegals have been overwhelming our healthcare system. This is why getting a primary care or really any appointment is always backed up months in California. We’ve seen the reports of this presented in Congress, but here’s actual real life proof

• This seems to be a recurrent pattern: "BLM activist mayor storms out of meeting after slamming black locals for questioning luxury trip"--Daily Mail. 
• "Trans terror? Trans duo revealed as suspects in killing of a Vermont border patrol officer"--The Post Millennial. From the article:

    On Inauguration Day, the shocking news that a US Border Patrol officer had been shot dead near the Canadian border in Vermont in an incident involving a now-deceased foreign national was overshadowed by coverage of Donald Trump's events in the nation's capital.

    One week later, a 21-year-old Washington woman was charged over the deadly incident, but little has been reported about her and her deceased accomplice, a German man.

    The Post Millennial can report that the mysterious duo who were pulled over in Coventry, Vt. in the deadly shootout are leftist trans militants with alleged ties to a trans terror cell.

• More: "Murder of Vermont border agent tied to string of killings across the country"--Daily Mail.
  

Bombs & Bants #153 (Streamed 1/29/2025)

 Back after a short hiatus:

VIDEO: Bombs & Bants Episode 153 (46 min.)

The True Purpose Of The H1-B Program

I stumbled across an article entitled "Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Hidden Caste System" which is about an Indian tech worker's concerns that his Indian co-workers and managers might learn that he is actually from one of the lower Indian castes. Of course my first thought was that this is another example of foreign workers importing their problems into the United States. But then I saw the jaw-dropping amounts he must be earning: the article relates that when he first came to the United States, his offer package at Facebook as a software engineer was almost $450,000; he lives in a $2 million dollar home. The article also mentions that "[i]n Silicon Valley, it’s routine for people from India to land high-paying jobs; they make up a full quarter of the technical workforce."

    So my next thought was about how that job--and most of the others that went to Indians--should have been held by Americans. 

    I've noted statistics before that show that H1-B tech jobs generally pay less than the same job held by Americans, which supports what Peter Turchin's historical research has shown about immigrant labor: it is intended to keep down wages. But is that all that is behind it? After all, if pushing wages down was all that was needed, why the constant anti-American messaging? (See, e.g., "Woke Captain America Says Captain America Doesn't Represent America").

    In an excellent video at his Rumble channel, freedomain, Stefan Molyneux suggests in his video, "Is the H-1B Good for America?," that the true purpose of the H1-B visa program isn't merely to keep wages low for STEM, but to keep Americans from being able to get jobs that would allow them to form families. Because the goal, he argues, is to create a more compliant population willing to accept the collapse of their economy and birth rates. This goal, by the way, is why he believes that industrial jobs were also sent overseas and remain there.

For My LDS Readers: Parallels Between The Book Of Mormon And Today

I've maintained before that when looking at the United States in prophecy, we needed to look at the events in the Book of Mormon, particularly at those leading up to Christ's visit to the Nephite people. I believed that even if we didn't see the exact same things, there would still be a broad similarity. The problem has been how similar? For instance, I have tended toward a more literal parallel. The creator of the following video has used looser parallels. It is certainly worth checking out.

VIDEO: "Book of Mormon, Parallels in Our Day"--Cj j (32 min.)

Google Maps To Display "Gulf of America" to Its American Users

The Daily Mail reports that "Google Maps caves to Trump as it renames Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America," adding:

The change will be visible in the U.S. once it is officially updated in the U.S. Geographic Names System, Google said in an X post on Monday.

But the name will still remain Gulf of Mexico on Google in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps. 

The article then goes on to report on the name change to Mt. McKinley in Alaska before quoting experts on how the change of name to the Gulf will likely be ignored internationally. But I don't see why it should be ignored. For instance, I just recently read an article from Down To Earth explaining that the term "America" belongs to all who live in North and South America. If that is the case, it is obviously racist for anyone to insist that the Gulf be named after Mexico while ignoring the many other countries that border the Gulf. 

    I also find it hard to believe that tradition alone will dictate the name of the Gulf. It certainly hasn't played out that way in other cases. For instance:

• Just over the last few years Turkey has become Türkiye on maps and in news articles and other reports.
• In 1995 the city of Bombay was renamed Mumbai and the change quickly implemented across the globe.
• The Gulf of California is frequently shown as the Sea of Cortez on maps or referred to as such.
• And, of course, since the U.S. decided to back Ukraine against Russia, we have seen the sudden renaming and respelling of long used names in the region, such as Kiev being changed to Kyiv.

Yawn: Ohio Liberal "Furious" About Something

The Daily Mail reports on an Ohio man who was furious after questioning three people and finding that none of them really cared that ICE had raided his favorite Mexican restaurant. Since ICE is going after illegal aliens that are wanted felons, perhaps readers should question why that particular restaurant was the man's favorite and what exactly he purchased there.

Gun & Prepping News #16

With Shot Show 2025 this past week, you've probably had your fill of firearm news and announcements. But just in case you are not, here are some links:

• First up, if you haven't already done so, check out Greg Ellifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump from this past week. As always, there are links to many good articles and videos. But one that I want to specifically mention is an article from the Armory Life on moving and shooting. The gist of the article is that it is possible to make hits on a target while moving, and there are circumstances where you might (according to the author) need to both move and shoot at the same time (he gives the example of dealing with a close up threat while seeking cover). Greg notes: "The longer I stay in this game, the more I’m in favor of either moving or shooting…not doing both at the same time." Greg's view is probably the better take on the subject if the following video is any indication:

VIDEO: "A Super Scientific Shooting and Moving Study"
SHEPDEV (12 min.)

The findings of this video was that at the tested distances (3 and 7 yards), you had a good chance of striking a target while moving (unless moving rapidly), but the converse was also true. Which meant that if you were reacting to a threat, you were more likely to get struck first even if you were moving and shooting. The conclusion was that if you needed to move, you needed to move at speed to avoid being shot; but if you moved that fast, you were also unlikely to be able to land a shot on an assailant. So, the better options were to move fast or shoot, not move and shoot.

•  While you are Greg's website, you might also want to check out his articles on flying with a firearm which he posted last week ("Airport Arming Procedures" and "The Definitive Guide To Flying With Guns").
• "N.C. DoorDash Incident Serves as Warning to Gunowners About Limits of Self-Defense"--The Truth About Guns. In this incident, the DoorDash driver shot and killed a teenager attempting to steal the driver's car. The driver, as you would expect, was charged with the teen's death because (repeat after me) you can't use lethal force merely to protect property. 
• "Have Gun — Can Still Lose" by Ken Hackathorn, American Handgunner. He discusses the very real scenario of drawing (but not firing) a weapon to ward off a potential robbery, but then having the erstwhile robbers call the police to report that someone pulled a gun on them. The author advises: "If you have to show your sidearm to defend yourself, make sure you are the first person to call the police, or ask someone else to report the fact you had been threatened and you had to defend yourself. Make sure the complaint to the police comes from you and not someone watching or the cretins who just tried to rob or intimidate you."
  
• "Jacksonville Cop Fired After Shooting Motorist With His Own Gun"--Shooting News. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Deputy Mindy Cardwell pulled over a driver for running a red light. The driver informed her that he was armed. Rather than just write the ticket, she had the driver exit the car and then attempted to fish his concealed carry pistol from an IWB holster. In attempting to get the weapon free, she squeezed the trigger, shooting the man through the thigh. She has been fired and the Sheriff's Office has clarified to its deputies that "[t]he mere fact that a person is carrying a concealed firearm does not automatically mean that a person poses a threat or is ineligible to carry a concealed firearm."
• "Marlin Model 60 vs. Ruger 10/22 – Battle for the Best 22 Rifle"--Ammo Land. I've owned both (as well as a Marlin Model 70). If you want to customize or accessorize, the Ruger is the better choice. Ditto if you value the ability to quickly switch magazines. But I think the Marlin is a slimmer, handier rifle. 
• "A Defense of the Revolver"--Revolver Guy.  A few of the main points that he raises: (i) that while high ammo capacity is nice, he personally is not aware of any civilian incidents where the civilian defender needed more than the capacity of his or her revolver; (ii) the reputation for greater reliability of a revolver is well deserved (as he relates what he saw at a recent state mandated pistol recertification class); and (iii) snub nosed revolvers are often easier to conceal and pack around than even many compact semi-auto pistols.
• "How to Install a Red Dot on J-Frames: Shield Arms ROC"--The Firearm Blog. This product is apparently only for the "hammerless" models of J-frame revolvers, but allows you to mount a red-dot to the weapon (at the cost of greatly increased bulk). 
• "Six Reasons That NFA Items Have Become Much More Popular"--Shooting News. The primary reason listed is that, thanks to inflation, the $200 tax stamp has become a much lower barrier to entry. As the article notes, when the NFA was passed, that $200 was the equivalent to $4,700 today.
  
• "Random Bushcraft Tip"--Raconteur Report. Using common 18 gauge floral wire for snares (including diagrams). 
• "Four Survival Myths That Could Get You Killed"--Field & Stream (via Get Pocket). 

1. You Can Survive Solely off Natural Survival Foods
2. You Can Complete Survival Projects at a Normal Pace (in other words, it is going to take you much longer to complete the projects)
3. If You Kill a Big-Game Animal, You’re Set for Food (discussing protein poisoning from when you don't get enough fats to digest the protein)
4. Practicing Survival Skills Is the Same as Practicing Survival
   

• "Be Prepared: What To Put in a Go Bag"--The Truth About Guns. The author prefaces his opinions with the following explanation:

    When I think of a go bag, I’m thinking of the bag I grab every day, whether to the local coffee shop to work or a short two- to three-day work trip.

    My go bag is not packed out to go all Red Dawn during a foreign invasion but to support my daily needs with a few extras to support any unexpected emergencies.

Thus, his list includes a few electronics items, medical kit (with tourniquet), a compact rain jacket, a multi-tool, water bottle, field note book and pen, and extra cash.

• "Prepping Mistakes To Avoid"--Modern Survival Blog. The first one mentioned by the author is the failure to adequately prepare for storing and purifying water. Others include not planning for long term grid-down conditions, overestimating your food storage (i.e., you haven't stored enough), and not putting enough thought and preps into security (although I suspect that many preppers spend too much money and effort on this).
• "Here’s What Happens When Lightning Strikes a Car"--Motor Trend. Like most things in life, the answer is "it depends". As the article relates:

Every year, lightning strikes many vehicles around the world. In some cases, it results in a simple burn mark on the roof, but blown-out electrical systems and vehicles burning all the way to the ground can happen, too. Why do some strikes result inn [sic] a burn mark with a cool story and others a totaled car? Both the type of lightning and the type of car are to blame.

But an oil or fuel leak will make it more likely that a fire will result.

• "How to Make a Sourdough Starter From Scratch"--Better Housekeeping (via Get Pocket). It appears to be a fairly complete article covering the basic recipe, instructions for getting it going and feeding it down the road, how to tell if it has gone bad, and a link to a site with recipes for using your sourdough starter.
  

How A Map Revealed Clues To The Fate Of The Roanoke Colony

You probably already know the basic story of the lost Roanoke colony: In 1587, a group of colonists arrived at Roanoke Island, between North Carolina and the Outer Banks, to establish the first permanent English settlement. The colony's leader, Governor White, soon returned to England to obtain needed supplies but was held up in England for three years while the English warred with Spain. When he was finally able to make it back in 1590, the settlement was found abandoned. The colonists had disappeared leaving only a mysterious message carved into a post in the settlement's fort: the word "CROATOAN." White interpreted this as meaning that the colony had been forced to relocate to Croatoan Island, but storms forced him to abandon his position and return to England before he could follow up on the lead.

    The mystery of the lost colony has been a favorite of those interested in the strange and unusual, with various theories advanced as to what happened to the colonists. The initial theory was that the colonists had been forced to abandon the settlement and sought shelter with a neighboring tribe. An investigation by the Jamestown colonists found evidence that the colonists had been massacred (which seems the most likely explanation). But theories abound, including some involving extraterrestrials!

     The Daily Mail has published the summary of a new theory. Its article, "Experts may have solved 'America's greatest mystery' after discovering hidden secrets in 400-year-old map," relates:

    The map, titled 'La Virginea Pars,' was drawn by John White, a cartographer who was part of the Roanoke colony. It depicts parts of the North Carolina shoreline running from the north-eastern community of Currituck down to the midpoint of the coast.

    A close inspection of the map revealed a blank spot. It appeared that someone had covered up a small section, but never drew a correction over it.

    That blank spot corresponds to a location near current-day Bertie County, on the western end of Albemarle Sound. This is less than 100 miles from where English witnesses last saw the colonists of Roanoke.

    It also happens to match the location of a site called 31BR246, where archaeologist Nicholas Luccketti of the James River Institute for Archaeology discovered pieces of English ceramic artifacts in 2007.

    This raised an interesting question: Could this be the location that the Roanoke settlers fled to from their island colony? 

* * *

     In 2012, British Museum curator Kim Sloan and her colleague, paper conservator Alice Rugheimer, placed Governor White's map on a light box to reveal what was behind the blank cover-up.

    They found something they never expected to see: the symbol for a fort.

    'I said to Alice, 'I think we just discovered the intended site for the 'Cittie of Raleigh,' the colony that John White was sent to Virginia to found,' Sloan told Popular Mechanics. 'And then I think I swore.'

    Several years earlier, the archaeologist Luccketti found ceramic fragments at a site called 31BR246, which matched the fort location on the map.

    He determined that these fragments were Border ware, a specific type of English pottery that had been 'limited to the earliest settlement sites in Virginia, possibly dating back to the sixteenth century, he told Popular Mechanics. 

 Unfortunately, remote sensing techniques of the site--called "Site X"--did not reveal the remains of a fort. However, archaeologists have found material remains indicating that at least a small number of English settlers must have lived on the spot. 

    Based on the discovery of these artifacts, the FCF concluded that there was an English presence at Site X that could only have come from the Roanoke colonists.

    The experts speculated that these people could have been a small colonial family seeking the help from a Native American village called Mettaquem.

    The FCF plans to continue investigating Site X in search of more evidence of the English presence there, and any clues that could offer more information about what happened to the residents of the Lost Colony in 1587.

VIDEO: "Why a .22 LR Pocket Gun Should Not Be Underestimated [2025 Update]"

Lucky Gunner has released an updated version of his video on .22 LR pistols for self-defense. Probably the key point from his discussion is that shootability should be one of the key factors considered in a defensive handgun.

VIDEO: "Why a .22 LR Pocket Gun Should Not Be Underestimated [2025 Update]"
Lucky Gunner Ammo (12 min.)

VIDEO: What Europeans Don't Understand About Trump

 The subtitle should be "why Europeans are so naive about politics, religion and immigration."

VIDEO: "What Europeans Don't Understand about Trump"
Benedict Beckeld (13 min.)

The Diversity Report #17

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

• "Transethnicism: The Dissolution of National Identity in the West"--Caldron Pool. An good article explaining the true threat of too much immigration--the de facto genocide of the existing population. An excerpt:

     It has been said that to erase a people group, one must first erase their past. Where we come from has a very real impact, not only on who we are as a people but also on where we’re going as a people. There are numerous ways people groups can have their past erased, either by outright denying their heritage, changing the history books, or by telling them their past is something shameful they shouldn’t want to associate with, much less preserve.

    The erasure of a people can also be achieved by reducing their “race,” “ethnicity,” or “nationality” to nothing more than a geographical descriptor, something you can “become” if you have the correct piece of paper, effectively severing the connection between a heritage and the ethnic term used to define it.

    Nowhere is this more evidently playing out than in our once-Christian Western nations. Take, for instance, the British people. Historically, the descriptive label “British” implied shared ancestry and heritage rooted in the long history of the British Isles.

    Today, the term has become so broad and so “inclusive” that it is now applied to anyone living in Britain, regardless of their ancestry. As such, people of any and every ethnicity can be described as “British,” because the word is no longer employed to describe those who share a common “British” heritage, but rather, anyone who presently resides in “Britain,” whether their family has been there for 2,000 years or two minutes.

• Related: "Faith is at the core of American freedom — and losing it endangers us all"--New York Post. The author asserts that Western values, including freedom, are derived from our faith, notwithstanding differences between particular sects. On the other hand:

Modernity has witnessed so many horrific examples of state power driven by ideology — the Reign of Terror, communism, the Holocaust, Islamism (a cult masquerading as a religion) and the soft totalitarianism of diversity, equity and inclusion.

• Related: Another way to murder a people: "Biden Admin Bankrolled Program That Pays Kids To Skip Class Without Parents’ Knowledge For Lessons On LGBTQ Activism"--Daily Caller.  
• Related: "I Can't Believe What Germany and Austria Just Did... er, Stopped Doing"--PJ Media. Key point: "... nearly one in 20 Syrians lives in Germany."
  
• "Desperate mom asked school to help her son... but 'they refused because he is white'"--Daily Mail. Per the article, "Colbey Decker said Green Bay Area School district is discriminating against her child by prioritizing racial minority students for access to special education services."
  
• "How Indian IT Workers Discriminate Against Non-Indian IT Workers"--Brightwork Research & Analysis. From the article:

    Indians who emigrated to European-based countries think they are obtaining rights because they are so amazing, but what they do not realize is that they are leveraging systems of regulations and laws that they had nothing to do with building. All they did was jump on an airplane, allowing them to benefit from hundreds of years of European based progress. However, Indians don’t see it this way. To their mind, they earned all of the benefits created by entirely different cultures. Not only are they usurpers of these rights, but they actively undermine these rights when in the position to do so. Indians benefit from open European based societies and then work to “Indianify them” as quickly as possible as covered in the article How Indians Exploit US Diversity Rules While Practicing Extreme Levels of Discrimination.

    Furthermore, they seem to believe that more Indians also deserve this.

    As for improving conditions in India, it is well known that it is impossible. As for fighting for union rights in India, this will also never happen. Indians are too corrupt. But Indians will migrate to European-based systems, and both benefit from and, at the same time, degrade the labor rights within those countries. They have done this by bringing discrimination into the labor markets where they have migrated, acting as recruiters, and creating contractual documents inconsistent with the labor standards in these countries.

• "Indians in the US Getting Automatic Work Permit for 540 Days Starting January"--OPSC Recruitment. The article relates that "America has taken a new step and given a sigh of relief to visa holders and their families. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the automatic extension period of work permit to 540 days. This decision will especially benefit the wives of H-1B visa holders (H-4 visa) and the wives of L-1 visa holders (L-2 visa)."
  
• "Driver in wrong-way crash that killed Las Vegas officer had been deported multiple times, ICE says"--KVVU.
• "'Asylum seeker' kills two-year-old boy and an adult and injures two others after attacking German 'kindergarten group' with a knife: Afghan suspect 'had shown psychological problems'"-- Daily Mail. Another member of the religion of peace; this one from Afghanistan. 
• "Nearly two thirds of convicted rapists in Sweden were migrants or second generation immigrants"--Telegraph (via Internet Archive). 

    Researchers at Lund University found that 63 per cent of convictions for rape or attempted rape were handed down to people born abroad, or whose parents were born abroad.

    The study examined 4,000 convictions between 2000 and 2024 and also suggested that the longer a foreigner lived in Sweden, the less likely they were to commit rape.

    It comes as the Swedish government adopts a significantly tougher stance on migration, with new rules coming into force which require foreigners to prove they have lived an “honest life” to gain citizenship.

    The study was led by Ardavan Khoshnood, a criminologist at Lund University, and follows a similar study in 2018 which found that 58 per cent of rape convictions came from residents born overseas.

• Maybe this is the problem: "UK: Muslim migrant arrested for trying to rape 14-year-old girl says ‘I don’t know UK laws, I only follow Sharia’"--Jihad Watch.
  
• "Italian Mother Recounts Her Daughter’s Brutal Rape, Torture, Skinning, and Live Dismemberment by Nigerian Migrant (Video)"--RAIR. An excerpt from the article:

    The brutal murder of Pamela Mastropietro, an 18-year-old Italian girl, by Nigerian migrant Innocent Oseghale, continues to haunt Italy as a grim reminder of the tragic consequences of systemic failures. Oseghale, a 32-year-old drug dealer, arrived in Italy in 2014 as an asylum-seeker. By 2017, he had dropped out of his refugee program, was living illegally in the country, and supported himself through criminal activities. Despite being issued a deportation order, he remained in Italy with impunity.

    This failure to enforce immigration laws set the stage for the unimaginable: Oseghale lured Pamela into his home under the guise of offering help, only to drug, rape, and stab her before skinning and dismembering her alive with chilling precision. Her body parts were grotesquely stuffed into two suitcases and discarded in a roadside ditch, leaving Italy to grapple with both grief and outrage.

• "Antisemitic crimes may be funded overseas, say Australian police"--BBC. This is nothing but soft-terrorism. The crimes includes the arson of a day-care center and tagging. Unfortunately, no comment on from where the money is coming. 
• On the other hand, is the threat of "antisemitism" exaggerated on the United States? "ADL Poll: Nearly Half Of World’s Adults Hold ‘Significant Antisemitic Beliefs’"--Daily Wire. Per the article, "the United States reported that 9% of respondents held significant anti-Semitic beliefs."
• Pathological altruism in action: "Migrants Crashed Woke Paris Theater's Refugee Seminar - Weeks Later, 300 Won't Leave"--Zero Hedge.

In December, the Gaîté Lyrique theater held a conference titled, "Reinventing The Welcome For Refugees In France." Fittingly, more than 250 African migrants showed up, were welcomed -- and then refused to leave. Five weeks later, they're still there, along with 50 more who've piled inside. 

Because the theater can no longer present shows, it is facing financial ruin. There is a metaphor in that.

• "'Closely Monitoring Situation': Tuberculosis Reported In Small-Town Charleroi, PA, Swamped By Haitians"--Zero Hedge.
• "Mayorkas Grants Amnesty to 850,000 Illegals, Blames 'Bad Weather' as Reason"--Town Hall.
  
• Heh: "Bay Area restaurant forced to close after being hit by sex discrimination lawsuit for hosting 'ladies night'"--Daily Mail.  Shouldn't have discriminated against men. 
• Equal opportunity: "Schoolgirl killers: The nine females who have carried out school shootings since Columbine - as Natalie Rupnow, 15, joins roll call of horror"--Daily Mail.
  
• "As Donald Trump threatens mass deportations, Africans in Philadelphia remain unfazed"--France24. 

Although he is quick to admit he did not vote for Trump in November last year, Jabatee does not seem particularly worried about his arrival in the Oval Office. “Trump’s problem is that he doesn’t understand the dynamics of immigration … He won’t be able to just go and grab immigrants to deport them. They are all over the place!” he exclaims confidently.

Also, some of the people interviewed aren't afraid for other reasons: they are here legally or they haven't committed any crimes that would bring them to ICE's attention.

• "Texas father stunned as his four-month-old twins are deported despite being born in Houston"--Daily Mail. They were deported with the mother, who was an illegal who decided to skip her immigration hearing. 
• Priorities: "LA Mayor Used Fire Department Money to Fund Queer Occult Interests, 'Ebony Theatre,' Trans Cafe, and More"--Western Journal. 
• More: "The LAFD is Run by Three Lesbians Named ‘Kirsten’"--Front Page. From the article:

    The most important thing to know about Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is that she is the first LGBTQ fire chief in the history of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

    It’s also the only thing worth knowing about the woman in charge while Los Angeles burned.

    Crowley’s status as the first LGBTQ fire chief appears at the top of her bio on the LAFD site. It’s what got her on the Kelly Clarkson show under the headline, “Meet LAFD’s First Female & LGBTQ+ Fire Chief” and made her one of the marshals of the Los Angeles Pride Parade (some of whose attendees no longer have homes after the wave of fires.)

    But DEI wasn’t done with the LAFD just yet. Not until two other lesbian ‘Kirstens’ were also running the LAFD.

    Kristina Kepner, the first lesbian Assistant Chief and a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School for Managing Diverse Organizations, was accused of a domestic violence incident involving her girlfriend. Kristine Larson, who has a degree in Sociology, headed ‘Equity on Fire’, an organization complaining that the LAFD was sexist and racist, was then rewarded with the title of the LAFD’s first lesbian Equity Bureau Chief with a $399,000 salary.

    Diversity mandates had led to three lesbians named some version of ‘Kirsten’ running the LAFD.

    Meanwhile, Jamie Brown became the LAFD’s first lesbian Training Commander. Her accomplishment was being the only one of the four lesbians running the LAFD who wasn’t named ‘Kirsten’.

    Many glass ceilings were being broken, but there was no one who actually knew how to fight fires. Unless it was by asking the fire about its preferred pronouns.

• "It's Paedos All the Way Down"--Mark Steyn. He observes:
  

This was not a rhetorical flourish, even in 2015. It is not just that the peoples of the west are increasingly taking on the psychological condition of battered wives, but that, in England and elsewhere, their daughters are literally battered and the "authorities" bend over backwards to facilitate it ...

• More: "Ex-Labour MP arrested on suspicion 'of engaging in sexual communication with a child' - months after being suspended from party over 'serious allegations'"--Daily Mail. 
• More: "The Biggest Peacetime Crime—and Cover-up—in British History"--The Free Press. 

    The grooming and serial rape of thousands of English girls by men of mostly Pakistani Muslim background over several decades is the biggest peacetime crime in the history of modern Europe. It went on for many years. It is still going on. And there has been no justice for the vast majority of the victims.

    British governments, both Conservative and Labour, hoped that they had buried the story after a few symbolic prosecutions in the 2010s. And it looked like they had succeeded—until Elon Musk read some of the court papers and tweeted his disgust and bafflement on X over the new year.

    Britain now stands shamed before the world. The public’s suppressed wrath is bubbling to the surface in petitions, calls for a public inquiry, and demands for accountability.

    The scandal is already reshaping British politics. It’s not just about the heinous nature of the crimes. It’s that every level of the British system is implicated in the cover-up.

• Afraid of what it will show: "British Police Accused of Political Correctness as Failure to Record Ethnicity of Criminals Soars"--Breitbart. Just another example of so-called "democratic" governments ruling through deception:
  

According to Ministry of Justice data unearthed in Freedom of Information requests by former Tory minister Neil O’Brien, the percentage of instances in which British police failed to log the ethnicity of child sex offenders stood at 28.7 per cent last year, up from 11.6 per cent in 2010. For sex crimes as a whole, police failed to record the ethnicity of 29 per cent of perpetrators, up from 15 per cent, The Telegraph reported.

This is what winning looks like:

• "First migrants rounded up in sanctuary city as Trump makes good on deportation threat"--Daily Mail. The round-up is starting in Denver. 
• More: "ICE arrested 308 illegal migrants — including attempted murderer and a child molester —on Trump’s first full day in office"--New York Post. Arrests were made in Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, Washington, DC, and Miami.
  
• "Texas buoys up! New barriers are installed along the Rio Grande as Trump ally Governor Abbott hails 'America is back'"--Daily Mail. 
• Trump issues executive order eliminating birthright citizenship to those not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States such as children of illegals or those lawfully, but only temporarily, in the United States (such as pursuant to a temporary visa or permit).
  
• "Feds will arrest illegal immigrants in churches, schools under new DHS directive"--KBOI.
• "Outrage and confusion as thousands of refugees stranded after Trump cancels flights"--Daily Mail.  

    This week, Trump signed the order suspending the Refugee Admission Program, effectively stranding refugees who had flights booked to the U.S.

    Trump said that due to the country being 'inundated with record levels of migration' the order is necessary to 'manage the burden' of more migrant arrivals.

Although the article focuses on the plight of Afghan refugees that supposedly assisted the United States in order to stoke the most outrage against the suspension of the program, the second to last line of the article concedes that "[t]he order and ensuing chaos, however, does not just impact refugees from Afghanistan but thousands around the world." Given the corruption in Afghanistan and how quickly the U.S. backed Afghan government folded when the U.S. withdrew, I question exactly how much assistance the U.S. actually received from the Afghans.  

• "Migrants weep in Mexico as Trump admin cancels all appointments for Biden’s CBP One app immediately after swearing-in"--New York Post.
• "Migrants on the border beg Trump to give them a chance as Biden free for all comes to a close"--Daily Mail.
  
• "Trump bans Pride and Black Lives Matter flags from the State Department and American buildings across the globe"--Daily Mail.
  

Consolidating Power

 We are seeing through a glass darkly a revolution among the elites. For now, the policies of the elites scrambling for power are somewhat beneficial for us normals, which is a good thing because as history tells us, government policy reflects what the elites want, not the wishes of the public. 

    The first step of the revolution was the reelection of Trump. I'm still torn over whether Trump's first election was an actual populist revolt or the beginning of a civil war within the elite. But it was treated as a populist revolt and so certain changes were made to make sure nothing like it could happen again. And yet Trump still won, but he also enjoyed the backing of many more elites, including some of the tech oligarchs. 

    We are now in the second stage: consolidation. And that means cleaning house of the Deep State werwolfs that had undermined his first presidency, as well as a political shock and awe. Thus we are seeing headlines like these:

• "Donald Trump purges thousands of White House staff who are not aligned with MAGA  and warns thousand more 'you're fired'"--Daily Mail.
  
• "Donald Trump fires first female Coast Guard leader over her obsession with DEI"--Daily Mail.
  
• "Trump to suspend security clearances of 51 intelligence officials who falsely implied Hunter Biden laptop was Russian fake"--New York Post.
• "Trump sends shockwaves through DC as top Republican 'Deep State' lawmaker is knifed for close ties to CIA"--Daily Mail. Although this was done by the Speaker of the House, still: "Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, will no longer be House Intel Committee chairman."

And, of course, this includes freeing political prisoners of the prior regime:

• "Trump grants sweeping pardon of Jan. 6 defendants, including rioters who violently attacked police"--Yahoo. 
• "BREAKING: Trump Signs Clemency Action for 1500+ J6 ‘Hostages'"--Hot Air.
  

Because migration is a tool of the Deep State, we are also seeing executive orders issued dealing with stemming the flow of the most odious and unwelcome types of immigration including declaration of a national emergency concerning the securing the southern border, cancellation of asylum appointments, and limiting birth right citizenship. And some stuff is just to rub the Deep State's noses like bringing back Mt. McKinley's historic name and renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. 

• If you want to see a full list of executive orders see Vox Day's post here, or the Daily Mail's list here.

This is merely the beginning of the process. The Deep State will not just quietly disappear. They are already striking back, starting with a slew of lawsuits to challenge his executive orders. It could progress to worse. 

    As my LDS readers may have recognized, many of the historical patterns in the Book of Mormon before Christ's appearance seem to be repeating today; so, just as in the Book of Mormon, it is possible that we will see a popular president assassinated by a secret combination of the powerful and profane. 

    Laughing Wolf recently warned of something similar in his piece, "Itchy Feeling." He writes:

Everyone is happy (and should be) over the election results and the chance to save the Republic. Problem is, what makes you think the deep state and progressives are going to play by the rules? They’ve already shown a large and varied willingness to step beyond the law on various fronts. What makes you think they are just going to lay down and follow the law now? 

His concern are further assassination attempts against Trump and possible terror attacks against civilian targets. We'll just have to wait and see if things go kinetic, or we get a few years of peace.

Gun & Prepping News #15

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

• First up, Jon Low published another of his Defensive Pistolcraft newsletters last week. One of the comments he makes is: "If you cannot fight, RUN!  Always run." And he backs this up with a link to a video interview of a woman caught in the October 7 attacks, where she and a group of friends fleeing the attack were hiding in a ditch. Another attendee of the musical festival saw them in the ditch and urged them to run because otherwise the terrorist would find them and simply shoot them. She and some others followed him and survived--those that remained in the ditch died. I remember watching a video of an incident from several years ago about something similar to a police officer that had engaged a terrorist armed with a rifle. The officer had taken cover behind a concrete pillar and stayed there a bit too long, because the rifleman had time to move up to the pillar, then pop around one side and shoot the officer. As Jon adds:
  

 Never hide.  Hiding is criminal stupidity.  Only the stupid advise hiding. 
If school administrators are teaching your children to hide, take your children
out of that school. 

On the topic of terror attacks, Jon links to an a piece by Gabe Suarez entitled "Countermeasures To The Vehicle Borne Terror Attacks" addressing some of the things you can do to avoid becoming a victim to a vehicle terror attack like we saw recently in New Orleans.

    Moving to the more "mundane" self-defense against an armed robber or burglar, Jon links to a video about a magic card trick, because knowing misdirection can help you if you are forced to draw a weapon but you don't want your attacker to realize it. And Jon provides some instructions on drawing and presenting a pistol:

     The following is what I consider a correct shot process.  Initially, it is very long and complex.  But with practice (2000) correct repetitions, it will compress in time and become very fast.  Practice the shot process correctly.  Engrain the correct shot process, and you will never lose it, no matter how fast you go.  

     Establish a correct grip while the pistol is still in the holster.  (An incorrect grip will destroy your shot process.)

     Present to the target by pushing the sights straight forward to the target.  (You may want to shoot from a close contact position.  That's a different situation.)  

     When your sights are on the target and you've decided to shoot, move your trigger finger from the register position to the the trigger.  Correctly placing your finger on the trigger.  (I know other instructors teach taking the slack out as you present to the target.  They are WRONG.  They are setting you up for a negligent discharge.  The situation can easily change from grip to shooting.  Two to three seconds for most of us.  Reaction time is 0.25 seconds for an anticipate stimulus.  Much more for an unanticipated stimulus.  The bad guy can drop his weapon and turn to run away in about 0.3 second, depending on which study you read.)  

     Touch the trigger.  Actually, you don't know where the trigger is, because you drew the pistol in a high stress situation.  Perhaps while being punched (George Zimmerman).  Touching the trigger lets you know exactly where the trigger is.  

     Take the slack out of the trigger.  

     Smoothly press the trigger.  If you are striving for a high precision shot, recite your mantra, "Keep pressing.  Keep pressing.  Keep Pressing.  . . ."  While holding your sights on the point that you are aiming at.  (The point, not the area.)  

     Your shot process determines where the pistol is pointed when the striker hits the primer.  Your follow through determines where the pistol is pointed when the bullet exits the muzzle, a millisecond later (more than enough time to move the sights off target).  

     Keep pressing the trigger.  Trap the trigger to the rear.  

     Get your sights back on the target (the one you just shot, not the next one.)  

     Reset the trigger.  

     Take the slack out of the trigger.  

     Assess the situation. 

 There is a lot more there, so be sure to check out the whole thing.

•  If you haven't do so already, be sure to check out Greg Ellifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump from this past Friday. He has links to articles on tips specific to gun owners in the event of wild fires such as we've seen in California, including insurance and fire resistant safes; concepts of using cover for the civilian gunfighter; tips on carrying a .32 ACP for self-defense; an article from the Tactical Professor on safety when engaged in dry-fire practice with a revolver; what to do with a handgun when using a public toilet; and more.
• What we would expect from decades of waste and mismanagement: "TFB Review: America's New Battle Rifle - The SIG Spear in 6.8x51mm"--The Firearm Blog. Just as I and others have warned, it is a repeat of the adoption of the M14. The author tested the spear using a standard 113-grain FMJ and a 155-grain match ammunition, using the hybrid cases. Some of the takeaways: 
• Not only is it much heavier than the M4 or M16 at nearly 9.5 lbs sans optic, silencer, or magazines, but the weight is all forward making it strenuous to carry and use the firearm.
• The recoil is greater, which will probably require changes to training.
• Of course the ammo is heavier than 5.56.
• Due to the high pressures used to get the necessary velocity, it is extremely loud without a silencer attached.
• It had poor accuracy: the author was getting 5 MOA using the standard 113-grain ammo, and 2.5 MOA using the match ammunition. It was supposed to have a 4 MOA using the standard ammunition.
• It is more involved to field strip than the M4 or M16.
  
• Although supposedly ambidextrous, there is no real provision for left handed operation of the bolt, and the cocking handle apparently can be dangerous when using a scope. 

The author tries to put a bright polish on the whole thing, but it still looks like a turd.

• "Keltec’s Quirky New PR57"--The Truth About Guns. Keltec's latest offering in 5.7 is intended for concealed carry. Although it has a 20-round magazine, it is an internal magazine rather than a detachable box magazine. Supposedly this is to save on weight and complexity. It has some other features. If it had come with night sights or replaceable sights, it would have been better. But still, at just shy of 14 ounces unloaded, it could be a useful carry pistol or backpacker's gun.
  
• "Impact Expansion Bullets: The Better “Hollow Point”?"--Guns & Ammo. As the author explains, traditional hollow points used hydraulic pressure to cause expansion, but may have limited or no expansion if the hollow point becomes clogged or if the round strikes something hard like bone. One solution that had been looked at was to take something similar to a full metal jacket, but with the internal cavity filled with a compressible polymer, so when the bullet hits resistance, the tip collapses upon the polymer which then forces the sides of the jacket out.
  
• "NSSF Releases Most Recent Firearm Production Figures"–Scattered Shots. Unfortunately, the latest data to be released is from 2022. It showed a continued decline in firearm manufacturing from 2020, although it appears that sales were still robust. Also:
  

The estimated total number of firearms in civilian possession from 1990-2022 is 491.3 million, according to data in reports such as ATF Firearms Commerce in the United States, ATF Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Reports and Congressional Research Service and including the collective ATF Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Report (AFMER) reports up to the 2022 edition.

 And also noting that "[f]rom 1990 to 2022, 270,799,283 firearms have been made available to the U.S. market." More statistics at the link.

• "Snap Caps & Dummy Rounds for Dry Fire & Malfunction Practice"--Blue Collar Prepping. Tips on making dummy handgun, rifle, and shotgun rounds for practice.
• "Case Metallurgy"--Guns & Ammo. Why cartridge cases are generally made out of brass, but looking at alternative metals that have been used (and problems associated with them) such as steel and aluminum. 
• Related: "Possible Future For Russian Ammunition - Lightweight 5.45"--The Firearm Blog. The Russians are apparently experimenting with a polymer case with a steel base. It will be lighter weight than a wholly steel case--allowing more ammo to be carried--and is supposed to help reduce heat transfer from the firing of the cartridge to the chamber of the weapon.
  
• "Beyond the FGC-9: How the Urutau Redefines the Global 3D-Printed Firearm Movement" – GNET. An excerpt:
  

    On Wednesday, 21 August 2024, the build plans for a highly anticipated 3D-printed pistol-calibre carbine were released on the largely defunct Odysee open-source video hosting platform. While recent years have seen a significant proliferation in the release of new build-plans and files for 3D-Printed Firearms (3DPF), particularly noticeable from 2019 onwards, this Special Extended Insight argues that the release of the ‘Urutau’ should be considered a potential watershed moment with important security implications for several reasons.

    Notably, the Urutau is reportedly much easier to build than the FGC-9, a semi-automatic 9mm firearm primarily constructed with 3D-printed parts and simple tools. The FGC-9 has gained popularity within the 3D-printing firearm community due to its ability to be assembled without any regulated parts. Further facilitating the task, the assembly instructions for the Urutau are exceptionally well-designed. Each step is clearly numbered, accompanied by precise line drawings that illustrate the exact placement and alignment of each component. These well-constructed instructions set a new standard, potentially increasing the accessibility and proliferation of 3DPF, including among extremists and criminals.

• "Editor’s Notebook Handgun Trends"--The Tactical Wire. The two main trends identified were the rise of double-stack, polymer framed 1911 clones; and the rise of Glock clones such as the Ruger RXM. The author notes that the Ruger RXM does not accept the Langdon Tactical Striker Control Device.
• Not everyone is thrilled with Trump's election: "LGBTQ people reveal outrageous reason they're buying guns"--Daily Mail. As one gay man put it, they don't want to be put in concentration camps. So does this mean that they've changed their minds about "big government"?
  
• "GOP Rep. Introduces SAGA Act: If You Like Your AR-15, You Can Keep Your AR-15"--Breitbart. The bill, if passed, would ostensibly "prevent states from banning rifles and/or shotguns that are legal federally." I'm of two minds on this or similar legislation mandating all states recognize carry permits from other states. While I appreciate the federal protection of the right to own and carry firearms, I also recognize that it furthers the precedent of federal control over firearm ownership and possession. If the federal government can grant a right, it can also take away that right. 
• "Virginia Church Disrupts Pre-Attack Surveillance: Are Churches Being Targeted?"--Christian Warrior Training. The article describes a couple obvious surveillance attempts at churches, where the people entered the church, taking photos and videos, and questing church employees about security plans and measures. In the Virginia incident, the men left without being identified; but in the California incident, one of the men was identified by police as having ties to the Taliban.
  
• "The Game is a Foot"--Blue Collar Prepping. Advice on caring for your feet including keeping them clean and dry, protecting them against injury, and keeping the toenails trimmed. On the latter point, the author advises that "keeping our toenails trimmed is important for comfort as well as health. When wearing closed toe shoes, long toenails can impinge against the shoe, frequently leading to pain on even a relatively short walk. Bacteria can also find a cozy home under untrimmed nails." Which is why I've long recommended that preppers need to keep nail clippers and snips, emery boards, and nail brushes to keep their nails (both hand and feet) clean and neat. Good hygiene is half the battle for survival.
• "How one sailor survived 76 days lost at sea after colliding with a whale... and what he learned"--Daily Mail. Revisiting Steve Callahan's 1982 survival experience. An excerpt:

    Callahan ultimately plugged enough holes (sometimes literally), taught himself how to use the solar stills and caught enough food to just barely survive until he was rescued by fishermen on the island of Marie Galant, southeast of Guadalupe. In fact, it was the ecosystem of marine life that had formed around his raft which drew a swarm of birds above - and attracted the attention of his eventual saviors, who correctly figured that fish were nearby.

    'Yes, it was a horrible event, but I saw things, I witnessed things, I learned things about the world and about myself that I could only have done in by going through that,' he said. 'I guess if there's a hopeful message to people, it is that: we go through all these things, but hidden within them are opportunities and gifts, and that includes talking to you right this minute, and doing the film.'

    One lesson that Callahan learned in the two-and-a-half months stranded at sea: just how intertwined the physical and mental are.

    He recalls dreaming about steak as the struggles of his his 'mind', 'body' and 'spirit' all melded into one.

It's why Cody Lundin and other survival experts spend so much time on the mental/spiritual preparations and skills for survival.

•  "My First Thru-Hike Wrecked My Feet. Now I Never Trek Without Toe Spacers"--Outdoor Magazine. The author writes:

    After staying up late one night in an AT lean-to for a tailspin into online medical sleuthing, I realized it was cuboid syndrome, when the pointy joint on the side of your foot shifts slightly out of line for a spell. With just enough bandwidth to stream a few video tutorials, I learned something called the cuboid squeeze and fixed it myself.

     But now, I don’t even need that technique. After 11,000 miles of hiking and countless more miles of road running in almost every state in the country, I simply never leave home without a 1.5-ounce piece of sculpted silicone that’s changed my fitness and the way I travel: toe spacers.

He discusses some different brands, but his recommendation (but also the most expensive) are those from Correct Toes because of how well they have stood up to use. The author also discusses how to use them.

Gift Bags? Seriously?

The New York Post reports: "Freed Israeli hostages given ‘gift bags’ by Hamas in horrific commemoration of their captivity." The Palestinians have released the first 3 of 97 hostages taken during the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas (although only about 60 are believed to still be alive). In exchange, Israel has agreed to a cease-fire and released 90 Palestinian prisoners--"included 69 women and 21 teenage boys from the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to Hamas." Under the agreement with Hamas, Israel will ultimately release approximately 2,000 prisoners. 

    But in a bizarre act, the three hostages that Hamas released were also given "gift bags" that "contained 'gifts and souvenirs,' which included photos of them in captivity, a commemorative photo of Gaza itself, and some kind of certificate, the Israeli outlet Ynet reported." Of course, the prisoners will also return with the physical and mental trauma inflicted upon them by their captors. 

    A Palestinian leader with the political and media acumen of Gandhi would have long ago regained much of the land lost to the Jewish immigration into the region. But such a person is impossible in Islam. As Majid Khadduri once stated:

The universalism of Islam, in its all-embracing creed, is imposed on the believers as a
continuous process of warfare, psychological and political, if not strictly military. ... The Jihad,
accordingly, may be stated as a doctrine of a permanent state of war, not continuous fighting.

Any peace now is merely a temporary cessation in fighting which purpose is to provide time for Hamas (or whatever replaces them) to regain strength until it can strike again. Even if a Gandhi-like person were to arise in Islam, it would be a sham only intended to lull an enemy into a false sense of security.

    In reality, the only hope for the Palestinian people is to completely and utterly abandon Islam and its inherent violence and depravity, and to embrace Christianity. As Christ taught (in Matthew 5):

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

The Palestinians would gain far more from letting Israel, so to speak, slap them on both the right and left cheeks, take their coats and cloaks, and compel double labor, than from them (the Palestinians) killing and kidnapping Israeli citizens.

Biden: And the Cover-Ups Continue

 Biden has been going crazy with pardons and commutations, including: the commutation of the death sentences on 37 of 40 federal prisoners to simple life sentences; the pardon of his son, Hunter, despite prior pledges to not do so; and the commutation of the sentences of nearly 2,500 drug felons this month on top of 1,500 commutations and pardons of 39 people for non-violent crimes back in December. The latter included a commutation for a woman who stole $54 million from a small town in Illinois and a judge who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks.

    But the pardon machine has taken a turn in the past few days as Biden has now entered the realm of preemptive pardons, including:

• "Biden announces blanket pardon for his brother James, burying family influence-peddling probe for good"--New York Post. As the article notes, "President Biden issued a pardon Monday for his brother James Biden, effectively burying the final details of a more than five-year probe into the first family’s influence peddling to save them from possible repercussions under the incoming Trump administration." But the pardon extended just beyond his brother, James, but his wife, Sara Jones Biden, Biden's sister Valerie Biden Owens and her husband John T. Owens, and another of Biden's brothers, Francis W. Biden. Biden's pardon indicated that "[t]he issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense." But if they hadn't committed any crimes, for what are they being pardoned?
  
• "Biden pardons Fauci, Milley and the Jan. 6 committee in effort to guard against ‘revenge’ by Trump"--AP. From the lede:

 President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in an extraordinary use of the powers of the presidency in his final hours to guard against potential “revenge” by the incoming Trump administration.

Fauci, as you know, funded the gain of function research that led to Covid-19, and then later attempted to cover up his roll, including lying to Congress. Milley, among other things, had reached out to a Chinese general to assure him that he, Milley, would countermand certain military orders that Trump, as Commander in Chief, might issue against China. And the January 6 Committee, among other things, concealed and refused to release exculpatory evidence concerning the events of the January 6 protests. Nevertheless, as above, Biden included the following statement in his pardons:

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”

What we owe them are lengthy but very public trials. But, as with the pardons of his crime family, the purpose of these pardons also appear to be for heading off criminal probes or investigations into the actions of the pardoned persons, or perhaps entire government agencies and departments.

Preposterous: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Via Instapundit, I came across this Jan. 15, 2025 article at Front Page Magazine: "Anglican Church of Ireland Canon David Oxley Claims Jews See Themselves as ‘Master Race’." It is subtitled: "Preposterous charge." Apparently the offending comment by Oxley was this:

“This takes different forms in different times and places, but it is the same horrible idea, that one group of people is intrinsically more valuable than any other. Once that is accepted, then the elimination of others follows as a matter of course – because they don’t count,” Oxley said at the Dublin Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on November 10….

The Front Page author, Hugh Fitzgerald, indicates that Oxley made the comments in the context of criticizing Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. My concern here is not Israel’s response to the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, but Fitzgerald's following comment:

The charge is preposterous. No Israeli Jews are taught that they are “intrinsically more valuable than any other.” For god’s [sic] sake, all the Israelis want from the Arabs is that they stop trying to murder them. It’s a simple wish. No “master race” ideology is involved. ...

But is it actually true that Israelis specifically, or even Jews more generally, do not see themselves as more valuable than non-Jews or as a master race? 

    Consider this: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef--"the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party"--said the following about gentiles ("goyim") in an October 10, 2010, sermon:

    “Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel.”

    “In Israel, death has no dominion over them… With gentiles, it will be like any person – they need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money.

    “This is his servant… That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew.”

    “Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat… That is why gentiles were created.”

I also came across a statement from Rabbi Yoel Lieberman, also from roughly the same time, discusses in detail why Jews, according to their religious teachings, are inherently--in a very literal sense--superior to the non-Jew, including those that convert to Judaism. Addressing the teachings from various Rabbinical texts, he includes comments such as:

• "We have already mentioned the words of the Ra’avad with regards to an animal slaughtered by a Gentile: 'for the Gentiles are like animals…and one who thinks of them as something [worthwhile] will gather the wind in his fist.'"
• "So we see that the Jews, because of their special spiritual level, are considered to be a genus different from all the other people."
• "Also in 'Gur Aryeh' on the portion of Matot (page 164 s.v. v’ein ha’goyim) it is written: '…and this is what they said "You are called men and the nations are not called men," for the difference that exists between the animal world and man exists within you exceedingly, but the nations are not "men," for their souls are immersed in the material, associated with the materialistic animal world, and this matter is clear.'"
• "In the World to Come, however, there will be no nation other than Israel. The souls of righteous Gentiles will be allowed to exist in the Future World, but only as an addition and attachment to Israel. They will therefore be secondary to the Jews, just as a garment is secondary to the one who wears it. All that they attain of the ultimate good will have to be attained in this manner, since by virtue of their nature they can receive no more.
   
  "Jews, therefore, are the 'true humanity,' whereas the Gentiles are only 'on a low level of humanity'; Jews 'are true humanity from its authentic roots,' whereas the other nations are 'all on the level of Man in his fallen state' -- and therefore 'are treated as ones belonging to completely different genera.'"
• "In the book 'Orot,' Orot Yisrael chapter 5, article 10 (page 156), Rabbi Kook wrote: 'The difference between the Jewish soul, in all its independence, inner desires, longings, character and standing, and the soul of all the Gentiles, on all of their levels, is greater and deeper than the difference between the soul of a man and the soul of an animal, for the difference in the latter case is one of quantity, while the difference in the first case is one of essential quality.'"
  

There is a lot more, but you get the gist. And these were from just the first 2 pages of my Google search. 

    And as I noted in my review of Israel Shahak's book, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years:

    Shahak also explains that the classical and orthodox Jews believe that they, and only they, are truly "humans" capable of worshiping the true God. Gentiles are considered "to be, literally, limbs of Satan". While they do recognize the possibility of conversion, they believe that people that convert were "in reality 'Jewish souls' who got lost when Satan violated the Holy Lady ... in her heavenly abode."

    Nevertheless, they believe that certain peoples were incapable of being Jewish: the Mongols "and the nomads in the North, and the Blacks and the nomads in the South, and those who resemble them in our climates," because "their nature is like the nature of mute animals" and "they are not on the level of human beings, and their level among existing things is below that of a man and above that of a monkey...." Of course, in English translations, in order to conceal this, the word "Blacks" is changed to Kushites, "a word which means nothing to those who have no knowledge of Hebrew[.]"

    It's not that I object to religions believing that they are special or unique when it comes to truth and salvation, but that people like Fitzgerald, deliberately or otherwise, are lying to their readers about widely held beliefs in Israel that may be influencing its policies and conduct. There are, in fact, Israeli Jews that are taught and believe that they are “intrinsically more valuable than any other” people. Do all Israelis believe such? Of course not. But was Oxley's comment preposterous? Not at all.