Tuesday, March 24, 2026

H1B's Showing Their Worth

From the New York Post: "Alleged Iranian spies are already in the US — and infiltrating Silicon Valley." 

    Last month, a federal grand jury indicted three Iranian software engineers for allegedly stealing trade secrets from tech companies, including Google.

    Two of the suspects are sisters, Samaneh Ghandali, 41, and Sorvoor Ghandali, 32. They were charged alongside Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40, who is Samaneh’s husband, with allegedly using their employment at unidentified technology companies to “obtain access to confidential and sensitive information,” according to the Department of Justice. 
   

    The tech workers then allegedly “exfiltrated confidential and sensitive documents, including trade secrets related to processor security and cryptography and other technologies, from Google and other technology companies.” 

    They are then accused of transferring the confidential data to other locations, including Iran, according to the indictment. They have all pleaded not guilty.

The sisters' father was a high ranking official in the Iranian regime. On this point:

    Opponents of the Iranian regime in the US say that the family connections could have facilitated the alleged spying.

    “The issue is risk, access, and vulnerability,” said Iranian human rights activist Lawdan Bazargan, who heads the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists.

    “When individuals connected to powerful networks in an authoritarian system enter universities and research centers, they gain access not only to advanced technology but also to professional networks and institutional trust. In certain cases … access can be abused.”

No kidding! 

Barbie's New Career As A Drug Mule

Mattel's Barbie doll has been portrayed in many different careers: from housewife, to model, to doctor, to astronaut. But in a few very special packages, Barbie was acting as a drug mule. The New York Post reports that Jade Adams, of suburban Kansas City, Mo., purchased a Barbie doll at Cargo Largo, a bargain retailer in the town of Independence; and when taking the doll out of its wrapper a white powder exploded over her and her husband. Police and Cargo Largo security found four other dolls at the store that also had packets of fentanyl inside the packaging. Police downplayed this, but it likely represents a larger operation to smuggle fentanyl and it was only by chance that 5 dolls "escaped" into the wild. Barbie are primarily manufactured in Asia, including China. 

Numbers Station Related To Iranian War?

Interesting story from Radio Free Europe: "Random Numbers, Persian Code: A Mysterious Signal Transfixes Radio Sleuths -- And Intelligence Experts." The article begins:

    The radio signal first started broadcasting on February 28, about 12 hours after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran.

    On a scratchy shortwave signal almost twice a day -- in the early morning and early evening on Coordinated Universal Time -- a man's voice can be heard speaking Persian, counting out a series of apparently random numbers. The numbers are read out for varying stretches of time, followed by a pause in which the word tavajjoh -- which translates as "attention" -- is spoken three times.

 [snip]

    Five days later, it got more interesting.

    Beginning on March 4, the signal started to be jammed, with a cacophonous screech of electronic noise that made it all but impossible to hear the numbers. The original transmission paused for a period of time, then moved to another shortwave frequency.

    "It's interesting because it started to be jammed on the initial frequency," said Akin Fernandez, who is widely considered an authority on the decades-old encoded radio technology known as a numbers station. "Someone doesn't want the recipient [of the signal] to hear the numbers."

    "It's an adversarial situation, two groups acting against one another. The question [is] who has the technical means to jam a station," Fernandez said. "The United States has the means, which means this is being transmitted by Iran. Or then it could be Iran, which means the United States is the transmission source."

    "More likely this is an operation against Iran," he said. 
  

The article indicates that a British-based group called Enigma2000 had triangulated the origin of the signal's transmitter: "somewhere in an area encompassing northern Italy, Switzerland, western Germany, eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands." Even the jamming--a type of "bubble jammer"--suggests Iran as the source of the jamming with the article noting that this "is exactly the same kind of bubble jammer that is used against Radio Farda, VOA Farsi, Iran International TV shortwave relay, and BBC Farsi[.]"

A Valid Concern

The New York Post reports that "Iranian officials fear that US ceasefire talks are a trap — an attempt to lure the regime’s last surviving leaders into an ambush where they can be assassinated," according to a piece by the Wall Street Journal. 

    Leaders in Tehran worry that any face-to-face negotiations with the US and Israel to end the war would be a ruse to draw out Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

    Ghalibaf, a former paramilitary commander and one of the few senior Iranian leaders to escape the airstrikes, is wanted by the US to take part in any peace discussions. 

Considering how just last September Israel used peace talks in Qatar as a means to conduct an air strike on Hamas leaders--in a neutral country--this seems a valid concern. 

 

 

 

Monday, March 23, 2026

VIDEO: Test Of Popular Hiking/Camping Water Filters

So this is a test of 8 water filters as well as one type of water purification tablets (they might actually be strips, but same difference). All but the Grayl filter and the water purification strips are only good for bacteria and protozoa, while the Grayl and the purification strips will also filter out or kill viruses. If you are only camping or hiking in the U.S. or Canada, you probably don't need to worry about viruses, but you do need it for foreign countries. After a SHTF event? Who knows.

    For preppers, though, you might want to look at the Sawyer Squeeze. According to the video, the manufacturer is claiming it can filter 378,000 liters/100,000 gallons of water as long as you take care of it--clean it, back flush it, don't let it freeze. If this is correct, then the host is not wrong in saying that it could potentially last you a lifetime. One of these per person in your household (or one plus a backup) would probably give you all the drinking water you would need for grid down situations.  

VIDEO: "I Tried 8 Hiking Water Filters From REI.. Here's My Honest Review and Comparison"
Taylor the Nahamsha Hiker (28 min.)

Putting The "Didn't Earn It" Into DEI

From Gateway Pundit: "Female Secret Service Agent Who Didn’t Secure Roof of AGR Building at Butler Rally on Day of Trump Assassination Attempt Suspended AGAIN – Hid Marriage to Foreign National." From the article (bold added):

    One of the Secret Service agents who failed to secure the roof of the AGR building at the Butler rally on the day of the assassination attempt against President Trump has been suspended again.

    Myosoty “Miyo” Perez was one of the agents who failed to secure Trump’s July 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

    Perez was one of the female agents seen fumbling with her firearm and struggling to holster her gun following the assassination attempt.

[snip]

    To this day, only six Secret Service agents connected to the Butler assassination attempt were temporarily suspended without pay.

    Myosoty Perez was one of the six Secret Service agents who were suspended, but she was allowed back at her post until she was suspended again.

    President Trump also banned Perez from getting anywhere near him.

    According to Real Clear Politics, Perez was suspended for not properly disclosing her relationship and marriage to a foreign national.

    Perez secretly married a Brazilian woman in April 2025 and did not notify the agency until this January, according to Real Clear Politics. 

Wow. She checked nearly every DEI box: POC, female, homosexual, incompetent, physically incapable of doing her job (specifically, too short to actually be able to shield Trump). Sounds like she should be the lead for a Disney movie. And to think that someone who was capable and deserving was passed over for this loser. 

Corrupt NYC Non-Profits Giving Money To Politicians

The Times Union has uncovered more than 100 non-profit organizations that have directly made campaign contributions to politicians. The article, entitled "Brooklyn is a hotspot for illegal election activity by nonprofits," reports:

    In the last quarter century, New York City's most populous borough has quietly established itself as the state's hotbed for illegal election activity involving nonprofit organizations.

    A Times Union investigation has found that during that span, more than 100 nonprofit organizations in Brooklyn that are prohibited by federal and state laws from participating in campaigns and other electioneering activities have made donations or lent support to candidates or political committees. The donations are more than double the amount of prohibited activity by nonprofits in any other municipality across the state during that period.

    The newspaper's investigation has also revealed sparse enforcement of the statutes governing election integrity in that sector, leaving charitable groups and their leaders - or the candidates they have supported - with minimal concern that their actions may have legal consequences.

    Named for the section of the Internal Revenue Code that governs them, 501(c)(3) nonprofits receive two valuable benefits: an exemption from paying federal taxes and tax deductions for donors. Federal law has barred organizations from campaign activity for decades, and New York has a similar prohibition that took effect in 2019.

[snip]

    The Times Union unearthed instances of 19 nonprofit organizations endorsing candidates, displaying their political signs, promoting their fundraisers, or speaking at campaign events in Brooklyn. These occurred despite mandates that their work be exclusively focused on public-benefit purposes, including charitable, religious, educational or scientific endeavors. 

Most of the politicians that benefited were Democrats--of course--but the two Republicans were both Chinese which raises the specter of foreign influence.

    Many of the nonprofits are also "hometown associations," which are organized around immigrants' native cities or provinces. Some said they organize cultural events for the Chinese community, help members sign up for government benefits, provide programming for the young or elderly, and similar activities, according to tax filings and interviews.

    A New York Times investigation found these types of organizations have also acted as an arm of the Chinese government to promote pro-China candidates, including by intervening in multiple elections in New York. 

Wilder Has Iran Update

John Wilder has an update on the Iran war: "Iran So Far Away: Million-Dollar Bombs Versus $3,000 Drones and Day 23 of the 4 Day Operation to Liberate Iran." Short take: oil prices are going up as fast as our missile stockpiles are going down. 

VIDEO: Making Your Own Self-Sealing Targets

You probably have already come across blog or forum posts where people describe using horse stall mats to make their own self-sealing targets. The following video discusses this, including a description of how the author made the targets and showing how well his work.  

 VIDEO: "Infinitely self sealing target companies are a scam."
Regular Guy Training LLC (8 min.)

Immigrants in the News

An illegal Venezuelan migrant accused of executing a Loyola University Chicago freshman from New York entered the US under the Biden administration, and was released under Chicago’s sanctuary city laws before the killing, the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday.

 Remember, this is what liberals want when they say they support immigration.

Prosecutors said the scheme resulted in about $6 million in actual losses, with 11 suspects — including an Iranian and Azerbaijani national — accused of stealing victims’ identities, taking out mortgages on their homes and pocketing the cash. 

Many of the names of the defendants sound like those of immigrants as well:

The defendants are Nazaret Chakrian, 65; Arnold Moradians, 57; Avetis Hekimyan, 38; Ross Tarkhan, 32; Tigran Hovanesian, 56; Armen Vardevaryan, 55; Craig Higdon, 66; Helen Spangler, 62; Victor Lossi, 43; Marine Sarkisian, 49; and Cynthia Borjas, 51. 

    What I know for a fact, though, is two things: 1) the timing is political, and 2) New Media forced the women to come forward.

    You see, this year is the 99th anniversary of Chavez’s birth (he died in 1993), and celebrations had been planned for this event all over the country. Next year, though… Wow. One-hundred years. That’s the biggie, and you can bet that were it not for New Media, the left planned to feast on that anniversary.

    There is just one inconvenient fact about the left’s secular saint…

    Cesar Chavez opposed illegal immigration every bit as much as Donald J. Trump. Chávez understood that illegal aliens undermined the wages of legal migrant workers and their union bargaining power.

    Cesar Chavez was so opposed to illegal immigration that, just like Minuteman Project of 2004, which was widely smeared in the legacy media as racist, Chavez put together his own militia to stop illegals from crossing the border. There are credible reports that violence was used as an example to others.

    To form his United Farmworkers Union (UFW), it was Chavez versus the growers, and for obvious reasons,  the growers loved the open border.

     For just as obvious reasons, Chavez did not.

    And there you have it.

    That’s why it was time to take Chavez down. The left feared, and not unreasonably, that as Chavez once again entered the public consciousness through these milestone birthday celebrations that New Media would co-opt him as a powerful symbol of the truth: that illegal immigration is devastating to the working class and benefits the rich and powerful.

Sunday, March 22, 2026

Ultimatums and Threats In Iran War

Ultimatums and threats flew fast and thick over the past 24 hours. Yesterday evening, Trump told Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours or risk the U.S. destroying Iranian power plants. Iran responded with its own threats to attack fuel, energy, information technology systems and desalination infrastructure in the region. Iran has also threatened to completely shut the Strait.

I had mentioned earlier this month that Saudi Arabia was going to attempt to increase the amount of oil flowing through its East-West pipeline (although the total is still far short of what would normally go by tanker through the Strait of Hormuz). But Anonymous Conservatives links to sources saying that the Houthis in Yemen could shut this down by targeting ships entering or exiting the Red Sea, presumably at its southern opening. This doesn't completely cut off the Red Sea: oil freighters could still use the Suez Canal. But not all oil tankers, just Suezmax tankers or smaller. The Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and Ultra-Large Crude Carriers (ULCCs) cannot use the canal. There is also the issue of whether the Houthis Iranian supplied anti-ship missiles could reach far enough north to target even those tankers. 

The Great Replacement--Medical Doctors

Mary Talley Bowden MD posted on X, in response to a March 20, 2026, article complaining that not enough foreign medical students got residency spots: 

1367 US medical students did not get a US residency spot.

6733 international, non-US medical students got a US residency spot. 
   

(H/t Anonymous Conservative).  

Gun & Prepping News #73

Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:

  • "Battle On The Border: Pancho Villa’s Raid On America"--American Rifleman. Short take: "In March 1916, Americans living in the quiet town of Columbus, N.M., suddenly found themselves attacked by Mexican bandits, and many citizens sought to arm themselves and fight back, both during the raid and afterward." The article goes over why Pancho Villa targeted Columbus, N.M., has a bit about the battle, and discusses the aftermath, including this:

    When morning came, the raiders were gone, chased some 15 miles back into Mexico by U.S. Army Maj. Frank Tompkins, leading two troops from the 13th Cavalry. Back in Columbus, the tragic accounting began. Eight civilians lost their lives that night, along with 11 American Soldiers. Several buildings were burned down, while homes and stores were looted. A growing rage gripped both citizens and Soldiers as the locals gathered up the bodies of the men Villa left behind. The dead Mexicans, 63 in all, were dragged about a mile east of Columbus, where the corpses were piled up, soaked with kerosene and burned. Some residents said the horrible smell lingered for months afterward.

    Seven of Villa’s men were captured during the raid, and they were quickly tried. One was sentenced to life in prison. The others were hanged—two on June 9th, and the remaining four on June 30th. 

  • "A Shooter’s review of the Manurhin MR 73"--Revolver Guy.  The author, Darrin S., gives his review of this iconic revolver after 2 years and 2,500+ rounds. If you are not familiar with the Manurhin, it is a French .357 Magnum revolver originally built for use by France's anti-terrorist unit, GIGN. They have a reputation of extreme durability, even with full magnum rounds, yet still within a K-frame sized package. These are not target guns but are built for combat and reliability. Nevertheless, the author writes: 

... This is one of the most accurate revolvers I’ve ever shot. This was a long-term review, and I used to have a collection of targets that I kept, but I unfortunately lost them during some move or another. Suffice to say, with loads it likes, the gun will hover right around an inch at 25 yards, shooting real five-shot groups. ...

  • Speaking of revolvers: "Colt’s Blued Python Is Back and It Still Bites"--Guns America. The author gives his review of a 3-inch model he owns. Accuracy was mixed, with the lighter weight bullets having larger groups, but the heavier bullets (158 grain .38 Special +P and 158 grain .357 Magnum) giving 2 to 2.5 inch 6-round groups at 25 yards. Actually, 158 grain was standard for .38 Special and .357 Magnum loads at one time, so it makes sense the weapon would shoot best with those.
  • "Ruger Security-380 Review: A Reliable .380 Built for Defense"--The Truth About Guns. I've talked before about duty sized .380 pistols like Beretta 84 and Walther PP. This appears to be in that same class--the bigger brother to the Ruger LCP Max. It uses either 10 or 15-round magazines and features a "Lite Rack" system making it easier for people with reduced hand strength to still rack the slide. I think a lot of people--particularly older people with reduced hand strength or that are recoil shy--would benefit from using a .380 over a larger 9mm, so I'm glad to see manufacturers producing .380 handguns suited for a home defense weapon. 
  • "TFB 1-Year Review: Strike Industries Hyperion Armor RF3 Level IV Plate"--The Firearms Blog. These run $279.95 for a set of two. Like other rifle plates in that price range, the plates are a composite of polymer and ceramic. But unlike most others in this class that use a fabric cover, these use a spray on polymer "liner" to cover it. 
  • "The Critical Issue in Home Defense"--The Tactical Wire.  Rich Grassi writes:

If you have a firearm of any type for home defense, the most critical skill you can possess falls under RULE 4: Be sure of your target; visually identify it before firing. Know what’s around it, on either side of it; what’s behind it and what could step between your muzzle and the target. 

And he notes:

    You never shoot at a sound. Visually identify the person and situation first. 

    You have the tools to do that and I don’t mean the latest sun-tan-causing super tactical gun-mounted light. 

    You could try your voice. The Tactical Professor, Claude Werner, arrived at the tactical solution: “Who’s there?”

    If the answer is, “Daddy, it’s me,” put the fowling piece away.
  

  •  "SPORTS or How NOT to Clear a Jammed AR-15 Rifle"--Shooting Wire. Paul Markel notes that when he was in the military, he was taught to clear his rifle using the SPORTS method: "S, slap the magazine. P, pull back on the charging handle, O, observe the ejection port. R, release the charging handle. T, tap the forward assist. S, attempt to shoot your rifle." But, the author learned through experience, SPORTS is wrong for every occasion. 

The enemy isn’t going to call timeout and let you fix your rifle. You either need to skin out a pistol or fix your rifle as fast as possible. For the Type 1 and Type 2 stoppages, we clear them by dropping our elbows to our ribs (ejection port toward the ground), tap the magazine (once), rack the charging handle vigorously (let it go, allowing a full compression of the recoil spring to drive the bolt home) and attempt to fire if the situation warrants. 

Type 3 (the double-feed) is more involved but still simpler than the SPORTS method. I have to admit that I'd never heard of SPORTS before this article. 

  • "Is It Bad to Store Magazines Fully Loaded?"--The Truth About Guns. Typically "no" but sometimes "yes." The general concern here is either magazine spring set or spring fatigue. Neither is a concern with quality springs if you are just loading the magazines and letting them sit. But the author notes: "Some all-polymer magazines can experience feed lip creep under prolonged pressure, though quality brands are designed to address this issue."
  • More homemade guns in Brazil: "FGC-9 bedroom factory discovered"--Impro Guns.  Pretty nice guns for being 3-D printed and all that. 
  • "Complete Review: 6.5 Creedmoor Ammunition — Performance and Top Brands"--The Mag Life. It's been almost 20 years since this cartridge was released. The author gives some background on the cartridge and some information on several hunting and target shooting loads. 
  • "Boat Guns: Top 5 Long Guns For Boating Defense"--The Firearm Blog.  His list is: (1) the Mossberg 590 Mariner; (2) AR-15 rifles with no particular model or brand mentioned; (3) Henry all-weather lever action rifles; (4) the Ruger PC carbine; and (5) the Benelli Nova H2O pump-action shotgun which features a nickel plated barrel and magazine tube. The primary concern with a "boat gun" is corrosion, particularly if you have it around salt water or are going to be on the water a lot or for an extended period of time. Consequently, any firearms picked for boating defense should be selected with corrosion resistance in mind, whether it is some sort of special coating or nickel plating like those sported by some shotguns intended for marine environments, or being constructed of stainless steel. Polymer furniture is also a plus. I've thought in the past that the Ruger Mini-14 (or Mini-30) in stainless steel might be a better choice than the AR for a boat gun because almost all its metal parts are constructed of stainless steel. 
  • "Ready! Set!! Prep!! – Hunting Rifles"--Surviving Prepper. This is apparently part 2 of a series of article on rifles for preppers where part 1 dealt with surplus military bolt action rifles. This article is concerned with hunting weapons and briefly discusses lever action rifles and bolt action hunting rifles suitable for hunting (obviously) but which can pressed into service as defensive rifles. Part 1 (military surplus guns) can be found here. And Part 3, modern sporting rifles, can be found here
  • "Are You Forgetting These Prepper Gun Skills?"--The Armory Life.  Those being: basic shooting skills, maintenance skills, basic gunsmithing skills, and hand loading of ammunition. 
  • "The Ultimate List Of INCH Bag Survival Items"--Modern Survival Online. The author writes:

    INCH stands for I’m Never Coming Home. It is a large survival bag that is packed full of all the essentials tools and gear you will need to survive while you find a new place to call home. A BOB – or bugout bag, holds enough gear to keep you alive UNTIL you get home, or up to 72 hours.

    While you will some of the same items in each bag, there are vast differences in both the gear packed and the rucksack used to carry them. Think of an INCH bag as a bugout bag on steroids! In this article we’ll talk about the items you need to consider when you put it together. 
    

The principle difference is that the INCH bag will have equipment and supplies to help you live off the land, thus there is going to be gear for hunting or fishing that you probably would not fine in a BOB, as well as more tools and other gear that you probably would not need in a BOB. But that also makes the INCH bag larger and heavier. Frankly, I doubt most people could successfully live off the land, even if they had practiced it; and there is enough gear here that it probably would need to split between multiple packs among your family or group.  

    "Do I share my preps with the unprepared or do I keep them for myself?" is an age-old prepper question with, unfortunately, no good answers.

    On the one hand, it makes cold-blooded sense not to share with other people in an emergency or after a disaster; after all, anything you give to them now is a resource you won't have later when you might need it. If you have a family, the stakes become higher: why should you risk their health and well-being by taking away from them to give to a stranger? And what if others hear about it and come begging -- or worse, demanding, that demand backed up by force of arms?

    On the other hand, will your conscience allow you to send away the sickly, the starving and the cold empty-handed? What if they have children with them? There's not much point in having a lifetime's worth of food if you can't live with yourself, and if you lose your essential humanity in the name of protecting your family then you risk alienating them as you become emotionally hardened.

    Fortunately, there are options between "Give" and "Don't Give". 

The options she discusses are: (i) hide yourself and your preps--if they don't know you're there they won't ask--(ii) direct them to a cache which both helps them but gets them out of your area; (iii) sell them the food in exchange for items they may have or for their labor. 

    No matter how optimistic you may be about humans and their nature, when Shit Hits The Fan, societal norms and rule of law might not apply. No sane prepper would put a big sign on their house saying “I have emergency food,” for example.

    But many preppers don’t realize that people around them, like friends and neighbors, probably already know. People who prepare naturally give off a vibe of being thoughtful and “having their act together.” 

 [snip]

    Even if they have no idea you’ve got a basement stocked full of supplies, it’s very likely they’d come knocking on your door in an emergency anyway. It’s the disaster equivalent of “can I borrow a cup of sugar?” 

Saturday, March 21, 2026

VIDEO: Results of IQ Tests in Nigeria

The host of this video had heard from Westerners about the low IQ's of Sub-Saharan Africans, so he assembled a team, obtained funding, and went out onto the streets of Nigeria to select random people and have them take IQ tests to refute what he'd heard. The results, as the host puts it, were "very disappointing." The average score was 73 while the median was 69. I don't know if this was the high score or not, but he said only 3% scored 102 which is the average for whites; while 52% scored below 70. The host even took the test himself just to check that there wasn't something wrong with the test.  

Failing to show that Sub-Saharan Africans have comparable IQs to other peoples, the host then goes on to argue that I.Q. does not fully represent an individual's overall intelligence or potential and, so, it is "essential to highlight that this should not be a reason to mock or insult Africans." 

Whatever IQ measures, it is related to the ability to function and positively contribute in an advanced economy. And low IQ has a strong correlation to low time preference, impulsivity, and criminality.   

So when you hear or read that IQ is dropping in Western countries, realize that this is not because Westerners are getting less intelligent, but reflects immigration from the Third World.  

 VIDEO: "We Conducted an IQ Test in Nigeria, Africa"
BantuCityDiaries (6 min.)

VIDEO: Individual Skills For Reacting To Contact

This video goes over the individual skills and actions for reacting to contact as well as an introduction to what a team leader would do. By individual skills, the video is discussing things such as how you should move, taking cover or at least getting low to the ground, different types of fire, etc. 

 VIDEO: "How to Survive a Gunfight"
Echo Mike (12 min.)

VIDEO: Everyone Going To 6.8mm?

This video from Cappy Army discusses how the Russians and the Chinese are developing 6.8mm rounds for combat rifles, with both apparently aimed at developing rounds capable of penetrating body armor. He notes that the Russians already have issues with this because most Ukrainians soldiers have body armor. The Russian cartridge will feature a tungsten-steel penetrator intended to not only defeat body armor, but also light vehicle armor. It is also supposed to offer substantial improvements in range over current or past military rounds. 

The Chinese round appears to be a near copy of the U.S. 6.8x51mm, except that the case is 1mm shorter. Not much on it, but what little there is suggests that their focus is on defeating U.S. body armor.   

 VIDEO: "Why Everyone is Switching to a '6.8mm NGSW' for WW3"
Cappy Army (15 min.)

Friday, March 20, 2026

Illegals Who Vote, Birthright Citizenship, And More

From the New York Post: "Illegal immigrants from Africa, India and China are voting in US elections — here’s how they’re doing it." An excerpt:

    As the issue of election security ramps up in Congress with the SAVE Act, Sacko’s arrest was one of nearly a dozen uncovered by The Post of non-citizens allegedly voting in US elections, sometimes for decades, with many remaining listed as active voters on state rolls, even after their convictions.

    “The reality is aliens are voting in American elections,” J. Christian Adams, president of Public Interest Legal Foundation, who has spent decades working on election integrity, told The Post, noting no one is quite sure how widespread the problem is.

[snip]

    Adams said the main problem is aliens being invited to register to vote, usually through the mail, at the DMV or via third-party groups.

The article also covers several specific examples of illegals that have been caught voting in the U.S., and some are still registered to vote.

    In the long term, though, birth right citizenship and its abuse is the greater problem: "US territory turned tropical maternity ward has produced thousands of ‘American’ babies for parents living in China."  

    Pregnant Chinese women have turned a tropical paradise into a maternity ward — pumping out babies who automatically become US citizens daily.

    The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US territory northeast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, has been flooded with so-called “birth tourists” since 2009 when then-president Barack Obama introduced a visa-waiver program for Chinese nationals.

    China-watchers estimate about 1,000 companies offer birth tourism to the Northern Mariana Islands, other US overseas territories and even the US mainland. They claim a gob-smacking 1.5 million American babies are being raised in China by Chinese parents who’ve participated in birth tourism.

All of those mothers and babies are subject to the jurisdiction of China, not the U.S., and so none should be considered U.S. citizens. 

    And more chicanery from the enemies of this country: "Left-Wing Activist Group Teaches Liberals How To Get Through Jury Selection and Vote 'Not Guilty' on Trump DOJ Prosecutions, Recordings Show." 

    A left-wing activist group is teaching liberals in Washington, D.C., and "across the United States" how to increase their chances of serving as jurors on cases brought by the Trump Department of Justice so they can undermine its chances of securing convictions, training materials reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

    Freedom Trainers, whose fiscal sponsor is the George Soros-funded group Community Change, is working to make "jury nullification"—the practice of voting against a conviction even if the defendant broke the law—a go-to legal weapon for the Left. Its sessions and training materials, reviewed by the Free Beacon, show how the group teaches "committed people" to gum up federal prosecutions.

     Leftists like to tell themselves that they are making a better society, but they are really just creating a hell on Earth: "*No Shame: The descent of modern society into Depravity." The article begins:

 When did it start? What was the first inkling that what was previously forbidden behavior, was now going to become not only accepted, but celebrated. What happened that now, if you don’t celebrate vulgar, depraved behavior, you are mocked and ridiculed? My guess is this started back in the 1950s and 1960s, with the discovery and heavy marketing of the birth-control pill. That one invention started a cascade of unpleasant changes in society, when sex became detached from procreation. Feminism was the motivator; that every woman was expected to go to college, be launched into the working world, and treat sex not as an act of love leading to marriage and children, but as just good fun, for only one night if she wanted.

The author then draws the line from female promiscuity possible because of the birth control pill and abortion on demand, to homosexual rights, to "gay" marriage, to the transgender movement, and the author's prediction of where it will go from there. 

    Government is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together: "Censored, Dismissed, Confirmed: History of Blood Clots & COVID Vaccine Debate"--Legal Insurrection. Also: "Leaked Report to Federal Advisers Calls for Urgent Recognition of Covid Vaccine Injuries"--Brownstone Institute. An excerpt:

    The report focuses on what it calls Post-Acute Covid-19 Vaccination Syndrome, or PACVS.

    The term refers to symptoms that persist for at least 12 weeks after vaccination and cannot be explained by another medical condition.

    Patients with PACVS often present with complex, multi-system illness. Symptoms may involve the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, the immune system, the endocrine system, and the autonomic nervous system.

    The clinical picture varies widely. Some people develop severe fatigue, cognitive impairment, neuropathy, or dysautonomia.

    Others experience chest pain, immune disturbances, or endocrine problems. Symptoms often fluctuate and evolve over time, making early diagnosis difficult.

    Clinical features frequently overlap with long Covid — including fatigue, cognitive impairment, dysautonomia, neuropathy, chest pain, and immune disturbances.

    Yet many patients fall into a diagnostic no-man’s-land, particularly in the early stages of illness.

    Some eventually meet criteria for recognised conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), small fibre neuropathy, or ME/CFS.

    But even then, the path to recognition can take years.

    The workgroup argues that these difficulties do not necessarily reflect the absence of disease. Instead, they reflect the limits of the systems used to detect and classify illness. 

VIDEO: ATF Continues To Insist That Pistol Braces Are Illegal

According to the video below, the ATF indicated in a recent court filing that, despite the pistol brace rule being struck down, the reasoning behind the rule was still valid and it still considers pistols with braces to be short barreled rifles.  

VIDEO: "ATF: Pistol Braces Are Felonies AGAIN!"
Tom Grieve (10 min.)

Mars Pyramid?

From the New York Post: "Mysterious ‘three-sided’ pyramid on Mars fuels speculation about advanced alien civilizations." Some good photographs of the feature in the article. It has three sharp ridges leading to the peak, which are fairly straight but not as straight as you would expect from an artificial structure. Unusual, but I doubt it is artificial. 

Weekend Reading #48

Some longer and more involved reading for weekend:

     Combat, the self-defense incident, the criminal violence that you can't talk your way out of, is not like sparring in the Dojo.  It's not like anything we could safely simulate in training.  Striking to do injury is entirely different from working with a training partner at full speed full force, as Ralph Mroz puts it.  Sorry, but that's just reality.  

     So we do the best we can in training with the understanding that combat is different.  It is unlikely that you have ever shit or piss on yourself or vomited or shaken uncontrollably or laughed hysterically during an USPSA match.  So don't delude yourself into thinking that you have placed yourself under stress.  Under the debilitating stress of combat your muscles will tense.  If you survive, you'll be sore for days afterwards, even if there was no injury.  That's how tense your muscles will be under the stress of combat.  (No, it's not like the soreness after running a marathon.  You may get cramps and have to stretch in ways you had never stretch before to get those muscles that you didn't know existed.)  

     Your self-defense instructor should be teaching you how to avoid the lethal force encounter.  That is self-defense.  

     So we do the best we can in training.  Hopefully the training and practice will allow us to avoid panic, avoid freezing.  It might not.  But we do the best we can.  

     If you don't get your perceived optimal outcome, don't beat yourself up.  Don't feel ashamed.  We often cannot control what happens to us.  We often cannot control how we react.  Sometimes different parts of our brain takes over and we are just along for the ride.  [I have heard people say, you can't control what happens to you, but you can always control how you react to it.  Unfortunately, under life threatening stress, that is not always true.  Ya, training can mitigate, but as Sara Ahrens tells us, in the several lethal force incidents that she was involved in while a police officer, she had different and unpredictable reactions to the stress.  Maybe you think you're tougher than she was.  Maybe, but probably not.  That is reality.]  

     I have seen persons running their mouths at full speed, even though they were trained to keep their mouths shut.  Sometimes you lose control of yourself.  Take deep breaths.  Believe that God is with you.  

     I have seen a person beat another into a bloody pulp and continue long after the other was dead.  He just couldn't stop himself.  Stop!  Look around.  Assess the situation, the environment.  There may be other threats.  You don't want to get hit from behind while beating a corpse.   

He has a lot of good linkage and tips/advice, plus a list of upcoming training classes, so read the whole thing. Especially check out the section on "tactics" and "techniques". And, on a note particular to one of my posts from a couple weeks back--"VIDEO: 9mm Ammo Quest Roundup"--I'd noted that the testing in the video (which was 6 years ago) did not include some newer offerings, including the Federal Punch. Jon comments: "I have used and tested the Federal Punch.  I have found it to be reliable.  Much less expensive than the winners of this competition." He's not kidding. I pay $18/box (20 rounds) for the 9mm Punch locally while the prices on the ammo that scored well in the competition is typically hovering around $35/box from what I've seen. I watched a lot of ballistic gelatin tests on the 9mm Punch before starting to invest in it, and it generally performed very well. What you give up with the Punch is performance through hard barriers such as glass or a car door. But that is what makes it less expensive then, say, Federal HST. 

  • Next up is the latest Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Lots of good links, as always (including a few you might have seen here) but the main one I want to direct you to is on eyewitness misidentification and Greg's account of such a mistake that almost sent a man to prison for murder. Some other links that caught my attention in particular:
    • "Things Manufacturers Need to Stop Doing with Shotguns" (mostly looking at the tactical and defensive market) which includes things like too long of length of pull, too small of bolt releases on semi-auto shotguns, poor sights, etc. 
    • "Situational Awareness for Everyday Life." This article is good in that it moves beyond the basic "stay alert" or "pay attention" but, like most situational awareness articles, still fails in that it doesn't describe for what you should be watching or paying attention to. Like pre-attack indicators, common behavior of criminals (including thefts), and so on.
    • And related to situational awareness: "If You Go to Guns You Failed." A reminder that a firearm is a last resort and that if you had to go to your gun, you probably failed in situational awareness or avoidance. 
    • "The Post-Shot Logistics." Some advice on what to do after a shooting.
    • "Canadian Man Fights Moose To Save His Mom." Yelling didn't work. The moose shrugged off a punch to the jaw. It wasn't too impressed with the shovel or the headlock. But the .22 LR finally worked ... after 15 or 16 rounds.  
    • "What’s Wrong With My Grip?" Some tips on why your grip on your weapon may be causing your problems. Not listed, unfortunately, is that your gun just might not fit the shape of your hand. 
These are just articles that were new to me and that I found interesting. There is a lot more, so check it out.

    This type of mess always sorts itself out.  The cure for high prices is default and deflation.  If the market is too far cooked, well, look out below.  The United States doesn’t have magic dirt to turn Somalis into Americans, and houses aren’t magic wealth machines.  When enough locked-in owners and over-leveraged banks finally crack, inventory floods, prices reset, and affordability returns.

    It won’t be pretty.  Foreclosures will spike.  Portfolios will bleed.  Credit markets may lock up.  The Google® searches for “can’t sell my house” will turn into actual sales at prices that make sense again.

    A housing crisis wouldn’t be big for the country, would it?

    Nah. Just trillions in pretend wealth gone, generational transfers halted, and the kind of reset that makes 2008 look like practice.

  • "March, 16-19: diplomatic impunity"--The Burning Platform. A long-time reader of this blog recently shared a couple articles with me, including this one. It covers a lot of ground--mostly the economic consequences of the attacks on oil and gas infrastructure, but it starts off by noting that Israel has over the past two years systematically sabotaged any attempts by the U.S. to negotiate the end of the Iranian nuclear weapons program while also killing anyone with authority to negotiate an end to this current war. And that brings me to the second article that was shared with me--"Things Go Haywire as Israeli Escalation Throws Iran Conflict into Dangerous New Phase" from Simplicius. It notes that Iran's response to the Israeli strike on the South Pars gas field was an attack Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas hub--the largest LNG terminal in the world, apparently. The Israeli attack did not set well with Trump and there are some rumors of a falling out between Trump and Netanyahu. This second article then goes on to discuss the economic fallout. 

    What interests me, though, is this observation:

    Israel is obviously escalating the conflict deliberately in order to ensure no off-ramp exists, and that US—and preferably its Gulf allies—commit to a total and decisive destruction of Iran.

    Israel is doing this via two simultaneous strategies: first by eliminating all the “moderates” and rational people within Iran’s leadership to ensure that only hardliners remain who will push for maximum punishment against the region. And second, by crossing Iran’s “red lines” in hitting its most sensitive economic and energy sites in order to spur Iran’s retaliation against equally critical sites throughout the region to ignite as big a firestorm as possible which can engulf everyone and coerce the entire world into “finishing off” Iran once and for all. 

This agrees with the timeline in the first article of the systematic elimination, by Israel, of anyone with authority to negotiate on behalf of Iran. 

RIP: Chuck Norris Dead At 86

It seems like it should be a sign of the End Times: it has been announced that "Chuck Norris, 'Walker, Texas Ranger' star and martial artist, dies at 86."

Thursday, March 19, 2026

VIDEO: Overview Of New M8 Rifle

Well that was quick. It appears that the M7 is already being shuffled off the stage for an upgraded version: the M8. 

    What upgrades?

    According to the video, the weapon is about 1 lb. lighter than the M7. This was made possible by shortening the barrel from 13 inches to 11 inches; making the handguard lighter by shortening it and removing some material; removing the folding stock feature (so the M8 will just have a collapsible stock); and using a shorter silencer. (There is a thermal cover for the silencer also to reduce thermal signature and prevent contact burns). 

    The weapon is supposed to be slightly more accurate as a result of the shorter (hence, stiffer) barrel, now capable of sub-2 MOA using commercial ammunition. And it will be issued with 25-round magazines instead of the 20-round magazines that are standard now. 

    The downside is that there is some loss of velocity. The SIG representative downplayed this, saying the M8 was an 800 yard rifle. But the M7 had been represented as a 1,000 yard rifle. That seems a significant difference when the primary purpose of the M7 program was to overmatch the Soviet machine guns used by the Taliban.

    It may be that, in the end, this turns out to be a fine weapon. But it feels like we are still in the Beta testing stage.  

 VIDEO: "Did the Army Replace the Sig M7… Already? Meet the New Sig M8"
TFB TV (12 min.)

Richard Mann Tests Four "Apocalypse-Ready" Rifles

Richard Mann is probably the most vocal apologist of Jeff Cooper's Scout Rifle concept in the firearms media. As I've noted before, the Scout Rifle concept seemed to have grown out of Cooper's own thoughts on the ideal post-SHTF survivalist rifle. So it always catches my attention when Mann delves into the topic of survivalist or prepping rifles--a fun topic even if (we hope) it is theoretical. 

    In any event, I recently came across a 2018 article that Mann wrote for Shooting Illustrated entitled "4 Apocalypse-Ready Rifles: Which One is Best?" The four rifles considered are: (i) Century Arms RAS47 (i.e., a pretty stock AKM style rifle) shooting, of course, 7.62x39mm; (ii) a Marlin 336 lever action in .30-30 Win.; (iii) a Savage 110 Scout, a bolt-action rifle shooting .308 Win. from a 10-round detachable box magazine; and (iv) a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 shooting 5.56 NATO, representing a fairly stock AR with a 16-inch barrel. Each of the rifles mounted some form of optic: the AK had a red-dot while the other three rifles all had a magnified rifle scope. 

    Mann devised a course of fire to test the weapons which he describes:

    By running the rifles through this course, I compared their friendliness and effectiveness. There were five stages, and at each I conducted a snap shot on a torso target and a precision shot on a 6-inch target. Engagement distance varied from 60 to 160 yards, and time stopped when both targets had been hit.

    On stage one, I engaged the targets across-cab, while seated in a UTV. For stage two I exited the UTV, kneeled and used its hood for support. Stage three started standing, before engaging the targets from the prone position. For stage four, I moved from standing to sitting, and at the last stage, both shots were fired standing, using a tree for support. Ten hits were required to clean the course and scoring was simple. Both targets had to be hit to stop the clock at each stage. I added total shots fired to the total time, and the lower the number, the better the rifle and I performed. Additionally, three, three-shot groups were fired with each rifle from a sandbag rest at 100 yards. In total, 100 rounds were fired with each carbine.

Unsurprising, the AR scored the best at 49.23. Interestingly, though, because of its limited magazine capacity requiring it to be topped off, the lever action had an almost identical score to the AR at 49.45. There was a 9 second jump to the score for the bolt action rifle--58.68. And the AK finished last at 65.93 although, Mann pointed out, "the lack of magnification made precision shots challenging". He also made some general comments that expanded on this:

Most notable [of points that don't show up in the raw scores] was the inferiority of the red-dot sight. For snap-shooting it was fast, but hindered the ability to deliver precision shots with speed. This was partly due to the lack of magnification, but also due to the optic’s inability to deal with varied light conditions. On a pristine range these sights can work like magic; in the field—woods—they can be problematic. Had the AK been fitted with a magnified optic, it would likely have performed on par with the others. The red dot is also battery powered, which may not be wise for a rifle kept in storage until the world happens to fall apart. 

On the other hand, in a course geared more at CQB (and even the shortest distance in this course was beyond what is generally considered CQB) the red dot probably would have been at its best. He used a very inexpensive red dot, as well, and I have to wonder if a different red dot with different features might have worked better.  

    Mann has some more points that he raises concerning each rifle and other topics such as ammunition, appropriateness for different locations or environments, whether the speed differences are really that determinative, and when you might want a more powerful rifle than the 5.56 (or 7.62x39, for that matter), so be sure to read the whole thing.  

IDF Attacks Iran's Largest Natural Gas Infrastructure

Yesterday, it was reported that Israel had struck the South Pars gas field--the largest natural gas field in the world--notwithstanding that Trump has previously told Israel to not attack the oil and gas infrastructure in Iran. From the Institute for the Study of War (footnotes omitted):

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck Iran’s most important energy infrastructure, including facilities linked to the South Pars natural gas field and the Asaluyeh processing hub in Bushehr Province on March 18. These facilities are central to Iran’s domestic natural gas supply and broader energy system, which supports a significant portion of Iran’s economic activity and regime revenue. Iran consumes roughly 94 percent of its natural gas production internally, according to data by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, meaning disruptions will primarily strain domestic supply. Damage to these facilities will likely disrupt Iran’s electricity generation capacity, given their role in supplying fuel to the power sector. Over 90 percent of Iran’s electricity is generated by gas-powered thermal plants. Israeli media reported on March 18 that the strikes reportedly damaged up to one-fifth of Iran’s gas processing capacity. Israel previously struck Iranian energy infrastructure, including gas processing facilities linked to the South Pars field and the Fajr-e Jam Gas Refinery in Bushehr Province, during the June 2025 Israel-Iran War.     

Iran, in turn, "retaliated with attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure, including a missile strike on Qatar's Ras Laffan, one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas export terminals." 

    Trump apparently posted on his Truth Social account that Israel had attacked the gas field "out of anger," that the United States and Qatar had no knowledge of the attack, and Israel had promised to make no more attacks on the gas field; but, he also warned, if there were any more attacks on Qatar, the U.S. will "massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field...." The AP reports, however, that the Administration did have foreknowledge of the attack:

The United States was informed about Israel’s plans to strike Iran’s massive South Pars natural gas field, but did not take part in it, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not say if the Trump administration agreed with the Israeli decision to attack the gas field — part of the world’s largest such resource and a pillar of Iran’s energy supplies. 

All this must be taken with a grain of salt, though, as the AP is not the most reliable of sources when it comes to reporting on Trump and unnamed sources could just be some buddy of the reporter who has a friend, who knows a guy, who ... well, you get the idea. 

    In other news, it is being reported that Israel has closed holy sites within Old Jerusalem, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which, tradition states, marks the tomb where Christ was interned after His crucifixion and where His resurrection occurred. Although there are reports stating that this is unprecedented and has never happened before, this is incorrect: a similar closure occurred in June 2025 when Israel and Iran were fighting. The church/shrine has been destroyed several times over its history as well. The Church is very important for several Christian denominations, including the Greek Orthodox, for Easter celebrations and worship, so there is an effort to convince Israel to at least allow some limited access to the church for Easter. 

    The problem is that once a government shuts down a church or shuts down worship for an emergency, it becomes easier to justify doing the same subsequently--the whole camel's nose in the tent. 

Minnesota Politicians Killed Government Program To Forestall Investigations?

 Stephen Green at PJ Media reports on something extraordinary. In 2017, Minnesota had figured out another way to siphon money from American taxpayers and passed a law authorizing a Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program, which program went into effect in 2020 once approval had been obtained from the Federal government. As Green relates, "HSS was one of those innocuous-sounding and ostensibly well-meaning programs purportedly meant to, as the Minnesota Prairie County Alliance put it, 'help people with disabilities, including mental illness and substance use disorder, and seniors find and keep housing.'" This, as we've learned through sad experience, is just Lefty speak for fraud and embezzlement. And sure enough, the program which in 2020 was estimated would only cost $2.5 million had ballooned to over $100 million by 2024.

    But a local news affiliate--KARE 11--began investigating the program "ultimately uncovering widespread fraud that included questionable billing, bribes, falsifying of records, and even billing for dead clients." 

The state that threw untold millions of education dollars at Somali-run "Learing Centers" also saw a greater than 40-fold increase in Medicare money at a housing program that "led to several criminal indictments of accused fraudsters, including two Philadelphia men who pleaded guilty to starting businesses in the state and enrolling in the program because it seemed like a 'good opportunity to make money.'"   

But here is the weird part:

"Minnesota House unanimously passes bill to remove Housing Stabilization Services from state statute." Similar legislation is moving forward in the state senate, and Walz is expected to sign it. 

As Green comments, "[i]t's probably safe to assume that the real motivation is to forestall any investigation into who got what out of all those defrauded millions." 

If The Intelligence Community Can't Be Trusted It Is A Liability

From Just The News: "US intel hid Chinese 2020 election meddling from Trump because they opposed his policies, memo says." From the article:

    Analysts inside the U.S. intelligence community sought to conceal evidence of Chinese influence efforts from President Donald Trump during the 2020 election, with analysts saying they didn’t want their intel used by “that vulgarian in the Oval Office” to pursue policies toward China they personally disagreed with.

    The revelation is found within a January 2021 report written by — and never before reported upon comments by — analytic ombudsman Barry Zulauf, who conducted a review of the spy community’s handling of Russian versus Chinese meddling efforts during the 2020 election. Among his conclusions was that intelligence analysts downplayed China’s actions because they had disdain for the “vulgarian” Trump and did not want to support the policies and priorities of the Trump administration toward China with which they “personally disagree.”

In other words, no matter their excuses, they were acting (or failing to act) in order to preserve Chinese influence over U.S. elections, placing them into the category of domestic enemies. The article continues:

    This is not the only piece of evidence pointing to Chinese government election influence efforts in the 2020 election. Although much about China’s activities in 2020 remains classified, Just the News conducted a thorough review of publicly-available intelligence assessments, federal indictments, foreign government warnings, and cybersecurity firm analyses.

    There is credible evidence that Chinese government-linked cyber hackers and Chinese social media troll farms took aim at the U.S. presidential election in 2020 and sought to undercut Trump during his run against now-former President Biden. There are also indicators that Chinese intelligence and law enforcement agencies — China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and its Ministry of Public Security (MPS) — also played a role in 2020. 

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

More Abuse Of The H1B Visa Program

Instapundit has linked to a couple posts from X noting that Amazon received 10,044 H1B visa approvals in 2025 while at the same time laying off 14,000 American employees.  One of the X posts also indicates that 71% of those H1B visas went to Indian nationals. However, that is old news as Amazon was letting go another 15,000 corporate jobs in January 2026 with the stated goal of not growing its American workforce. On top of that, as the video explains below, Amazon is investing tens of billions in India. 

 VIDEO: "Amazon Just Replaced 30,000 Americans with $75B in Indian Labor (And No One Noticed)"
Dr. Josh C. Simmons (12 min.)

HR Funk: Should You Have A Carry Rotation?

Having regularly carried a concealed handgun for almost 30 years, I have to agree with Funk's assessment. 

There are those that maintain that you should carry the same gun in the same manner all the time. This makes sense on a theoretical level because all your training and practice are aimed at that same setup; and so you will exhibit a greater proficiency and won't suffer any momentary confusion about where is your gun or differences in operation should you have to use it. But this often breaks down in a real world because different seasons, different clothes, different environments, different threats, etc., change what, where and how you can carry a gun upon your person. The most basic is seasonal changes between cold weather (which makes it easier to carry larger handguns) and warmer weather with more abbreviated clothing. It can also change between work and more casual settings (e.g., business attire or a uniform at work versus casual clothes in the evening or weekend) or activities (e.g., gym or exercise, regular everyday activities, the late night run to the convenience store, hiking or hunting in bear country, etc.). And I'll admit that there are times when civil unrest was widespread when I opted for something more powerful or with greater magazine capacity. 

The closest I came to having the same gun and same carry method all the time was for the years that I carried a 5-shot snub nose revolver almost all the time, whether under a suit coat or sports jacket during the work week or a loose button up shirt at other times. This set up also worked well for several years when carrying my Beretta 84 in a shoulder holster. I would sometimes carry different weapons, but I probably carried the J-frame or, later, the Beretta, about 90% of the time. Now I tend to have one handgun that I typically carry at work and another handgun that I use when dressed casually. Again, however, these two handguns and the methods I use to carry them suffice for 90% or more of the time.

Funks assessment, and I've this echoed by other gun writers and trainers, is that a carry rotation dictated by circumstances such as I've outlined above are acceptable, but it is unwise and counterproductive to change up guns based simply on mood or for the sake of carrying different weapons.  

VIDEO: "Should You Have a Carry Rotation?"
hrfunk (8 min.)

Second Amendment Foundation Victory Against Post Office Carry Ban

From the Second Amendment Foundation: "SAF WIN: POST OFFICE CARRY BAN INJUNCTION COVERS CURRENT AND FUTURE MEMBERS" (h/t Anonymous Conservative). The Feds had tried to limit the injunction to only those members of the SAF at the time the suit was filed, but the judge held that it applies to future members of the SAF as well. 

Judge Boasberg Continues To Protect Deep State

NPR reports that Judge James Boasberg has quashed grand jury subpoenas issued as part of an investigation into cost overruns in the construction of a new headquarters for the Federal Reserve because "Orange Man Bad"

Harvard To Focus More On Recruiting Jews

From the Washington Free Beacon: "Harvard to Recruit at Jewish Day Schools After Study Finds Steep Decline in Jewish Enrollment." Maybe Harvard should instead focus on recruiting from the pool of National Merit Finalists representing the top high school students. But they won't because that would mean letting in more white Christians. 

Auto Thefts in Minneapolis Up 34% During First 2 Months of 2026

Tim Walz and his fellow Minnesota Democrats continue their efforts to destroy the United States. The key part of the article is this (bold added):

"If you want fewer stolen cars, you need more officers, proactive policing, prosecutors willing to act, and a juvenile system with the capacity to intervene before these kids become career criminals," [retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John] Nagel said, referencing the understaffed Minneapolis Police Department that has been severely understaffed since losing 40% of its ranks after the death of George Floyd in 2020  

Walz, however, blames ICE operations for the increase in thefts.  

Nick Shirley Turns His Eyes On California

Nick Shirley, who uncovered the Minnesota/Somali daycare fraud has released a video on X describing what he has uncovered in California. He states in his X post: "We uncovered over $170,000,000 in fraud as these fraudsters live in luxury with no consequences." It looks like he has uncovered more "learing" centers. 

Intersectionality Strikes Two Women On NYC Sidewalk

According to the New York Post, a woman named Mahamuda Akter rammed her taxi into two women standing on a sidewalk in front of a bodega

    Chilling footage captured the runaway cab barreling into pedestrians — sending both of them to the hospital — and then smashing through a Lower East Side bodega at around 2:45 p.m., authorities said.

    “I was putting lipstick on the sidewalk and suddenly a taxi rammed into us out of nowhere,” graphic designer Millicent Faber, 24, who was hurled onto the sidewalk, told The Post on Sunday.
 

The article indicates that both of Faber's legs were broken in the crash. Her friend suffered a broken back and concussion. Watching the video, it is amazing that they weren't killed. The Mohammad coefficient is 100% so one has to wonder if there isn't more to this story. 

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Rifle Setup And Use

Modern Tactical Shooting's video on "Best AR15 setup and Tactical Loadout for the prepared civilian" recently popped up on my YouTube recommendations. The video is from the perspective of civilian self-defense against two-legged predators or, if you live in a rural setting, protecting livestock. In other words, a defensive rifle, not a hunting rifle or "survival" rifle. Which makes sense since the author's background is special operations during the global war on terror (GWOT). 

    The host's focus is on the AR15 in 5.56 NATO/.223 since that is the most popular rifle for defensive use. He opens by discussing the best barrel length. His pick is a 14.5" (with a pin and welded muzzle device to bring it up to the legal 16") which he believes gives you the best balance between maneuverability and muzzle velocity. He does not believe you need more than 16" (i.e., a 20-inch) because it is becomes too unwieldy; and he believes that the shorter 10.5 or 11.5 inch barrels are more problematic both from legal reasons (it either must be an SBR or in a pistol configuration) and due to blast (he recommends not using these shorter lengths unless you have a suppressor). Nevertheless, he admits that most of the rifles he shoots have 16-inch barrels. 

    He also discusses bullet weights with his conclusion being that you should shoot what you can afford even if it is 55-grain (although he gives a nod to the 62-grain green tip because of its better ability to penetrate automobiles).  

     He also provides some thoughts on optics including a discussion of a realistic distances for self-defense and the distances at which you are practicing, with his final conclusion being that most people are going to be fine using a red-dot. He also gives some tips on using a red dot out to 500 yards. 

    He then goes into a discussion of plate carriers and chest rigs and why some of the setups he used in GWOT didn't work so well for his work as a civilian contractor and probably would not be the best choice for the home defender. He has some recommendations for something low-key.  

    The host was inspired to make his video after watching "How to use your Rifle In Combat" from the Echo Mike YouTube channel, which I've also embedded below.   

VIDEO: "Best AR15 setup and Tactical Loadout for the prepared civilian."
Modern Tactical Shooting (26 min.)

 

VIDEO: "How to use your Rifle In Combat"
Echo Mike (34 min.)

TFB: An AR-15 Maintenance Schedule

The Firearms Blog has posted an article entitled "AR-15 Maintenance Schedule: Complete Guide" that provides some guidelines based around time and/or round-count for cleaning, inspections, and replacing parts. The author goes over things to do: (i) wipe down the gun and check for lubrication after every range session; (ii) a good cleaning and inspection every 500 - 1000 rounds; (iii) a more detailed inspection and maintenance every 2000 - 5000 rounds; and (iv) annual or seasonal maintenance you should perform no matter how much or how little you have used your rifle. On the latter point, the author explains:

Oil migrates and evaporates. A rifle stored for months might be bone dry even if you oiled it before putting it away. Check for rust in the bore, chamber, BCG, which are most vulnerable, especially in humid areas.      

This is why I've noted before that if you are storing a firearm long term you should use wax (or at least grease) instead of an oil. In any event, continuing with the annual or seasonal maintenance, the author suggests this is a good time to also check that your castle nut is properly staked and hasn't loosened, that the optic and handguard are tight and haven't loosened, and verify timing and torque of muzzle devices. 

    The article also goes over some warning signs that something may be wrong and a couple myths related to maintenance. I was a little disappointed that he repeated a long held myth that the gaps in the gas rings must be offset from one another. (See, e.g., this video: "Smyth Busters: Debunking an AR-15 Myth - Gas Ring Alignment" from Brownells). Finally, he notes that the AR works best when "wet"--well lubed--while a clean but "dry" gun will almost certainly have problems cycling. 

Some Diversity News

    Federal authorities say 11 Indian nationals were charged in a scheme to stage armed robberies at convenience stores and restaurants so participants could falsely claim to be crime victims when applying for immigration benefits.

    The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

    Prosecutors allege the scheme centered on fake robberies designed to help clerks or store owners seek U visas, a form of immigration relief available to certain victims of serious crimes who assist law enforcement.

In other words, the illegals from India--part of the Patel clan--would fake or stage robberies at the store where they worked then offer to assist law enforcement as "witnesses" in order to qualify for the special visas issues to such witnesses. If you go to the bottom of the article, you will see that all defendants have the "Patel" surname. On this point, Breitbart points out: "Several of the migrants are part of the extended network of Patel families living in the United States, many illegally, who have been linked to a series of crimes." The Breitbart article adds:

    The U Visa program has been rife with fraud and abuse.

    The program, launched by Congress in 2000, was meant as an aid to law enforcement and was thought of as a unique way to solve crimes in the migrant community that would otherwise go unsolved, mostly due to a lack of cooperation among witnesses and victims in that community.

    The program allowed illegals — both victims and witnesses — to work with police to solve crimes by coming forward with tips and information on serious crimes. After working with police, the program allowed illegals to gain legal standing based on their assistance to law enforcement. But instead of helping police solve crimes, the program has become a burden replete with massive fraud, frivolous applications, and misuse. 

    With its study, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) found that upwards of 416,000 petitions have been filed by migrants and most are simply granted the generous benefits in the program outright whether they actually helped police or not, despite that the program is supposed to only allow 10,000 applications annually.

    Police agencies across the country have been flooded with hundreds of thousands of often fake applications filled with false information about non-existent crimes. In some cases, these mountains of false applications have forced police to spend a plethora of man hours to investigate the claims in the applications to separate the proper applications from the fraudulent ones. 
   

What most Americans do not understand is that lying and cheating is acceptable in almost all non-Western countries--there is no stigma attached to it. That ingrained behavior and culture does not go away simply because the person steps onto the "magic dirt" in the West. 

“There’s a group of about 12 individuals that have reported this assault,” one mother told 7News. “It was all perpetrated by a single individual who is a stranger to the girls. He just sneakily walked up behind them and put his hand in between their legs. It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab. It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months.” 

    Despite being almost 19 years old, Ortiz was studying in the 11th grade. 

    He entered the country illegally in 2024 from El Salvador, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  

    However, following his arrest, Ortiz was not deported and was instead released by the Biden administration.  

    Now, despite the allegations against him, the Fairfax County Sheriff's Department, headed by Sheriff Stacey Kinkaid, has rejected requests by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a detainer to place him in ICE custody.  

Another article indicates that the school district is planning on readmitting Ortiz as a student once he is released from jail. The only bright point out of all this is that the judge refused to release Ortiz on bail even after prosecutors agreed because the bail request did not adequately protect the public.  

    An illegal alien truck driver has been accused of causing a crash that left a U.S. citizen in critical condition in Indianapolis, Indiana.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 25-year-old Sukhdev Singh and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the illegal alien had a commercial driver’s license (CDL) that was issued by the state of New York. 

And then there is this bit: "Federal investigators found that New York’s DMV systems defaulted to issuing eight‑year CDLs even when immigration documents expired in months, ...."

H1B's Showing Their Worth

From the New York Post: " Alleged Iranian spies are already in the US — and infiltrating Silicon Valley ."       Last month, a fed...