Meme of the Day

 

Source: Barnhardt Memes

Iran Falls For Trump's Trap

Hopefully you saw James Kunstler's post from this morning--"All's Not So Quiet on Any Front"--where he explains Trump's trap for Iran:

    Project Freedom. Cute move! Notice that it’s not Operation Freedom. That would frame it as a military move. The President is tactically framing this as a humanitarian action. Mr. Trump has advised Congress as of May 1 that hostilities with Iran (Operation Epic Fury) are terminated, at the 60-day limit of the War Powers Resolution. Commercial ships from countries not involved in the Iran / US dispute will now get escorted safely through the Strait of Hormuz by US naval vessels. (Later amended by CENTCOM, around 9a.m. Monday as being protected by US Navy vessels “in the vicinity.”)

    Any attack on these ships by Iran would prompt a forceful response and trigger a re-wind of the clock on the War Powers Resolution (WPR), meaning, another sixty days to conduct military operations, such as the destruction of key bridges and electric power plants promised earlier. Iran’s leadership — whoever that is — thought it could juke Mr. Trump on the 60-day deadline by stalling negotiations while it reorganized its remaining missile launchers. ...  

So what did Iran do? "Iran fires on US warship in Strait of Hormuz after Trump announces plans to ‘guide’ ships out," reports the New York Post. That's 60 more days of bombing without having to go to Congress. 

VIDEO: Why Ships Use "Port" and "Starboard"

 And knowing why will make it harder to forget which is for the "right" or "left" sides of a boat or ship. 

 VIDEO: "Why Do Ships Say PORT And STARBOARD Instead of LEFT and RIGHT?"
Logic Made Simple (7 min.)

A Nation of Immigrants: Illegal Alien Stabs Two Women To Death

The Daily Mail reports that an "Illegal El Salvadorian migrant stabs two women to death, including mom-of-two working at Wendy's to support family." Per the article:

    Rony Yahir Alvarenga Rivera, 22, was taken into custody on Saturday in Long Island after he turned himself in over the deaths of his 32-year-old roommate and 42-year-old coworker, Ana Maria del Aguila-Cordova.

    Rivera, who was charged with first and second degree murder, was said to have acted in 'anger,' Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder told NBC 4. 

    'Both females were killed by multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso,' he added. 

The co-worker was apparently stabbed outside the Wendy's were the two worked while the younger woman was found dead in her home. Rivera was a "dreamer" having come to the U.S. an an unaccompanied minor when he was 12. 

Immigrants Welcome: Knifeman Yells "Allah" Before Stabbing Woman To Death

From the Daily Mail: "Knifeman who stabbed woman to death in Barcelona 'shouted "Allah" before killing her'." The article relates:

    The knifeman who stabbed a woman to death in a Barcelona suburb on Saturday shouted ‘Allah' before targeting his young victim, eyewitnesses claimed.

    Videos showed the killer prowling the street and brandishing the weapon he used to attack the woman.

    Spanish police have refused to confirm the suspect’s nationality but he has been described locally as Moroccan.   

So important is migrant crime to Spanish leaders that the government recently issued a decree that would grant legal status to over 500,000 illegal aliens in the country (although some estimates put it as high as 840,000 that would qualify under the program).

Survey Says: 40% of Indians Consider Leaving U.S.

From NDTV: "American Dream Fading? 40% Of Indian Americans Consider Leaving The US, Survey Reveals Top Reasons." And the top reason? TDS. From the article:

    For many Indians, the United States was once the ultimate destination, but for a growing number, the American dream is now slowly fading away. A survey from the Carnegie Endowment shows that the Indian American community is becoming increasingly worried, and many are now thinking about leaving the United States. Conducted with YouGov, the survey of 1,000 respondents reveals that nearly 40% of Indian Americans have thought about emigrating because of a mix of political, economic, and social pressures.

    "A small minority of respondents, 14 percent, say they have thought about leaving the United States frequently, while 26 percent have occasionally thought about it," the survey notes. "Interestingly, the most cited reason is frustration with U.S. politics, mentioned by nearly six in ten respondents (58 percent). This is followed closely by concerns about the cost of living (54 percent) and personal safety (41 percent)," the survey added. 

    Notably, there are more than 5.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States today.   

[snip]

    The political climate is at the heart of this change, with 58% of those thinking about leaving saying it was the main reason. Widespread dissatisfaction with Donald Trump's second term has contributed significantly to this sentiment. About 71% of the people who answered said they didn't like how he handled the economy, immigration, and international relations.  

China Covered Up Cause Of 2022 Plane Crash That Killed 132

Apparently one of those "revenge against society" attacks: "Beijing 'covered up passenger plane suicide crash that killed all 132 on board': Data showed pilots wrestled over controls after engines were switched off"--Daily Mail. The aircraft in question was China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 which crashed into mountains in Guangxi province in March 2022 killing all 132 people on board. 

    The Boeing 737 had been cruising between Kunming and Guangzhou when both engines were manually shut down, the autopilot was disengaged, and the aircraft was forced into a steep nosedive, according to the US findings.

    Data extracted from the flight recorders showed a terrifying struggle inside the cockpit, with two pilots fighting over the controls as the jet plunged towards the ground.

    The NTSB said: ‘It was found that while cruising at 29,000ft, the fuel switches on both engines moved from the run position to the cut-off position. Engine speeds decreased after the fuel switch movement.’  

    Graphs released by the American agency showed opposing movements on the pilot's control yokes, indicating one crew member was attempting to recover the aircraft while another continued forcing it into a dive.

    Video captured from the ground showed the plane plunging almost vertically from the sky. 

    No distress call was made by the crew, and no emergency transponder code was transmitted before the impact.

The article also reports:

    Three pilots were on the flight deck at the time of the crash - Captain Yang Hongda, 32, first officer Zhang Zhengping, 59, and trainee second officer Ni Gongtao, 27.

    Speculation in China has focused heavily on Zhang, one of the airline's senior pilots, who had reportedly recently lost his captain's rank. 

Wilder: Civil War 2.0 Weather Report for April

John Wilder has an updated Civil War 2.0 weather report based on the data and events from April 2026. He writes:

I have maintained the Clock O’Doom at 9. [Opposing sides develop governing/war structures. Just in case], given the open support of assassination and criminality by the GloboLeft and the increase in violence as well as direct interference with ICE and the insertion of the military into law enforcement.  Beware: the number can climb quickly.    

In this post, John discusses the timing of the coming civil war, the factors leading to the civil war (popular immiseration and disgruntled elites many of whom are also seeing their income stagnate) and then each of the specific indices that he examines when putting together the report so be sure to check it out.   

In Some Ways Worse Than Murder

From the Daily Mail: "Distressing moment gang of bullies beat up autistic boy, 12, on school bus." The article relates:

    The incident occurred on a bus in Independence, Missouri, a town just east of Kansas City.  

    Matthew Jordan Jr., the victim, told FOX4 that the bullying began when one of his peers kept touching his hair.

    The boy's parents say this then escalated into the violence that was seen on the video obtained by the local outlet.

    Multiple students were seen punching, hitting and grabbing Matthew while he screamed at them to stop. The students, while laughing, continued assaulting him.

    'I felt sad, raged up and angry,' Matthew said in an interview. When asked if he thought something like this could happen to him, he responded: 'Yes, because I have autism.'

    Matthew Jordan Sr., the boy's father, said it hurt to hear his son say his autism has invited bullying from others.

    His parents say this incident was not isolated and part of a much larger pattern of bullying he has experienced at his school.    

Of course the incident is not an isolated one because the teachers and administrators are useless parasites. If they take any action at this point, it will only be because the incident has garnered the attention of the public, not because they feel obligated to actually do their jobs, and certainly not because of any real concern for the kid. More likely than not, if they follow their policies, they will punish the victim for having been involved in a "fight" (because they are too stupid to recognize the difference between a beat down and a fight). 

Gun & Prepping News #79

 Some links that may be of interest:

•  "You Want To Be A Modern Minuteman"--Security & Cigars. The author offers some general advice on (1) getting a quality handgun, some training, and practice; (2) the importance of physical fitness and recommendations of certain exercises/activities; and (3) learning first aid including for traumatic wounds.
• "Terrifying doorbell cam captures knife-wielding maniac stalking Sacramento neighborhood"--New York Post.  My point in referencing this article isn't just that some kook was ringing the doorbell cameras and then making stabbing motions with a knife before running away, but this:

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Lt. Amar Gandhi said multiple frantic residents reported the armed prowler as deputies rushed to the scene within minutes.

But by the time they arrived, the suspect was gone. But if the suspect had concentrated on one home instead of going door-to-door, he would have had enough time to kick down a door, kill someone, and then flee. This isn't to fault the deputies, but as a reminder that you are your own first responder.

• "Enhance Your Shooting Skills: The Power of Dry Fire Training"--Close Quarter Combat. The author begins:

 In the realm of firearms proficiency, consistent practice is the cornerstone of mastery. Yet, not all practice requires live ammunition and a firing range. Enter dry fire training – a method often overlooked but immensely powerful in refining shooting skills. In this blog, we'll delve into the benefits and techniques of dry-fire training and how it can transform you into a more adept shooter.

• "Quick Tips on Setting up a General Purpose Carbine"--Green Ops. Some advice on setting the right length of pull (LOP) on an adjustable stock, as well as advice on mounting optics and why you need a sling.
• "Concealed Carry Corner: Best Cover Garments for Concealment"--The Firearm Blog. The author considers some garments for concealing a firearm in the summer: a leather biker vest, suit jackets/blazers, fishing vests (or a photographer's vest). On the latter options--the fishing vest--make sure you have one long enough to cover the weapon if wearing an outside the waistband (OWB) holster; many seem cut pretty short. 
• "Fudd Friday: Parker Hale Classic Hunting Rifles"--The Firearm Blog. Parker-Hale was a British company probably best remembered for their sniper rifle, their sporterizing military rifles after WWII for commercial sales, and their relatively inexpensive hunting rifles based on Mauser actions but with their own hammer-forged barrels. Outside of gun forums, however, it is hard to find much information about them anymore. 
• "Is Aero Precision Going Out of Business? Here’s What We Actually Know"--The Truth About Guns. The firm is obviously having problems, but they haven't filed for bankruptcy. And their associated business--Ballistics Advantage--doesn't seem to be having the problems that you see with Aero Precision. It is too bad because they made very good AR receivers and other parts. 
• "6mm ARC Basics – What you Need to Know to Get Started"--AR Build Junkies.  Some history, what the cartridge does well, best twist rates, common barrel lengths, etc.
• "Barnes 6mm ARC Ammo Review: 1,000-Yard Test"--The Truth About Guns. A test of Barnes' VOR-TX 90 grain TAC-TX and the Harvest 100 grain GameKing loads. Conclusion:

Both loads shot sub-MOA out of my Howa 1500 mini action, and the GameKing proved capable of consistent hits on steel out to 1,000 yards. For hunters and shooters looking for accurate factory ammunition that doesn’t require handloading or extensive load development, Barnes has delivered two solid options that punch well above their weight class.

• "Bear Guns: 300 Win Mag VS 7mm Mag"--Bear Hunting Magazine.  I had recently linked to an article about the 7mm Rem. Mag. and a reader commented that it was good for bear. This article bears him out. Short take:

When using quality bullets and with good shot placement, both the 7mm Rem Mag and .300 Win Mag are excellent for hunting black, brown, and grizzly bear at all practical hunting ranges. However, since they are such flat shooting and hard hitting cartridges, the 7mm Mag and .300 Win Mag really shine in situations where hunters need to take shots out past 200-300 yards. 

• "Spin Difference: The Impact of Barrel Twist Rates on Terminal Performance" by Richard Mann, American Rifleman. An excerpt:

    Legacy American self-defense pistol cartridges like the .45 ACP (1905), .380 ACP (1908) and .38 Super (1929) all use a rifling-twist rate of 1:16-inch. A number of more modern American pistol cartridges like the 10 mm (1983), .40 S&W (1990) and .357 SIG (1994) have the same slow twist rate, and the .38 Spl. and .357 Mag. have an even slower twist rate of 1:18.75-inch. But, the 9 mm has a rifling twist rate of 1:10-inch, and that can give the cartridge an advantage. 

[snip]

    As ballisticians began to work to develop better bullets—bullets that would perform better in the FBI’s testing protocol—the faster rotational velocity of the 1:10-inch-twist 9 mm cartridge began to show its worth and made it easier to make bullets work better. For example, a 124-grain 9 mm bullet has a rotational velocity that is 73 percent faster than a 165-grain bullet fired from a .40 S&W. By leveraging this additional rotational energy, 9 mm bullets could be designed to perform better over wider velocity ranges, and in some cases rival and even exceed the terminal performance of bullets fired from larger-caliber cartridges. The slow twist rates and rotational velocities of other handgun cartridges—especially the .38 Spl.—are why you commonly see special short-barrel loads for them. The projectiles need to be made differently to work at slower linear and rotational velocities. 

• Sometimes firearm accessories are just for fun: "Ripley Rail - 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night"--The Firearm Blog. A handguard and rail attachment for the AR that mimics the look of the M41A Pulse Rifle from the movie, Aliens.
• "The strange reason why wildlife agencies want Americans to buy more guns"--Vox.  The reason is the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act, which imposes an excise tax on firearms, ammunition, and certain other outdoor gear and equipment and channels that money to state wildlife agencies. The tax is 11% for rifles and 10% for handguns and ammunition. 

Over the last decade, the law has channeled close to $1 billion a year into state wildlife agencies across the country, amounting to a substantial share of their budgets. One recent analysis found that Pittman-Robertson made up about 18 percent of state agency budgets, on average, in 2019. (License fees for fishing and hunting, along with a hodgepodge of other revenue streams, including a similar tax on fishing gear, make up the rest.) And revenue from Pittman-Robertson has been increasing, roughly doubling in the past two decades — in no small part because gun sales have surged. 

So just remember, as a gun owner, you have probably done more to preserve the environment than have most liberals who claim they care for the environment. And the anti-hunters? They are actually trying to harm the animals they pretend to care about. 

• "Choosing the Right First Aid Kit for your Needs"--Alpha Survivalist. Because you are going to need a boo-boo kit more often than a trauma kit. The article covers issues of what are your requirements, whether to assemble one yourself or buy a pre-made kit, what to look for in a pre-made kit, the top brands, and some other tips. 
• "How To Use an Israeli Bandage To Stop Severe Bleeding"--Modern Survival Blog.  The author explains:

An Israeli Bandage, also called an Emergency Bandage, is a compact pressure dressing used to help control serious external bleeding. It combines a sterile wound pad, elastic wrap, built-in pressure applicator, and closure bar in one bandage. The basic idea is simple: place the pad over the wound, wrap the elastic bandage around the injury, use the pressure bar to increase direct pressure, then secure the closure bar so the bandage stays tight. 

The article goes on to discuss why you want to include one in your kit, a discussion of the 4" versus 6" sizes, a couple brands available on Amazon that he recommends, step-by-step instruction on applying one, a link to an instructional video, when to use an Israeli bandage versus a tourniquet, and some additional information. 

• "Bleach, Hand Sanitizer, or Natural Cleaning Products? What to Use When"--Organic Prepper.  The author points out:

    Staying clean is a critical part of staying healthy. We have a wide array of disinfectants and cleaning products to stock up on. This guide takes the most common disinfectants, breaks down their pros and cons, and sorts out how and when to use each item.

    Staying clean becomes even more important when access to medical care is not guaranteed, such as during or post-disaster. Therefore, we need to know to know how to remove pathogens from surfaces and fabrics. 

The rest of the article discusses why cleaning is not optional, cleaning versus disinfecting, and then goes over cleaning and disinfecting products: bleach, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, vinegar, and herbal washes, as well as when and how to use each. 

• On a related note: "How to get rid of common stains: the science behind your top tips"--Which? Magazine.  How to get rid of stains from blood, red wine, grass, bolognese and tomato sauce, and sun screen creams. As a quick note, several of the tips mention using "washing-up liquid" which apparently is the British term for liquid dish soap, like Dawn. 
• "Boot Care: How to properly care for your boots."--Joint Force Tactical. Good advice for anyone who uses leather boots for work or play.  Covers cleaning, waterproofing, and storage.
•  "Quick Breads"--Blue Collar Prepping. The author explains:

Quick breads usually operate without yeast, often substituting a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder and/or baking soda to generate a similar result. Chemical leaveners require an acid to activate, which is why quick bread recipes will include sour cream, yogurt, buttermilk, or even vinegar.

The author includes recipes for a flat bread, soda bread, and basic scones.

•  "Yard Carts & Wagons for Homesteads, Gardens, and Preparedness"--Modern Survival Blog. If you don't know what these are, think of a child's wagon except with a beefed up frame, pneumatic tires, and the ability to lift the bed to dump out materials. They do a lot of things that the wheel barrow does, but are more stable and can be easier for some people to use. I have both because the wheel barrow is oft times faster to move around, but for going over irregular ground nothing beats the yard cart. And if you have a bunch of potted plants that you want to transport around your yard, the yard cart is less likely to jostle and overturn the pots. 
• "‘God of chaos’ asteroid will be once-in-a-lifetime event visible to the naked eye — and closer than many satellites: NASA"--New York Post. On Friday, April 13, 2029--yes, Friday the 13th--the asteroid Apophis will pass "approximately 20,000 miles from the Earth’s surface, closer than many satellites floating in space — nearly 12 times closer than the moon’s average distance from Earth." It is believed to be 1,230 feet in diameter. Given its size and how close it will pass, it should be visible to the naked eye. It is supposed to return again in 2036. 

VIDEO: What Would We See If Betelgeuse Went Supernova?

You might remember a few years back when Betelgeuse dimmed considerably, likely because it expelled a large amount of matter. But this video contends that the star has destabilized and, for that reason, it may go supernova sooner rather than later. But the video also shows what it would look like from Earth, with Betelgeuse being so bright for a few months that it would be visible in the daytime and bright enough that you would cast a double shadow. Fortunately, it is far enough away that there is no danger to us from gamma rays or other radiation.

VIDEO: "We Are About To Have Two Suns. Betelgeuse Just Destabilized"
Moonshot Tech (18 min.)

VIDEO: Prepared Airman Discusses Hydration Options

 The Prepared Airman discusses the water containers that have worked best for him over the years for outdoors, working outside, and when deployed. Like a lot of other military YouTubers, he indicates that he has gone over to using the Qore Performance ice flasks when kitted up in a plate carrier; but before those were available, he used the Life Water bottles (presumably he would refill them). He also mentions that his current set up for outdoor is a Grayl Geo Press bottle (he uses the titanium version) and a small 1.5 liter hydration pack. 

I saw a comment to the video questioning why use the Grayl when it doesn't carry that much water. This misses the point. The Grayl is fast at filtering and has a large opening. If you come across a water source, you can filter the water, pour it into another container, and repeat as necessary, and then leave the Grayl full for that extra it carriers.  

 VIDEO: "The Water Containers I Trust for EDC, Bug Out & Military Use"
PreparedAirman (11 min.)

VIDEO: 9mm v. .44 Special Punch

To me, this video speaks more about the design of the Federal Punch than anything else. And the host--Sam--does speak highly of his confidence in Federal hollow points whether it be the HST or the Punch. What surprised me is that the velocity of the .44 Special was under 800 fps and it still had good expansion, even through the cloth barrier and fiber board. In any event, the comparison between the two resulted in the .44 Special having a final expanded diameter larger than the 9mm, but the 9mm had more penetration.  

 VIDEO: "Oldschool Fightstopper VS Modern Standard! .44 Special vs 9mm - Federal Punch - Ballistic Gel Test" - Gun Sam Revolver Ballistics (18 min.)

VIDEO: Chest Holster for Mountain Biking

Yeah, its basically an advertisement for the Kenai chest holster, but it raises good points about why a chest holster is a good choice for carrying while mountain biking.   

 VIDEO: "Ride Anywhere | Why You Need A Chest Holster"
GunfightersINC (3 min.)

RPG Saturday: Twilight 2000

 

    This week is another post nuclear war RPG originally from the 1980s called Twilight: 2000. The photo above is a rather battered 1st edition box set that I picked up somewhere. 

    Published by Game Designers Workshop (GDW) in 1984, the characters take the roles of military personnel in the chaos and ruins of late-WWIII Poland. The game postulates a war breaking out in 1995 between NATO and the Warsaw Pact after an attempt to reunify East and West Germany. The war involved conventional troops, some NBC warfare, but not a full exchange of nuclear weapons. Five years after the war started, troops are still fighting, but the logistical and command chains have broken down. In game terms, this means that the characters--which are military troops--are in undersized and under supplied units that have to scavenge, trade for, or buy supplies, fuel, and ammunition.   

     Although the boxed set presumed Poland as a setting, there were supplements that expanded the game beyond Poland, including one I remember that took place in the Caribbean with the characters potentially being able to man a sailing vessel that was a reproduction of the U.S.S. Constitution originally intended to be used in a motion picture. 

    Now I have to say that, as best as I can remember, I have never played this game. A high school friend of mine had picked it up as well as some supplements but never got around to running it with our gaming group. However, some years ago, I acquired a boxed set of the first edition rule set. But since I haven't played any version of the game, I have included a couple video reviews below. The first covers the first edition of the rules. The second video gives an overview of the different editions of the game, explains why post-apocalypse games were so popular for kids growing up in the 1980s and then reviews the most recent edition of the game. 

    The first edition box set came with two rule books--a "Play Manual" and a "Referee's Manual"--a set of charts to assist with creating a character, a set of charts commonly used in play, an equipment list (actually a booklet), a price list of common gear, a beginning adventure ("Escape from Kalisz") and player handout, an "Intelligence Briefing" giving background for the military unit the characters begin in, a map of Poland, record sheets, and a set of four six-sided dice and a single 10-sided die. The Play Manual has a general background and explanation of terms and abbreviations, character creation rules, the general rules for tasks, skills, time and travel, etc., as well as the first part of the combat rules. The Referee's Manual has additional rules on using skills, combat, encounters, radiation and disease, repairing equipment, trade and commerce, etc.

    The boxed set I have, being a used set, was missing the dice, but had stuffed into it a couple supplements detailing Soviet vehicles and U.S. Army vehicles, respectively, and a setting guide entitled The Free City Of Krakow.  

    When creating a character, the player roles 4d6 for each physical or mental attribute (e.g., intelligence or fitness) and subtracts 4 from the result giving a result of 0-20 (but re-rolling a 0 result). From there, you can boost an attribute you want to increase, but at the cost of reducing another attribute. And there are other characteristics that must be rolled (e.g., your radiation exposure) or selected (e.g., your nationality). Characters also will have skills depending on which branch of service and specialty they have.  

    The basic rule mechanic is that you take an "asset" (a character attribute or skill level), multiply it by 5 to get a target number, and then roll a percentile die (1-100 created by rolling the 10-sided dice once for multiples of 10 and a second time for the single digits with 0, 0 considered as 100) and try to get under the target number. If you roll under the target number, you succeed. If something is easier than normal, the asset X 5 result may be doubled to get a higher target number, and then the percentage die rolled. If  harder, the result would be halved to get a smaller target number. Of course, other dice may be rolled for particular rules. 

     Because of the setting, there are, of course, rules on radiation, disease, foraging, hunting and fishing, and so on, but nowhere near the detail of the Aftermath! game covered last week. However, since the characters are all members of a military unit, there are fairly extensive rules on combat. 

    The game has gone through several revisions. A second edition released in 1990 had to deal with the fall of the Berlin Wall and so created a different backstory to explain the outbreak of the war. In 1993, with the fall of the Soviet Union, the game was updated again with an alternate timeline where the KGB launched a successful coup against Boris Yeltsin to maintain communist rule and then the war broke out. 

    In 2006, a third edition was released by a company called 93 Games Studio and renamed Twilight 2013, which moved away from the Cold War setting of the original game. However, this version wasn't very popular and the company went out of business two years later.

    There is now a fourth edition being published by Free League Publishing which goes back to the alternate Cold War setting with the coup against Yeltsin and the original Twilight 2000 title.  

 VIDEO: "Twilight 2000 - where it all started, a peek at 1e"
UKgamerspodcast (30 min.)

 

 VIDEO: "Review - Twilight: 2000"
Willy Muffin (29 min.)

Nun Violently Shoved To Ground And Kicked By Jewish Man

 From the Daily Mail: "Shocking moment nun is pushed over and repeatedly kicked in Jerusalem, amid claims of a rise in attacks targeting Christians." She was just walking and minding her business when the man ran quite a distance up to her pushing her hard so that fell over onto some raised stones. He started to walk away, thought better of it, and returned to her and starting kicking her while she lay on the ground. The nun is a researcher at Jerusalem's French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research. The article indicates that the attacker was wearing tzitzit, a fringed undergarment worn by some observant Jewish men, and had been reported as being Jewish by the Times of Israel. The attacker was arrested, but, citing multiple sources, the article points out that this is an example of a growing number of insults, spitting, and attacks against Christians, particularly those dressed in religious garb. 

    Wadie Abunassar, the coordinator of the Holy Land Christian Forum, called attacks targetting Christians a growing phenomenon. He attributed the quick response to the attack on the nun to the fact that it was caught on video.

    He said he felt 'great anger on the system and great sadness because I feel that this will not end anytime soon'. One of the problems, he said, was the deterrence against such violence.

    'Many times in such cases there are no arrests and if there are arrests, sometimes after one or two days, (suspects) are released,' he added.

    'In some cases, the police do not recommend the prosecution to file charges or to indict them. And in some cases, when there is indictment, the indictment is mild.'      

VIDEO: KENAI Chest Holster

A couple short videos on the Kenai chest holster from Gunfighters Inc. If you don't know, the Kenai is a Kydex chest holster intended for outdoors use: fishing, hunting, hiking, etc. The idea with a chest holster system is that because it is over the chest, your firearm's weight is distributed evenly, it is out of the way of backpack straps or a rifle sling but is still easily accessible. It is also high enough that you can use it with waders if you are fishing. 

    The full holster system comes with a harness and the holster. The holster clips into the harness and you can buy the holster shells separately, so once you have the harness you can purchase additional holsters for different firearms at a substantial savings over buying a new holster and harness together--a $70 savings at the time of this writing. They have a large number of ready to ship holsters, but if you can't find what you are looking for, they have an option for "design a custom" chest holster that has many other models of firearms. 

VIDEO: "Kenai Chest Holster - Gunfighters Inc."
Provide & Protect (5 min.)

 VIDEO: "How To | KENAI Chest Holster: From Setup to Draw"
GunfightersINC (4 min.)

Another Benefit Of Immigration: U.S. May Lose Measles Elimination Status

From The Lancet (bold added; footnotes omitted):

The USA currently faces its largest measles outbreak in decades, with 2280 confirmed cases in 2025 and 910 additional cases reported in just the first 6 weeks of 2026. This re-emergence threatens one of the country's major public health achievements: the elimination of measles in 2000, a feat reached after several years of extensive nationwide vaccination efforts, including a change to a two-dose measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination schedule. The current epidemic started in January, 2025, in Texas, USA, with two imported cases, and has since spread to 45 US states. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), measles elimination status requires the sustained absence of endemic transmission—defined as any continuous transmission chain—persisting for at least 1 year. Canada lost its elimination status on Nov 10, 2025, prompting the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to declare that the Region of the Americas—which had been the first region worldwide to eliminate measles twice—had lost its measles-free status. This development reflects a broader global resurgence of measles: on Jan 26, 2026, six European countries, including the UK and Spain, also lost their elimination status. Concerns are growing that the USA might soon face a similar outcome, with a decision from the PAHO Measles and Rubella Elimination Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission forthcoming in November, 2026. ... 

Happy May Day

May 1 is an important holiday to communists who refer to it as International Workers' Day or similar. So what are communists doing this year? NPR reports:

    The "May Day Strong" protest events in various cities, ranging geographically from Boston to San Francisco, are meant to mark International Labor Day. They follow anti-Trump protests under the "No Kings" banner that organizers say have drawn millions of people nationwide. 

 [snip]

    The National Education Association — the nation's largest labor union, with 3 million members — is a key organizer of Friday's protests. NEA President Becky Pringle told NPR that the message this year is that the country should be "focusing on workers over billionaires."

    "We know there are bus drivers in New York and teachers in Idaho and nurses in Louisiana who are feeling the impact of a system that has decided … to put billionaires ahead of everyone else," she said, while "cutting services like public education that this country has made to our kids and impact our future."

    Organizers say more than 500 labor unions, student groups, community organizations and other groups will participate. One of those student groups, Sunrise Movement, which bills itself as "young people fighting fascism to win a Green New Deal," said that more than 100,000 students were expected to miss school, in what it called a "strike."

    In North Carolina, where the NEA says per-pupil spending and teacher salaries rank near the bottom nationwide, some 20 public school districts will be closed due to planned staff absences. The NEA says educators and school workers, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and maintenance staff, are planning to rally in the capital, Raleigh, to pressure the state legislature for more education funding. 

It goes on to list other school districts around the country that are shutting down of the communist holiday. But it is not just teachers' unions. The Guardian reports:

    Thousands are expected to join an economic blackout for International Workers’ Day , as part of 3,500 “May Day Strong” events across the country today. Organizers are calling for “no school, no work, no shopping” with walkouts, marches, block parties and other gatherings planned into the evening.

    On the east coast, protests were already under way by the early morning. In Manhattan, a group of Amazon workers, Teamsters and local politicians marched from the New York public library’s main branch to Amazon’s nearby corporate offices to demand the corporation cut its contracts with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the nation’s capital, protesters with the organization Free DC shut down intersections across the city, holding handmade banners reading “Workers over billionaires” and “Healthcare not warfare”.

    By midday, six protesters with youth-led Sunrise Movement were arrested for blocking a bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Portland, Oregon, Sunrise protesters occupied a Hilton hotel lobby where DHS officials are allegedly staying.

    May Day has long been an annual day of protest for the labor movement, and this year, many active movements are converging to demand no ICE, no war, and taxing the rich. The May Day Strong coalition includes labor unions, immigrants rights groups, political organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America, and the organizers behind the No Kings protests. Friday’s economic disruption builds on a similar coordinated effort out of Minnesota in January, when tens of thousands of Twin Cities residents took off from school and work to flood the streets in protest of federal immigration agents storming the city. 

So what are they protesting for? Meaning, what would they do if they got control of the country?  

     There is a heuristic being bandied about that says: "The purpose of a system is what it does." So today is a good day to remember what communism does. From "100 Years of Communism—and 100 Million Dead" by David Satter.

    In a 1920 speech to the Komsomol, Lenin said that communists subordinate morality to the class struggle. Good was anything that destroyed “the old exploiting society” and helped to build a “new communist society.”

    This approach separated guilt from responsibility. Martyn Latsis, an official of the Cheka, Lenin’s secret police, in a 1918 instruction to interrogators, wrote: “We are not waging war against individuals. We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. . . . Do not look for evidence that the accused acted in word or deed against Soviet power. The first question should be to what class does he belong. . . . It is this that should determine his fate.”

    Such convictions set the stage for decades of murder on an industrial scale. In total, no fewer than 20 million Soviet citizens were put to death by the regime or died as a direct result of its repressive policies. This does not include the millions who died in the wars, epidemics and famines that were predictable consequences of Bolshevik policies, if not directly caused by them.

    The victims include 200,000 killed during the Red Terror (1918-22); 11 million dead from famine and dekulakization; 700,000 executed during the Great Terror (1937-38); 400,000 more executed between 1929 and 1953; 1.6 million dead during forced population transfers; and a minimum 2.7 million dead in the Gulag, labor colonies and special settlements.

    To this list should be added nearly a million Gulag prisoners released during World War II into Red Army penal battalions, where they faced almost certain death; the partisans and civilians killed in the postwar revolts against Soviet rule in Ukraine and the Baltics; and dying Gulag inmates freed so that their deaths would not count in official statistics.

    If we add to this list the deaths caused by communist regimes that the Soviet Union created and supported—including those in Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia—the total number of victims is closer to 100 million. That makes communism the greatest catastrophe in human history.

The only real flaw with Satter's analysis is that he relegates communism to the past, whereas communism and its bastard offspring, Critical Theory, live on in groups such as Antifa, BLM, the Democratic Socialists of America, practically any group that employs "community organizers" and, evidently, the NEA. They may say they stand or support policies or practices that sound good, list some lofty goals, but that isn't what communist history shows. As noted, "the purpose of an organization is what it does"; or, as Christ phrased it, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." And so far, their fruits in the United States have been multiple political assassinations and assassination attempts, blocking roads and highways, beating up innocent people, defending criminals, urging that violent criminals be turned loose to prey on the public, rioting, looting, undermining and cheating at elections, subverting the intelligence community to make up lies whole cloth to remove a president they don't like, conspiring to allow the invasion of the country by the third world, and otherwise being agents of chaos. If they were to achieve the political power they desire, death camps and gulags would not be far behind. 

Of Course It Was

"Viral Rhode Island KKK Video was a Hoax"--Legal Insurrection. 

“Through multiple interviews, detectives learned that two brothers orchestrated the event in an effort to generate attention on social media and in the news,” the police wrote in a press release. “Both individuals fully admitted to their involvement and provided conclusive evidence confirming that they, and they alone, were responsible for the incident, which ultimately drew nationwide media attention.”       

The two denied any ties to hate groups, but there is no word on whether they had financial or other ties with the SPLC.  

The Irony, It Kills...

From Bearing Arms: "Anti-Gun Activist Convicted of Murder in Colorado Shooting." Per the article, Lumumba Sayers Sr. belonged to an anti-violence group called Heavy Hands, Heavy Hearts that teaches kids and adults how to break the cycle of street and gang violence. On August 10, 2024, Sayers left an anti-violence event and drove to a park where Malcolm Watson was celebrating his son's birthday with family and friends and shot Watson dead. Sayers believed that Watson was responsible for the shooting death of Sayer's son and was there to get revenge. When Sayers confronted Watson, he was armed with an unregistered handgun which, he told jurors, he carried in his pocket for protection despite not having a concealed carry permit. Prosecutors argued that he also had another handgun described by prosecutors as a "ghost" gun which he used to shoot and kill Watson and then, as shown in surveillance video, was passed off to an unidentified associate who took it from the scene.

Weekend Reading #54

Some longer and more involved reading for the weekend:

•  First up is a new Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Some notable links:
• Greg has a couple articles for those of us that conceal carry but have to wear something other than jeans and a loose T-shirt. The first is from Lucky Gunner on how not to dress like a "tactical hobo" and the other from A Tailored Suit that has advice on carrying a concealed handgun while wearing a suit coat or blazer, including tips for your tailor if you can afford a tailored suit or jacket. 
• A link to the latest Range Master news letter, which itself has some articles and drills. One I recommend is on the shift in understanding of Jeff Cooper's color code from a measure of how ready were you to respond to violence to simply a measure of awareness. For example:

The core question moved from “Am I willing to act?” to “Am I paying attention?” Those are not the same question. One prepares a person to move decisively under stress. The other prepares them to observe events as they unfold.

Today, the Color Code appears in workplace safety briefings, active shooter presentations, and corporate training slides. In many versions, lethal force is never mentioned at all. The result is a framework stripped of its original purpose. 

•  An article on pepper spray because sometimes you need something between a harsh word and using a lethal weapon. An excerpt that seemed particularly important:

    But the thing is, the LE use case for pepper spray is not the civilian use case at all. Craig Douglas refers to pepper spray as “an eye gouge in a can,” which I like quite a lot. If you’ve ever been poked in the eye just in general it’s distracting and disorienting, and if it happens in a fight it’s even worse. The civilian use case for pepper spray is to create time and space for you, the civilian, to escape. We are not pepper spraying people so we can go hands on with them, we’re pepper spraying them so we can run the f[--]k away.

    I have pepper sprayed several people in a civilian context, and it’s an incredibly low bar of force, it’s easy to articulate, and the entire point is for you to get away from the attacker. It could also be to access a more effective tool than pepper spray given the situation, but we have to understand that our key use case for spray is to spray and sprint. 

•  Massad Ayoob's 5-point checklist of things to say to police after an armed encounter. Greg comments: "Despite some attorneys in disagreement, I firmly believe that Massad Ayoob created the definitive list of statements that you should make to the police after a defensive shooting."
• Some history: An article about Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger that hunted down Bonnie and Clyde, and the Remington Model 8 semi-auto rifle he used.
• The article is at the anti-gun site, The Trace; but if you can ignore the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the article outlines some major changes in rules planned or being made by the ATF which should benefit gun owners and gun dealers.  
•  An article on "What Criminals Know That You Don't" which delves into some aspects of how criminals select victims or targets of opportunity, but also discusses some other aspects of crime statistics including the following bit (bold added):

    The numbers on armed resistance are worth knowing. Complying completely in an armed robbery still leaves a 25 percent chance of injury, and the robbery succeeds 90 percent of the time. Resistance with a firearm drops injury odds to 17 percent and rarely allows the crime to complete. Resistance before injury drops that to around 6 percent. For rape specifically, armed resistance is the most effective deterrent to completion and does not increase physical harm to the victim. Research also shows defensive gun uses frequently occur without a shot fired. The presence of a firearm alone can stop a crime in progress.

    A gun is not the first solution. It is the last. But as Hearne noted, “Most of the time, you don’t need a parachute, but when you do, nothing else will substitute.” 

•  In a recent "Gun & Prepping News" I had linked to an article on using super-glue for first-aid. Greg also links to that article, but provides some addition tips on using super-glue to close wounds. He also comments: "Vet Bond is the chemical equivalent of Derma-Bond at 1/3 the cost.  The primary difference between that and standard super glue is that the Vet Bond won’t sting as much and it lasts about one day longer than super glue."
• Finally, Greg links to an article on how humanity is about to "fork" in different directions, the first of which are how people use AI tools:

    AI has handed every human being on the planet an extraordinary set of tools: the ability to build software, design products, generate content, start companies, and pursue ambitions that previously required teams of specialists and millions in capital.

    Some people will pick those tools up and build. They’ll become creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators. They’ll use AI to amplify their vision and bring it into the world. They will be the architects of the next economy.

    Others will watch. They’ll consume: watch Netflix, play video games, scroll social media… be passively entertainment. The tools will be available to them. They simply won’t pick them up.

• "Are We Subjects or Citizens? Birthright Citizenship and the Constitution" by Edward J. Erler at Imprimis. An excerpt:

    Although the Constitution of 1787 mentioned citizens, it did not define citizenship. It was not until 1868, with the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, that a definition of citizenship entered the Constitution. Here is the familiar language: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Thus there are two components to American citizenship: birth or naturalization in the U.S. and being subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.

    We have somehow come today to believe that anyone born within the geographical limits of the U.S. is automatically subject to its jurisdiction. But this renders the jurisdiction clause utterly superfluous and without force. If this had been the intention of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment, they would simply have said that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are thereby citizens. Furthermore, the principal supporters of the Fourteenth Amendment were explicit about the meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction”: it meant owing exclusive allegiance to the U.S. and none to any other country. 

The article is a deep dive on this subject including the history, predecessor laws that informed the citizenship clause, and comments and debate from the Congressmen that wrote and debated the clause. The author also closes with some comments about how duel citizenship undermines the idea of citizenship and the nation-state.   

7 mm Remington Mag. v. .270 Winchester In Africa

In interesting 2022 article from Guns & Ammo comparing the 7 mm Remington Magnum against the .270 Winchester on a safari to Africa. The impetus for this article was a piece written in the 1980s by former Guns & Ammo Hunting Editor Jon Sundra comparing the two and concluding that the 7 mm Rem. Mag. was clearly superior. The author here--Eric Poole--wanting to see if modern bullet designs made any difference. The rest of the article recounts the different animals he shot with the two calibers and some of the bullets used. And while both performed well, his conclusion was ultimately the same as Sundra's: the 7 mm was the better hunting cartridge because the additional power resulted in higher velocities (and, therefore, a flatter trajectory) and more decisive wounding. And, as a side note, the author relates what a springbok’s tail smells like. So you get a bit of a safari hunting story mixed with some discussion of bullets and ballistics. 

This Is How Liberals Show Compassion

"In Cities Across America, Homeless Services Are Doled Out Based on Race and Sexual Identity"--Washington Free Beacon. How does this work out in Portland (Multnomah County) Oregon?

Rolled out in October 2024, the Multnomah Services and Screening Tool awards up to 5 points to non-white, non-straight applicants who speak English as a second language—more than the 4 points it would award a domestic violence survivor with a six-year-old child who has been homeless for over a year. 

Ann Arbor, MI, Removes Neighborhood Watch Signs

Ann Arbor, Michigan, spent $18,000 to remove neighborhood watch signs claiming they were racist. Soy-boy Mayor Christopher Taylor explained that neighbors looking out for one another was "inconsistent with our values" and an expression of exclusion. Black council member Cynthia Harrison was also concerned that the signs sent an unwelcome message to criminals that look like her. Mayor Taylor reminded residents that if they wanted to file complaints about the police, however, they could do so by contacting the Ann Arbor Independent Community Police Oversight Commission (AAICPOC). The Commissions' mission statement includes this: "To promote positive interactions between the police department and members of vulnerable, at-risk and marginalized groups within the community."

Diversity In Action

From the Daily Mail: "Camaro-driving child snatcher's astonishing excuse for abducting boy as he pleads not to be deported to India." Manoj Govindbalunikam, was sentenced to 18-months in prison for his abduction of a 9 year old Ontario, Canada, boy in 2023. His explanation for picking the child up, giving him ice cream and a toy, and not driving the boy to his house as promised was that it was a "cultural misunderstanding," and that such actions were perfectly acceptable in India.  It that is what is acceptable in India, then we definitely can't have them coming here. He also tried the racism card. 

    In any event, under Canadian law, receiving a sentence of more than 6-months means that he will be automatically deported back to India. So he can go back there and see how well child-abduction goes over. 

Be Careful What You Vote For ...

A couple articles from the New York Post that caught my eye:

• "Vile antisemitic outburst at Park Slope Coop meeting sparks outrage: ‘Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country’." 
• "Protesters scream revolting anti-Israel slurs at diners outside NYC Jewish restaurant, call to ‘Bomb Israel’." 

Jews in the United States overwhelmingly vote Democrat and support liberal causes. And this was the result.

LA Halting Congressional Primaries Due To SCOTUS Ruling

Democrats have long used the Voting Rights Act to force states to create racially gerrymandered districts to guarantee Democrats win House seats even in conservative states. However, a recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a map creating a majority black district in Louisiana that zig-zags across much of the state. SCOTUS Blog gives the background:

    The decision was the latest, and presumably final, chapter in a long-running dispute arising from Louisiana’s efforts to adopt a new congressional map in the wake of the 2020 census. The first map that the state adopted, in 2022, had one majority-Black district out of the six allotted to the state. A group of Black voters – who comprise roughly one-third of the state’s population – went to federal court, where they alleged that the map violated Section 2 of the VRA, which prohibits discrimination in voting.

    A federal judge agreed that the 2022 map likely violated Section 2, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld that ruling. It instructed Louisiana to draw a new map by January 2024 or risk having the court adopt one for it.

    The map that Louisiana drew in 2024 created a second majority-Black district, leading to the election in November of that year of Cleo Fields, a former member of Congress who had represented another majority-Black district during the 1990s.

    The map also prompted the lawsuit leading to Wednesday’s opinion. It was filed by a group of “non-African American” voters who contended that the 2024 map violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause by sorting voters based on race. A three-judge federal district court agreed with them and barred the state from using the 2024 map in future elections, but a divided Supreme Court temporarily paused that ruling in May 2024.

The Court ordered the parties to submit new briefing to address "whether 'the State’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates' either the 14th Amendment or the 15th Amendment, which bars the government from denying or restricting voting rights based on race," and set a second hearing date.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, in the case of Louisiana v. Callais, struck down a Louisiana congressional map that a group of voters who describe themselves as “non-African American” had challenged as the product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. By a vote of 6-3, the justices left in place a ruling by a federal court that barred the state from using the map, which had created a second majority-Black district, in future elections.     

Notwithstanding the lamentations of the Democrats, the Voting Rights Act does not trump the Constitution. As a consequence of the decision, the Louisiana congressional primaries have been suspended pending, presumably, drawing up a new Congressional redistricting map. The consequence of this action is that Republicans will pick up an additional House seat this fall. 

Wilder: China's War On The U.S.

John Wilder's latest piece is "China’s Unrestricted Economic War on America." He notes that in 1999,  two PLA colonels, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, wrote a treatise called Unrestricted Warfare describing how to take down the U.S. without open warfare. And they have been following it since. He explains:

    The idea was simple: use every possible tool to erode the enemy’s strength while pretending you’re just a friendly neighbor.

    How many of those boxes have they checked?

• Trade warfare? Done. They flooded our markets, stole our manufacturing base, and used the WTO like a Trojan horse.
• Financial warfare? They’ve been buying up U.S. debt, manipulating currency, and positioning themselves to pull the rug out when the time is right, which might be now.
• Ecological warfare? See the citrus groves and the poultry barns and the Michigan fungus folks.  Introduce a pathogen here, a pest there, and watch the food supply strain.
• Smuggling warfare?  Fentanyl, anyone?
• Cyber and network warfare?  Constant hacks, intellectual-property theft, missing hard drives from Los Alamos, and infrastructure probes that never quite rise to the level of “war.”
• Psychological and media warfare?  Want to bet that China was stoking the fires on both sides in Minnesota during George Floyd?   

And this doesn't even include China buying up U.S. farms and ranches, buying up land abutting U.S. military bases, and flying drones over sensitive locations.  

    I know that a lot of readers probably disagree with the war against Iran, but it is important to understand that Iran is just a pretext. If it were just about Iran and its nuclear arsenal, the Democrat leadership--at the least the ones that matter--would be all for it. But the real target of the war is China. 

    Zineb Riboua, in an article penned for The Free Press, explained at the beginning of March:

    Operation Epic Fury, this weekend’s joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran, has been widely described as an extraordinary assault on the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. That is true, but it misses a critical dimension. For years, Beijing has spent billions of dollars building Iran into a structural asset. By striking Iran directly, the Trump administration is dismantling, whether by design or by consequence, a pillar of China’s regional architecture.

    In other words: This is all about China.

She continues:

    Iran’s value to China also extends to proxy warfare. When Iran’s Houthis began attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea in late 2023, the consequences rippled across the global economy. Container traffic through the Red Sea fell by 90 percent within three months. Goods worth roughly $1 trillion were disrupted in the first seven months. The rerouting of ships around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope added nearly two weeks and about $1 million in fuel costs to every voyage, driving freight rates between Asia and Europe.

    The U.S. bore the heaviest burden of response. Carrier strike groups were deployed, air campaigns were sustained for months, and precision munitions costing between $1 million and $4 million per interceptor were expended at a rate that, by mid-2025, had consumed roughly a quarter of America’s high-end missile interceptor inventory. Last week, it was reported that Tehran was close to finalizing a deal for Chinese-made supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, capable of threatening American carriers now massing in the Persian Gulf. Earlier, Chinese suppliers shipped over 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, a key missile propellant ingredient, to an Iranian port, enough to rebuild a substantial portion of the ballistic missile stockpile that Israel spent 12 days destroying. Why would Beijing do this? And what does that mean for the United States? Answering those questions requires looking beyond Iran and toward the broader global contest in which Iran plays a role.

    Start with oil, because oil is where the entire relationship begins. China buys more than 80 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports at steep discounts. The shipments travel on a ghost fleet of tankers that switch off their transponders and relabel their cargo as Malaysian or Indonesian to circumvent American sanctions. Since 2021, the cumulative value of these purchases has exceeded $140 billion. This makes China the main reason the Islamic Republic has not gone bankrupt.

    The arrangement works beautifully for Beijing. It gets cheap oil for its industrial base, saving billions annually compared to market-rate suppliers. And in exchange, China acquires influence over a nation of 90 million people sitting astride the world’s most consequential energy corridor.

    Meanwhile, Tehran, increasingly cut off from every other major economy, has nowhere else to turn. When Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei received Chinese president Xi Jinping in Iran in 2016, he praised the 25-year strategic partnership as “totally correct and endowed with wisdom,” adding pointedly that “Western governments have never been able to win the Iranian nation’s trust.” Khamenei was not merely flattering a guest. He was describing a structural reality: Iran’s economy now runs on Chinese money, and both capitals know it.

    In 2021, the 25-Year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership committed China to invest an estimated $400 billion across Iran’s energy, banking, telecommunications, and infrastructure sectors, formalizing a relationship that was already underway. The deeper this integration runs, the less leverage anyone else has over Tehran, and the more leverage Beijing accumulates.

    Meanwhile, Chinese-flagged ships sailed through with less interference. Beijing contributed no vessels to the multinational protection force and issued no condemnation of the attacks. In fact, Chinese satellite companies were providing the Houthis with intelligence to enable their targeting of commercial vessels.

    The logic here is simple. Every dollar the United States spends defending Red Sea shipping lanes is a dollar unavailable for submarine production, Pacific bases, or Taiwan contingency planning. Every carrier group stationed in the Gulf of Aden is a carrier group absent from the Western Pacific. Iran’s proxies, armed with Iranian weapons and supported by Iranian intelligence, function as a mechanism of American strategic attrition, and the costs fall entirely on Washington while Beijing accumulates strategic gains. 

Real Clear Defense similarly noted in mid-March that the war is really about China, explaining:

    Iran is a theater, but it does not hold the final stage. The real battlefield lies within the larger contest between the United States and China over the architecture of the international order.

    Seen through that lens, American military pressure on Iran—and earlier actions against Venezuela—assume wider significance. These moves do not merely punish hostile regimes. They strike at elements of the geopolitical framework Beijing has spent decades constructing.

    China’s rise has depended not only on domestic economic growth but also on the steady expansion of influence abroad. Beijing has cultivated relationships with states willing to trade with China, align diplomatically with China, or simply welcome a world less dominated by Washington.

    Iran occupies a crucial place in that system.

    The oil that sustains Tehran’s economy has long flowed eastward to China, often at discounted prices. Countries now under American pressure have supplied nearly 17 percent of China’s imported oil, providing Beijing with a quiet but significant buffer against Western leverage.

    To remove Iran from that equation—or even threaten doing so—is to reach directly into China’s long-term energy planning and development strategy.  

    Iran's importance to China is reflected in the assistance China has given Iran. The Strategist reports:

    Several reports in recent weeks have revealed the extent of China’s active support for Iran. The Financial Times reported on 15 April that China had given Iran a commercial reconnaissance satellite, providing Tehran with precise targeting information to hit US military facilities in the Middle East. A Chinese company, Earth Eye Co, reportedly built and launched the TEE-01B satellite and provided in-orbit delivery to Iran. Another Chinese company, Emposat, also supplied Iran with satellite data and control services. These must have helped Iran target US bases in the war.

    Other reports point to a Chinese geospatial AI and software company, MizarVision, which published satellite imagery with tagging data on several US military facilities prior to and even during the war.

    On 12 April, CNN reported that China was providing Iran with new air-defence systems in the coming weeks. These were shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, CNN said. These are relatively short-range systems, but they still represent a serious danger to both helicopters and low-flying combat aircraft. The US-built Stinger is a good example, and its earlier version was credited with playing a major role in defeating Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the late 1980s. CNN’s sources said that China was shipping the weapons through third countries to hide their origin. China has denied the report.

    A 3 April Telegraph report revealed that China was providing Iran with chemicals for fuel for ballistic missiles. The report added that four sanctioned vessels were at Iranian ports, with one more ship waiting offshore. They’d come from China’s Zhuhai Gaolan port and were transporting sodium perchlorate, a precursor material for solid-fuel rocket propellant. The quantity is reported to be enough for hundreds of ballistic missiles. The five ships reportedly belong to the Iran Shipping Line Group, which is under sanctions by the US, Britain and the European Union.  

    So how long should we expect the war to continue? That's hard to say, but one data point has to do with China's strategic oil reserve.  Prior to the war breaking out, "China surged oil imports in January and February alone by 16 percent, with Russia exporting around 300,000 additional barrels per day to China," and "China’s combined strategic and commercial reserves now stand at 1.3 billion to 1.4 billion barrels, covering roughly four months of imports." That means that the U.S. blockade may need to go on for more than four months to be effective. But even that may be in doubt, as China expects to benefit from the UAE leaving OPEC. 

     I fully expect things to get spicy this summer as China begins to feel the bite of sanctions. First, China's Leftist tools will be working overtime to protest and disrupt life in the U.S. and prepare for cheating in the fall elections. Second, we should see China step up its modes of attack outline in Unrestricted Warfare. In that regard, it is notable that a synthetic opioid, cyclorphine, has started showing up on American streets. 

VIDEO: Comparison Between 9mm and .40 S&W Federal HST

This is a good test as the author uses the same pistols (other than caliber) and the same brand and type of ammo (Federal HST in this case) to compare the .40 S&W and 9mm +P. Obviously, these results are only for the Federal HST and might be different for other ammo. Notably, the Federal HST was picked for the test because it is what the host would recommend for carry.

The results were interesting. Both the 9mm and .40 S&W had excellent expansion with the longer barreled pistols, giving the win to the .40 S&W: it started larger than the 9mm and so, fully expanded, it was still larger than the 9mm, and the penetration was basically the same. But the lower velocity out of the shorter barrel weighed against the .40 S&W such that the 9mm performed better both as to expansion and penetration when using the compact pistols. 

The takeaway, then, was that with this ammunition, the 9mm was a better choice out of a compact pistol while the .40 S&W would be the better option for a full sized pistol. Selecting a round is about more than just how well it works in a ballistic test, though. One of the reasons 9mm has been so successful is that it hits a sweet spot balancing size, recoil, and effectiveness.  

 VIDEO: "As a Ballistic Tester - The 9mm and .40 S&W Ammo I Would Recommend - Worth Going up to .40 S&W?" -- Gun Sam Revolver Ballistics (18 min.)

Is The SPLC Handing Out More Money?

The New York Post reports: "Sicko walks through quiet Rhode Island town in KKK robes: ‘That’s a whole different level of racism’."

Reports of Christianity's Death May Be Premature

Rod Martin reports that "Christianity’s Decline in America Has Halted, and May Now Have Reversed." Martin offers two explanations:

    First, he believes that the decline was being led by people who didn't truly believe or were shaky in their faith who were leaving. But now that those types are mostly gone, the decline halted. He explains (bold in original):

    But why? Why would it stop? If the problem is that Christianity is outdated or offensive to our culture, why wouldn’t we continue to collapse?

    The answer is simple, as I’ve been telling you for decades. The people who were leaving Christianity were not leaving because conservatives were “mean,” or because Christians “lacked winsomeness,” or because the church failed to wrap historic orthodoxy in the therapeutic language of NPR. 

    They left because they were leftists. The belief system of the modern Democrat Party is anathema to the Christian faith.

    Or let me put that another way: the fakers have left.

    There’s no longer any benefit to your business, or to your personal prestige, that derives from pretending to be a Christian. There is no financial gain that comes from sitting on the second pew. To be a Christian today means you have to really mean it, or you just wouldn’t bother.

    And they don’t.

    So the half-believers left. The brunch Christians left. The “Jesus was a socialist community organizer” crowd left. The people who wanted the church to baptize abortion, transgenderism, Critical Race Theory, and every other fashionable madness of the age left.

    Second, Martin links the reversal to a growing number of young conservative men turning to Christianity. He notes: "Young conservative men helped drive the stabilization, and they may now be helping drive the reversal. They are embracing Christianity as part of a broader rejection of leftist ideology, secular despair, and the cultural war against masculinity itself." And it seems the numbers support this:

    Gallup’s newest data show a remarkable shift among young men ages 18–29. In 2024–25, 42 percent of young men said religion is “very important” in their lives, up from 28 percent just two years earlier. Young women, by contrast, remained roughly flat at about 30 percent. Gallup says young men now surpass young women on this measure by a statistically significant margin, a stunning reversal of the long-standing pattern in which young women were more religious than young men.

    Let’s put that in perspective. For the first time in 300 years, among young adults aged 18-24, the gender gap in religiosity has flipped. Historically, women have long been 15-20 percentage points more religious than men (which accounts for much of the church and the clergy’s feminization). But among Generation Z, those days are over.

    This is a very, very big deal.

    My LDS readers may be wondering about all this as it seems the LDS Church is still drifting left and embracing "social justice," DEI, and illegal immigration. For instance, the recent pronouncement allowing women to serve in Sunday School presidencies notwithstanding Paul's admonition in 1 Timothy 2:12. But looking at the statistics, you will see that the Church seems to be following the same trend lines as Christianity in general, albeit lagging by several years. This is illustrated by this article from April 21, 2026: "Why Latter-day Saints appear to be politically shifting to the left." The article explains that contrary to the general trend among Christian denominations, "[o]ver the last 18 years, [LDS] members moved 19 points to the left, according to a new report from the global analytics firm YouGov based on data from the Cooperative Election Survey." However, those members moving to the Left are less devout:

    ... When [Alex Bass, a data scientist] plotted the share of devout Latter-day Saints — those with the highest levels of religious practice, such as praying and attending church — and the share of Latter-day Saints who identify as Republican, they seem to be declining in tandem.

    Of course, correlation isn’t always causation. Bass said, however, the political beliefs of the different devoutness groups haven’t changed — devout members are firmly Republican, and cultural members are near the political center. Now, there are just more Latter-day Saints who are less devout and less Republican.
    
    The share of devout Latter-day Saints dropped from 52% in 2008-2012 to 39% in 2021-2025. Cultural members, those who attend church less than once a month, grew from 21% to 31%. 

And in going to Bass's blog, he reports that there is some data showing a resurgence in Church activity, but warns that "the limited data we have more likely suggests a retrenchment where those who remain are more likely to participate in all religious measures, but people are lost at the fringes." And in line with what Martin was saying, Bass notes: "Looking at party affiliation, in-line with the practice metrics and increasing 'devout' status, we see a rise in Republican Party affiliation. This again shows how strongly correlated these two things are!" 

    The correlation shouldn't be all that surprising. Church members were, prior to the 1970s, roughly split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, but as the Democrats moved ever leftward, the membership shifted to voting Republican. Given the current state of the Democratic party and its embrace of communist theories if not outright communism, it is notable that on July 3, 1936, the First Presidency of the Church issued a statement concerning communism that warned members that communism was anathema to both the teachings of the Church and to our Constitutional form of government, stating in part:

    Since Communism, established, would destroy our American Constitutional government, to support Communism is treasonable to our free institutions, and no patriotic American citizen may become either a Communist or supporter of Communism.

[snip]

    Furthermore, it is charged by universal report, which is not successfully contradicted or disproved, that Communism undertakes to control, if not indeed to proscribe the religious life of the people living within its jurisdiction, and that it even reaches its hand into the sanctity of the family circle itself, disrupting the normal relationship of parent and child, all in a manner unknown and unsanctioned under the Constitutional guarantees under which we in America live. Such interference would be contrary to the fundamental precepts of the Gospel and to the teachings and order of the Church. Communism being thus hostile to loyal American citizenship and incompatible with true Church membership, of necessity no loyal American citizen and no faithful Church member can be a Communist.    

Leftists cannot abide Christianity and Christianity cannot abide Leftism. So eventually the Leftists, where they are unsuccessful in destroying a religious institution, will eventually leave. 

The North Hollywood Shootout And Its Impact On Law Enforcement

Occasionally an incident will happen that sends ripples through the law enforcement community. One that has received a lot of attention was the April 11, 1986, Miami Shootout between a couple bank robbers and the FBI that fundamentally changed our perceptions of what was acceptable performance from handgun ammo. It was from that shootout that the FBI studied handgun bullet effectiveness and developed the famous FBI standards on penetration and performance that still drive bullet design. 

    But another incident that was probably just as significant was the North Hollywood Shootout of February 28, 1997.  On that day, two bank robbers--Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu--walked out of a bank and immediately began a 44 minute shootout with police outside the bank which moved into an adjoining neighborhood. At the end of the shootout, over 1,600 rounds had been fired by the robbers and police; Phillips and Mătăsăreanu were mortally wounded; and 12 officers, 8 civilians had been wounded.

    The reason the shootout lasted 44 minutes was because of the equipment used by the robbers and the police. As a Guns America article on the shootout relates:

    [The robbers] each wore body armor bodged together from commercial Aramid components covering their chests, groins, shins, thighs, and forearms. Matasareanu included a steel strike plate in his ensemble to protect his vital organs. They had each sewed watches into the backs of their gloves and took phenobarbital to calm their nerves. ...

[snip]

    They had one Norinco Type 56 S-1 underfolder that had been illegally converted to full auto along with several Chinese-made 75 and 100-round drums. It is impossible to deploy an underfolding AK stock with a drum in place, but Larry Phillips still ran this weapon efficiently on full auto even with the stock folded.

[snip]

    The loadout included a Bushmaster XM15 Dissipator. The Dissipator featured standard M16A1 triangular handguards, a stubby16-inch barrel, and a collapsible stock along with a 100-round Beta C-mag. The Dissipator looks a little weird but illegally converted to full auto it was a formidable close combat tool. They also wielded a German HK91A3 with extended 30-round mags. These magazines were formed by welding two 20-round magazine bodies together.

Conversely, the responding officers were armed only with their issued 9mm pistols or .38 Special revolvers, with some having shotguns. The body armor used by the robbers made them nearly impervious to the officer's weapons. (Although some officers were authorized to obtain rifles from a nearby gun store, the sources I've read indicted that none of those weapons were put to use). Ultimately, though, the robbers were wounded. Phillips put a pistol below his chin but was shot in the neck. He died of his wounds. Mătăsăreanu bled to death from his wounds while police secured the area before allowing EMTs in to care for him. He had been shot 20 times below the waist. 

    As a Mag-Life article relates:

After reviewing the incident, the LAPD took a hard look at its response and how it could do better in the future. The Department took on the suspects with department-issued 9mm pistols, shotguns, and a few officers had rifles chambered in .223. It was decided that in addition to ongoing training for department-wide preparedness for any future incidents of this magnitude, officers would have the option to use .45 ACP pistols, AR-15s chambered in .223, and 12-gauge shotguns in addition to upgraded pistol ammunition options. Police vehicles were reportedly upgraded with Kevlar panels in the side to help protect officers from rounds. 

But it didn't just stop with the LAPD. This incident is generally credited with boosting the then-growing impetus across the nation to arm police officers with patrol rifles. For instance, a Police Magazine article on the shootout relates:

A month later, the chief of the Omaha (Neb.) Police Department asked its SWAT commander to write a position paper outlining the need and justification of arming our patrol personnel with intermediate (5.56x45mm) rifles. With the backing of the chief and a strong-willed deputy chief who always remembered the streets from where he came, the department graduated its first patrol rifle class in November of 1997.     

Sources:

• "North Hollywood shootout"--Wikipedia. 
• "Historical Shootouts: Lessons Learned and Their Impact on Training" by Jason Mosher, Safariland.
• "Guns of the North Hollywood Shootout: Life Imitates Art" by Will Dabbs, Guns America.
• "North Hollywood Shootout: 44 Minutes That Changed Law Enforcement" by Patti Miller, The Mag Life. 
• "How the North Hollywood Shootout Changed Patrol Arsenals" by Bob Parker, Police Magazine. 
• "20 years ago, a dramatic North Hollywood shootout changed the course of the LAPD and policing at large"--Los Angeles Times.  
• "Report to police commission on North Hollywood shootout"--LA Times.  
• "How the North Hollywood shootout changed policing" by Dana Bartholomew, Police 1. 
• "When Bank Robbery Went Wild: Remembering the North Hollywood Shootout"--The History Of Everything Blog.