Birthright Citizenship And Why We Can't Vote Our Way Out

The National Review reports that the Supreme Court has "struck down President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, finding that the order violates the 14th Amendment." 

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment, but dissented in part, saying Trump’s executive order does not violate the 14th Amendment, but does violate the federal statute that codified the amendment. Kavanaugh’s perspective is that Congress could limit birthright citizenship via federal statute, but has not. 

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, held that it was enough that the child was born on U.S. soil to become a citizen. 

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our  political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today,” Roberts added.    

Of course, that wasn't true because the members of Indian tribes were not considered citizens until a much later act of Congress. 

    This was a poor decision by the court. Not only does it misconstrue the law, but it contributes to a potential legitimacy crisis. Or, as Vox Day observes: "As one diehard liberal recently pointed out, the use of liberal democratic institutions to defend the indefensible and defeat the will of the people is only going to guarantee the eventual destruction of those institutions." It is something that Rod Dreher touches upon as well in his review of the film Citizen Vigilante: 

 ... Not gonna lie, I felt dirty watching it.

    But I’m glad I did, because it is an extremely powerful movie, for one reason: it tells forbidden but widely known truths about life in lawless Europe overrun by migrants, and it speaks deeply — deeply — to the sense of suppressed outrage that many ordinary Europeans feel towards the film’s twin villains: migrant criminals and the European establishment (law enforcement, courts, politicians) that allow them to tyrannize innocent Europeans. The academic David Betz warns of civil war coming to Europe if those in power don’t do something serious about migration and the problems it causes. This movie shows you exactly what he means.

[snip]

     I have been accused by well-meaning people — people who understand the problem — of somehow encouraging civil unrest by talking about it. They’re wrong. In fact, the outright refusal of those in power to talk about it, and to suppress and punish people who are trying, however crudely, to face the truth, makes propaganda works like this inevitable. And it also makes the fascist fantasy of the film likely to come true.

    In fact, let me make this clear: “Citizen Vigilante” is a fascist film, in the sense that it valorizes lawless violence in service of restoring social order and an ideal of justice. It shows exactly why an exasperated people turn to fascism as a solution to a problem liberal democratic governments have proven unwilling or unable to solve.

    If you don’t understand that, you will not understand the malign power of this film. Nor will you get why it will become an underground smash, no matter what the authorities do. “Citizen Vigilante” is also a fulfillment of Ross Douthat’s famous prophecy from about twenty years ago, that went something like this: “If you don’t like the Religious Right, just wait till you see the Post-Religious Right.”

    But as Peter Turchin has pointed out, based on his research of the causes of revolution and civil war, government policy reflects what the elites want, not what the people want. And it has been clear for decades that the elites want open borders and mass migration. 

    Turchin is not the first to hold the position that there is an elite that controls government policy. Carroll Quigley also wrote about a network of financial and banking elites who, for all intents and purposes, controlled the West. If you don't know who he is, Grokipedia has this summary (footnotes omitted):

    Carroll Quigley (November 9, 1910 – January 3, 1977) was an American historian and longtime professor of history at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he earned his doctorate from Harvard University and specialized in the comparative study of civilizations and twentieth-century geopolitical developments. 

    Quigley gained prominence for his expansive Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (1966), a 1,300-page analysis tracing the shift from nineteenth-century European hegemony to a bipolar world order dominated by the United States and Soviet Union, with particular emphasis on the instrumental role of Anglo-American financial and establishment networks in orchestrating global stability through institutions like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bank for International Settlements. In this work, he candidly described how "the powers of financial capitalism" pursued "a world system of financial control in private hands" to dominate national politics and economies via central banks and secretive agreements, a perspective drawn from his access to elite archives that has since fueled debates on power structures despite academic tendencies to sideline such causal admissions in favor of less confrontational narratives.  

It's been a long time since I read Tragedy and Hope.  The book was a history of the modern world from about 1880 up through the mid-1960s. Not a newspaper headline history as we get in school, but the underlying forces at work--particularly economic and financial issues and decisions that the public rarely hears about. 

    But amongst this, we see that the extremely wealthy formed a loose network to make decisions which would then be put into action by the various entities and politicians they controlled or had influence over. A site called PhiloCrux summarizes this aspect:

    According to Quigley's historical analysis, this network did not rely on brute force. Instead, it operated through the sophisticated capture and alignment of crucial societal pillars: international finance, mainstream media, prestigious academia, and government policy-making. By subtly influencing public opinion and financing strategic think tanks, this group worked tirelessly from the late 19th century onward to establish a framework for global governance.

    Their overarching vision was one of international stability and peace, aiming to prevent the devastating global conflicts that had defined the early modern era. Yet, the methods they employed to achieve these utopian goals required a profound concentration of power entirely removed from the democratic process.

    What makes Quigley’s historical lens so compelling is his own nuanced stance on the network. He did not fundamentally oppose their goal of a unified, peaceful world order. In fact, he largely agreed with their ultimate geopolitical aims. Where Quigley drew the line, and what he fiercely criticized in Tragedy and Hope, was their profound commitment to secrecy and democratic manipulation.

    He argued that a free society cannot function if its most consequential policies are decided behind closed doors by unelected, unaccountable individuals. Understanding Quigley’s findings offers a profound paradigm shift. It provides a sobering, academically rigorous framework for analyzing modern power structures, the influence of modern think tanks, and the quiet forces that continue to shape the geopolitics of our time.   

But the Morgans, Rhodes, Rockefellers, and so on, are no longer around. What replaced them? Well, this is what Google's AI had to say:

    In his 1966 book Tragedy and Hope, historian Carroll Quigley described a network of elite British and American financiers, industrialists, and academics—most notably the "Round Table" movement and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Quigley posited that this Anglo-American establishment held disproportionate influence over global capitalism and 20th-century foreign policy.

    Because this network was deeply tied to the power of the British Empire and post-WWII American economic dominance, it evolved rather than being overtly "replaced." Today, the functions, ideologies, and goals of Quigley's historical network are carried forward and expanded into broader globalist networks:

• The Trilateral Commission: Founded in 1973 (partly by David Rockefeller) to foster political and economic cooperation between North America, Western Europe, and Japan. It has effectively absorbed the cross-national policy-planning functions of Quigley’s historical groups.
• The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): While the CFR was a centerpiece of Quigley's original thesis, it remains a dominant force, heavily shaping American foreign policy.
• The World Economic Forum (WEF): The preeminent annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, which has taken over the mantle of globalized public-private partnerships, bringing together political leaders, CEOs, and intellectuals.    

Expounding further:

The modern globalist network is not a single monolith, but a matrix of highly integrated institutions. Sociologists call this the global corporate-policy elite inner circle—a dense network of individuals who simultaneously hold leadership positions across corporate boards, think tanks, and advisory groups. 

Instead of operating in secret, these overlapping memberships occur openly through shared leadership, career rotations, and corporate backing. 

1. The Interlocking Directorate

A primary mechanism of this network is the "board interlock," where a single individual serves on the governing boards of multiple organizations. 

• The CFR-Trilateral Nexus: The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission share deep foundational roots; both were heavily backed by David Rockefeller. It is common for the North American Chair or Executive Committee members of the Trilateral Commission to be high-ranking, life-time members of the CFR. 
• The WEF Board of Trustees: The World Economic Forum (WEF) is supervised by a Board of Trustees. This board regularly features individuals who are also CFR members, directors of major central banks, and former state officials who frequent Trilateral Commission meetings. 

2. The Institutional Roles

The organizations do not compete; rather, they serve distinct, complementary functions for the exact same pool of elites: 

Organization	Primary Network Function	Membership Base
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)	Policy Incubation: Drafts specific, actionable foreign and economic policy templates for the U.S. government.	Exclusively U.S. citizens; heavy concentration of diplomats, academics, and intelligence officials.
Trilateral Commission	Geopolitical Alignment: Harmonizes policy goals between the dominant capitalist regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific).	Geographically restricted quotas; mostly business executives, central bankers, and politicians.
World Economic Forum (WEF)	Global Implementation: Acts as a marketing and consensus-building platform to merge public policy with private corporate interests.	Global; heavily focused on Fortune 500 CEOs, tech founders, and international heads of state.

3. The "Revolving Door" of Governance

The network exerts influence over sovereign governments through a phenomenon known as the revolving door, where individuals cycle between private industry, elite think tanks, and public office. 

• Historical Precedent: When Jimmy Carter (a Trilateral Commission member) was elected U.S. President, he appointed fellow Trilateralist Zbigniew Brzezinski as National Security Advisor and chose a cabinet dense with CFR and Trilateral members.
• Modern Continuity: Across successive U.S. presidential administrations, key positions—such as the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and CIA Director—are almost consistently drawn from the roster of CFR members or regular WEF attendees.

4. Corporate Sponsorship Ties

Beyond individual people, these organizations are bound together by corporate membership and funding. Major multinational banks (such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs), massive asset managers (like BlackRock), and tech conglomerates do not just send executives to Davos; they also fund the CFR as "Corporate Founders" and sit on the advisory councils of the Trilateral Commission. This financial backing ensures that the overarching policy agendas across all three groups remain aligned with global market interests.   

More:

• "Curtis Yarvin vs. Carroll Quigley: Two Theories of Elites That Shape Power Today"--Daniel Dashnaw. 
• A link to a site run by Joe Plummer which links to a book entitled Tragedy & Hope 101 which is supposed to offer a more concise read. There are also links to audio versions that you can download (MP3) or a playlist on YouTube. I haven't read or listened to this book, so I can't say whether it is worthwhile or not. 

The Gun And Prepping News #87 Was Reinstated

Google accepted my removal of the link to Organic Prepper and reinstated my post. Accordingly, I have taken down the multiple posts where I had split it apart to find the objectionable link. 

VIDEO: Using A Pillow To Muffle A Gunshot

 It works surprisingly well, especially when the pillow is folded completely around the revolver. 

 VIDEO: "Does A Pillow Work As A Silencer?"
Mrgunsngear Channel (13 min.)

Temporary Cavitation And The Charlie Kirk Assassination

The other day, Anonymous Conservative posted this photograph of Charlie Kirk right before he was shot and at the instant the bullet impacted him in the neck. You can see the neck bulge out both in the front and at the back from the temporary stretch cavity.  

You can get an idea of what happened by watching the video below, testing 110 grain VMax bullets from .300 BLK. I've read that the .300 BLK at a short distance like this is approximately what you would see from the same bullet shot from .308 at 100 to 150 yards. A .30-06 could have a bit more velocity depending on the load. 

 VIDEO: "Varmint Bullets For Defense? .300AAC 110gr V-Max gel test"
ARFCOM News (4 min.)

This second test is of a 125 grain SST shot from a .308 at a short distance. Note that relatively little penetration. 

 VIDEO: ".308 Win - Hornady SST 125 gr: AR-10 gel test 5/27/24"
Shasta Bean (2 min.)

This third test is of a bonded 180 grain bullet shot from a .30-06 into a gel block at 100 yards. 

VIDEO: "DANGEROUS!! 30-06 Norma Bondstrike 180gr Ammo Test"
Mason Leather Outdoors (6 min.)

The ATF report on the bullet recovered from Kirk's body hasn't been released, so it may turn out that I'm completely wrong. But from what little we know, I suspect that the Kirk was shot with a light weight varmint type bullet that expanded quickly and fragmented when it struck bone, which would explain the lack of penetration everyone obsesses over. 

Dozens Killed In Pakistani Strikes Against Afghanistan

 War is breaking out everywhere now that the U.S. is retreating. "Dozens of civilians killed in Pakistani air strikes on Afghanistan, officials say"--France24. 

Immigrants Fleeing South Africa

While European leaders are messing their pants over a movie of a lone vigilante killing the worst migrant criminals, this is what actual anti-immigration movements look like: "Thousands of foreign nationals leave South Africa ahead of June 30 'deadline'"--France 24. The article relates:

    Anti-immigrant groups in South Africa have set a June 30 "deadline" for undocumented immigrants to leave the country, planning widespread demonstrations on that date and threatening a “national shutdown” if the government does not take significant action on immigration.

    Anti-foreigner sentiment has been on the rise in recent months, with protests in several major cities across the country.  

    Three people, including a Malawian man and two Mozambican nationals, were killed during recent anti-immigration protests in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape provinces. 

    South African Police Services launched a special $36 million operation ahead of the new round of protests, with acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia saying police would not tolerate violence or lawlessness.   

The protests, vandalism, and assaults have convinced many immigrants that there is no "future here anymore." The article continues:

    Organisations like Lawyers for Human Rights and Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia have expressed their concern following the recent spate of violent protests.

    “What is of concern is the rise of vigilante and anti-rights groups. And this is resulting in attacks on foreign nationals through racial profiling,” said Sharon Ekambaram, who heads the Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme at Lawyers for Human Rights.

    Ekambaram said members of her group “are very concerned” about the violence taking place against documented and undocumented foreign nationals, noting that many of the victims are not illegal migrants but actually have legal refugee status in South Africa.

The "racial profiling" going on isn't white versus black, or Indian versus black, but blacks targeting other blacks. 

About That Poll On Americans' Pride In Their Country

 The Associated Press has run the headline "Americans’ pride in US history and democracy drops, and fewer are proud to be American, polls find" in its report on a new AP-NORC poll and comparing its results to 2017 and 2021. As the article relates, "Only 14% of Democrats and 28% of independents say they are 'extremely' proud to be an American, according to Gallup’s new poll, compared with 70% of Republicans."

    The shows responses from Republicans, Democrats, and "overall" as to various categories--armed forces, scientific and technical achievements, history, economic achievements, how it democracy works, and political influence in the rest of the world. The results among Republicans seem to vary according to who holds power: the Republicans, for instance, dropped considerably in their estimations during the Biden Administration before mostly bouncing back on this second Trump term. 

    The Democrats, however, have dropped in each succeeding poll (even during Biden's term as president). And it is the decline in the pride felt by Democrats which is primarily dragging down the overall ratings. Whether this is due to the influx of immigrants, the Democrats drinking their own Kool-Aid, or what, I do not know. 

    But it has obvious implications for the continued political unity of the country. For instance, if only 20% of Democrats have pride in how our political system works, and only 43% of Republicans, that means that the vast majority of Americans think the system is broken.  

The Summer Job Is Drying Up

This seems to be a growing problem: "Desperate teens say it is now almost impossible to find a summer job, as experts reveal the three factors that are to blame"--Daily Mail. 

    'A lot of the entry-level roles that once existed simply do not any longer,' Jaune Little, director of recruiting services at the human resources company Insperity, told The Associated Press.

    She added: 'Those that do exist are on leaner teams that have less ability and desire to develop and train someone.'

    As a result, teens are now competing with experienced adults for the same jobs, who are prioritizing 'more skilled workers even if they are overqualified.'

In other words, they are competing against immigrants and other adults that lack the skills and training to get other types of jobs. I guess if you are an employer that is forced to pay $15 or $20/hour, you don't want to waste time training a teenager that might only stick around for a few weeks or months. 

Liberal White Woman Brags She Married Palestinian So He Could Gain Citizenship

Liberal white women are the bane of the West. From the New York Post: "Lefty California teacher declares she married Gaza man to give him US citizenship: ‘Equalize the playing field’." From the article:

    A radical, Israel-hating California teacher claimed she married a Gaza resident online to help him gain American citizenship — and push her pro-Palestinian agenda.

    Laura Pinho, a dance teacher at Canoga Park Senior High School in California, announced her nuptials in a wild June 16 CODEPINK Zoom webinar called “Challenging Zionism In Our Schools.”

    When CODEPINK activist Marcy Winograd congratulated her on her marriage and asked her to share details about her life, Pinho, 51, launched into a pedantic monologue about how she only married Salem S.E. Abu Amra to advance “Palestinian rights and freedoms.”

She may have admitted to committing federal crimes:

    Englewood New Jersey Mayor Michael Wildes — who is also an immigration attorney and former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York — told The Post that Pinho is playing with fire.

    “She can be prosecuted criminally, brought up on federal conspiracy charges. Marriage fraud is one of the top five crimes you can perpetrate including terrorism and drugs. The fact that somebody would be foolish enough to say they actually did it makes it actionable for the federal government to investigate,” Wildes said. 

Wilder: Why We Can't Do War Anymore

John Wilder's latest article, "Why We Can’t Do War Anymore," delves into why we were able to defeat the Nazis and Japanese in WWII, at the same time, but can't defeat Iran. Primarily it has to do with costs: Western weapon systems are expensive; Iranian drones are (relatively speaking) cheap. For instance, as Wilder observes, our aircraft carriers are so expensive and so limited in number that we cannot afford to lose any--and so we have to keep them well away from where they might be struck by an enemy missile or drone.  Read the whole thing.

Super Girl Bombs At Box Office

So I watched Citizen Vigilante this past weekend. I was mildly disappointed, probably because I was expecting something more like Nobody, The Punisher, or Death Wish, or perhaps something more focused on migrant crime. The film spent as much time on three delinquents that refused to pay for bus tickets and, later, were beating up a teenage boy in a park, as it did on the Muslim "youths" which gang raped a girl (probably based on this incident from Germany, but could have been describing dozens of other such incidents across Europe and the UK, and which still continue to happen). The film also suffered from a disjointed time line. And for goodness sake, the main character acted like he wanted to be caught: no gloves, no attempt to disguise his features, and constantly carrying an operating cell phone. 

    But my point is not to review Citizen Vigilante but to point out that the film--which purportedly only had a budget of between $5 million and $9 million had grossed more than $67 million some 5 days ago and has topped Amazon's charts for purchased movies since its release on Amazon Prime--is performing better than Supergirl of which the Daily Mail reports: "Supergirl bombs at the box office: Milly Alcock's 'surly' superhero fails to entice viewers with a flop opening weekend after lacklustre reviews." That article indicates that Supergirl's production costs were $170 million or more (and that does not include advertising costs) and opened with $38 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. It added $30 million in overseas markets. It is pretty obvious which movie will provide its investors a greater return on investment (ROI). Using the high end budget of $9 million and only considering the $67 million that it had raked in as of a week ago, Citizen Vigilante had a ROI of 7.44. In order for Supergirl to provide the same ROI--just using the production budget and ignoring marketing costs--it would need to gross $1.27 billion. 

    I don't know why Supergirl did so poorly as I haven't seen it. But I would guess that it failed like so many other big budget superhero films of late: it was written and/or directed by people with essentially no experience writing or directing (and absolutely no experience in the genre) who were picked because of DEI or some other reason having nothing to do with merit; and who provided a crappy story with unlikable characters rather than heroes. 

    Whatever you might think of Sanders in Citizen Vigilante, he was a type of hero. On the other hand, Supergirl, based on what I've read and heard, was just another self-obsessed, immature girl boss. 

Gun & Prepping News #87

 Some links that may be of interest :

• "The Mount"--The Tactical Wire.  An excerpt:

    In wing shooting, a critical aspect is the mount – bringing the comb of the stock to the cheek under the dominant eye, bringing the gun to your eye line, not ducking your head to see the bead.

    In riflery, when crossing a plain in search of small varmints for example, the technique is largely the same -- as it is in combat. Bring the rifle to your eye, don’t duck down to the rifle.

    When shooting a handgun, according to an aged document from the American Pistol Institute (now known as Gunsite Academy), the plan for the 250 – Defensive Pistol included students beginning range experience with the mount.

    As there are less points of contact with the handgun than long guns, you could argue the mount is more critical. It’s certainly critical when learning the gun. 

    Some will decry this beginning as “range world,” alleging that one can never do this operationally. Is there something to this? It seems a bit like using the sights. Walt Rauch once told me that the sights on a handgun are like the training wheels on a child’s first bicycle; once you learn the mount through extensive practice, the sights confirm your hold.  

• "Overrated & Unneeded: Back-Up Iron Sights"--Recoil Magazine. Despite the click bait title, the author notes that if your handgun's red dot sight becomes occluded for some reason, your front iron sight will not be visible either. He discusses three alternative methods of sighting:

•  Guillotine/Shoulder Squaring

First popularized with the Trijicon RMR due to the convex top glass, the guillotine is simply placing the top edge of your MRDS at the base of the target’s neck, like you’re chopping the head off a French noble. Similarly, you can align the edges of the optical body with the shoulders and press.

• Owl Horns/Crowning

This method simply lines up the top of the optical window with the top of the target’s head. With an RMR this may look like horns on the head, and with a rounded window you’ll give them some new headgear — right before you turn their face inside out.

• Meat-In-Window

Sealed sights work exceptionally well with this method because they have both front and rear windows to line up (sound familiar?). Look for misalignment between your pistol and target by observing shadows in the window itself. The longer the optical body, the more accurate this method will be.

He has other advice, so read the whole thing. 

• "Behind the Bullet: The .500-416 Nitro Express"--American Hunter. 

    Unlike the American system of naming a cartridge derived from an earlier design—the .25-06 Remington, 7mm-08 Remington and .338-06 A-Square come quickly to mind—where the new bullet diameter comes before the parent cartridge, the British method uses the parent cartridge name before the new bullet diameter. The .450/400 NE is the .450 Nitro Express necked down to hold .400-inch (actually .411-inch) diameter bullets; the .500/465 NE used by Teddy Roosevelt is the .500 Nitro Express cartridge necked down to hold .465-inch-diameter bullets; and so on and so forth. Kreighoff mated the case of the .500 Nitro Express with the abundant bullets of the .416 Rigby, resulting in the .500/416 Nitro Express, a well-balanced cartridge which makes a sound choice for dangerous game. 

     Looking at the ballistics of the .500/416 NE, you might recognize the formula: a 400-grain .416-inch-diameter bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2,300 to 2,350 fps, generating 4,700 to 4,900 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle. These figures are common to the .416 Rigby, .416 Remington Magnum and .416 Ruger, and are certainly more than adequate for any and all game species on earth. A 400-grain bullet of this nominal diameter possesses a Sectional Density figure of .330; anything above .300 is considered perfectly acceptable to deliver the penetration needed for taking thick-skinned dangerous game, and modern premium bullets are even more effective in the field. In fact, for the visiting sportsman using the services of a Professional Hunter, this formula is just about as perfect as you could ask for, and just might represent the quintessential balance of striking power and ease of shooting, especially in a double rifle which has a little more weight to it.

• "WSM Legionary 22: Lightweight .22 LR Can Under $200"--The Firearm Blog.  An excerpt:

    The suppressor weighs 3.5 ounces with a 1-inch diameter, keeping it from upsetting the balance of lightweight rimfire rifles and pistols. The body is 6061-T6 aluminum with a Type III hardcoat anodized black finish. Thread pitch is 1/2x28, which covers the vast majority of threaded .22 LR barrels on the market. I have a few .22LRs, and they’re all threaded in this pitch.

    On the performance side, WSM claims the Legionary 22 reduces sound levels to 114.10 dB on .22 LR, which works out to roughly 27 dB of noise reduction compared to unsuppressed fire. That should put it in a competitive territory for aluminum rimfire suppressors in this price range. 22s are one of the few rounds I dare to shoot suppressed without hearing protection, apart from the odd sub-9mm here and now.

• "Hunting with Air: Getting Started"--American Hunter. The author notes:

Here in Idaho, you can use PCP air rifles to hunt upland game, small game, big game and furbearers. Different caliber restrictions apply depending on the animal you’re pursuing. For example, projectiles must be at least .35 caliber for deer, pronghorn, wolf and black bear, and at least .45 caliber for elk, moose and sheep. The bottom line, whether it’s varmints, game animals or furbearers, it’s legal to pursue with an air rifle here in Idaho.

• "Myth Of M1 Carbine Penetration Failures in Korea"--Scattered Shots.  There had been persistent reports from some troops in the Korean War that the M1 Carbine was unable to penetrate the heavy winter clothing worn by Chinese troops. This assertion always seemed strange to me because nothing comparable was reported in WWII of which I'm aware. The author of this piece decided to test the story. He writes:

    Being August, I could not manage sub freezing temps, but I did set up a cardboard target behind a very thick pad that I added extra clothing by stuffing it inside to make it even thicker.  I set up from 200 yards away and fired.

    The military FMJ round had no problem punching through the thick clothing and padding just as I knew it would.

    Even from 200 yards the carbine and its ammo said by “experts” to be puny. not only went through the padding with ease, it zipped through the wood and damaged it more than I expected.  But it was not done yet.

    It traveled another 10 yards and tore into the dry hard packed dirt and rocks behind   several inches deep with little deformation to the short stubby 110 ball rounds.      

Others have debunked this as well:

• "Debunking M1 Carbine Myths: What the Record Actually Shows"--Keep Shooting. 
• "The Box O' Truth #36 - Frozen Clothing And The Box O' Truth"--The Box Of Truth. 
• VIDEO: "Testing The M1 Carbine Myth That Won't Go Away: Can it Penetrate Winter Clothing at 100 Yards?"--Battlefield Curator.  

• "Review: Jim Green African Ranger barefoot boots"--Survival Common Sense.  

Barefoot boots have become a “thing.” The concept is that barefoot shoes/boots allow the foot to react to the ground as it would if the walker was walking barefoot. This strengthens muscles in the feet, bare foot proponents claim, which may have become weakened because of years of  wearing shoes. Going barefoot allows the legs and spine to align naturally, proponents further claim, reducing or eliminating back aches, joint issues and other posture-related problems.

• "How to Choose a Ferro Rod That Won’t Let You Down"--Survival Common Sense. The author recommends:

    A lot of people focus on rod length first, but diameter is often the more important detail.

    A thin ferro rod may still work, especially for occasional use, but thinner rods usually have less surface area and can wear down faster. They can also feel less forgiving when your technique is off. If your angle is not perfect, or if your scraper is not ideal, a small rod can make the whole process feel more difficult than it needs to be.

    A thicker rod generally gives a little more margin for error. It often feels easier to control, easier to scrape, and better suited for repeated use. That does not mean bigger is always better, but it does mean that ultra-small rods are often best treated as compact backup tools rather than primary fire starters.

    If you are building a main fire kit, choose a rod size that gives you confidence, not just portability.

• "Free Survival eBooks: Downloadable Straight from Amazon"--More Than Just Surviving. This isn't a list of specific titles--these change constantly--but instead includes searches for different categories of books by price (lowest to highest). 
• "Mother Nature’s Best Home Remedies"--Homesteading.  Some medicinal plants and how to use them. 
• "Older buildings and substandard construction left Venezuela vulnerable to earthquakes"--Associated Press. From the lede: "Older buildings, substandard construction and geography left many neighborhoods in Venezuela vulnerable to strong earthquakes like the ones that struck the country this week." Also:

    David Cocke, a structural engineer in California and former president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, said that a combination of soft soils, tall towers and older concrete structures contributed to the widespread damage, particularly when buildings pancaked, or collapsed floor-by-floor.

    “They just don’t have the more modern reinforcing steel connections that we put in those kinds of buildings today,” said Cocke.

    Since the 1970s, engineers have known that concrete buildings are particularly susceptible to earthquakes and seek to reinforce new construction with steel. While many rich nations have forced property owners to retrofit or tear down dangerous buildings, many poorer or middle income countries have lagged in enforcing upgrades as they battled more immediate woes.

• "Astronomers: We might be experiencing a shower of comets from the distant Oort cloud due to a close pass of another star 2.5 million years ago"--Behind The Black. 

HD 7977 is a still nearby Sun-like star in the constellation Cassiopeia whose close passage was discovered by the Gaia mission. Approximately 2.5 million years ago, the orbits of the Sun and HD 7977 brought the two stars close together, but exactly how close is still an open question. Gaia data suggest they passed within 4000-25000 astronomical units of one another. Now, Kaib and Raymond have shown that the orbits of long-period comets suggest HD 7977 came within 6000-10000 AU of our Sun, setting off a major shower of new comets into the inner solar system.

RPG Saturday: Space: 1889

 

Space: 1889 was a Victorian Era era role playing game released by Game Designers Workshop (GDW) in 1989. It did not see the commercial success that GDW wanted and was quickly cancelled by GDW in 1990. This is somewhat amazing to me, as interest in the game has held on with subsequent versions (same setting but different game mechanics) being published by several companies over the intervening years. 

    The game is an amalgam of the science fiction of Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, and Edger Rice Burroughs, combining the fantastic elements of their stories with the scientific theories of that day and age, giving an early steam punk vibe. It reflects an alternate history of the Victorian Era where Mars and Venus are habitable and interplanetary travel is possible. The result is the colonial revelry of the Great Powers extending to include the inner planets of our solar system. 

    The basic background of the game is informed by certain theories of the period: that Mars was a world slowly dying from lack of water, crisscrossed by canals; that Venus was a hothouse world covered with thick jungles, swamps, and oceans much like a primordial Earth, hidden under a permanent haze of clouds; and that space was filled with the Ether--the medium which transmitted light waves and gravity. 

     The alternate history used by the game begins with Thomas Edison inventing an Ether propeller that can move a craft through space. However, the propeller will not work until a craft is lifted to altitude of 24,000 feet on Earth. Once a working device was developed, Edison and a Scottish adventurer named Jack Armstrong set off for Mars in 1870. The initial lift was provided by a hydrogen balloon after which the Ether propeller took them to Mars where they made first contact with the Martian inhabitants. With their return to Earth, the race to colonize Mars and the other inner planets took off. Because the power for the Ether propeller comes from solar boilers, Ether ships are limited to the inner solar system, so the outer planets remain unexplored.

    While Zeppelins and dirigibles are used for airships, one of the most valuable exports from Mars is liftwood--a naturally occurring tree wood that when correctly harvested and shaped has antigravity powers. By a system of louvers made of lift wood, a ship can control its lift and maneuver above a planetary surface. So the best airships use lift wood. 

    There is other "mad scientist" type technology that you can incorporate into your game--lightening cannons, freeze rays, and mechanical men, for instance--but other than the Ether propeller and other technology necessary for space travel, most of the other technology in the game is either technology that existed or extensions of the same that could have been possible if the right inventor (and investors) had come along. 

One of the three main types of Martians

     The game system was actually quite simple. Characters were primarily defined by six attributes: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Intellect, Charisma, and Social Level, with scores ranging between 1 and 6. Unlike some other games that incorporate some version of social level as an attribute, it makes a real difference in this game as it limits which careers are open to a character and also is used to determine their wealth--basically the amount of money and other resources available to the character. 

    But this is also a skill based game system. Characters can gain skills in three ways: default skills which are associated with certain attributes, with the character receiving one for each of the attributes (plus "throwing"); skills awarded by virtue of the character's career; and skills "purchased" by use of skill points or experience points. 

 

    There are two basic game mechanics in the game. In one method, the player rolls a number of 6-sided dice equal to the score of the attribute or skill being used and compares it against a target number based on the difficulty of whatever the character is doing. For instance, if a character was trying to force open a door and had a Strength of a 4, the player would roll four dice and add up the total. If it was equal to or greater than the target number--say, 12 because the task was "difficult"--then the character would succeed in forcing the door. However, for quicker play for things of a "standard" difficulty, the player would roll a single die, and if the result was equal to or less than the appropriate attribute or skill level, the character would succeed in what they are doing.

    Combat has special rules. In Melee combat, each weapon has a number of hit dice that are rolled to see if the target is struck, which number may go up or down depending on certain modifiers. The person controlling the character being attacked also rolls a number of dice to block or parry blow. Each successful blocking die cancels out a successful attacking die. If the number of successful blocking dice exceeds the number of successful attack dice, not only has the attack been stopped, but the extra die or dice can be used for an immediate attack (e.g., a parry and riposte with sword). This seems complex and slow, but I believe the intent was to try and capture the feeling of two opponents trading blows. 

    Missile attacks (e.g., shooting a rifle, throwing a spear) are resolved similar to the basic game mechanic, but with modifiers to reflect different situations or the distance to a target. 

    And there are special rules for mixing both melee and missile attacks (e.g., Martians armed with spears attacking a British officer armed with a revolver). And the game has fairly detailed rules on fights between airships, fighting animals, using heavy weapons or explosives, and so on.

    If you want a more detailed explanation of the rules, see the video at the bottom of this post. 

    But beyond the rules is the setting of the game. There is a lengthy chapter just describing the Victorian Age, space travel (including rules on creating Ether ships), different types of equipment and weapons, inventing new devices, and, of course, the descriptions of the different bodies that the characters could travel to: the Earth's Moon (including a sample adventure), Venus, and, of course, Mars.

    I have to admit that I haven't really played this game much. It was published during a period when I was living overseas. Sometime after I returned, a friend of mine had bought it and, looking through it, I was intrigued. But I think we only played through one adventure ... and I'm not sure we even finished that adventure. This friend like buying a game, playing one or two adventures and then, seemingly bored, would move on to something else. And that seemed to be the case here. 

    But the setting intrigued me, so when I came across a copy of the game a couple years back, I picked it up. Later I stumbled across a copy of the Referee Screen which I picked up as well. In addition to the actual screen, it also included a booklet with some additional or expanded rules. 

    I still haven't put together an adventure--time and other commitments--but as I look through it again while writing this, I sure want to give it a try. 

    There were a surprising number of supplements and adventures published for Space: 1889 including rules for a miniatures war game. A computer game was even released. The rule book, supplements and adventures are available as PDFs on Drive-Thru RPG.  

    Interestingly, someone even produced a full length fan film based on the game setting (see the video at the very bottom of the post).  

 VIDEO: "Rules Breakdown: Space 1889"
RPGGamer (9 min.)

 

VIDEO: "Space 1189 - The Secret of Phobos Full Movie"
Orkenspalter TV (2 hrs 33 min.)

Vox Day: Citizen Vigilante And Why It's Too Late For A Political Solution

Vox Day discusses Citizen Vigilante and the political class' reaction in his piece "It’s Too Late Now." He notes some comments from some unnamed individual who found the movie disturbing because they "worry that unhinged members of our society might try to copy the main character," and urges that society can vote it's way out of this problem. Day responds:

No, we can’t. That’s the problem. There isn’t a better way any more, there isn’t even a different way, because the very forces that have brought the West to this juncture have relentlessly prevented the people of the West from having any voice in their own invasion and subjugation. Popular approval for this program of legal, government-assisted invasion was never, ever, sought. Every attempt to stop it through political means was thwarted in an illegitimate manner by the system. Mass immigration, political refugees, and migration have ALWAYS been very politically unpopular. No one ever voted for open borders. No one in Minneapolis ever asked to be invaded by Somalis. Every time a European country voted against its own submission to the EU, people were paid off and it was forced to vote again until it voted “the right way”.   

He discusses the morality and necessity, concluding: "Every nation, every people, have the immutable right to cast out the foreigners from their midst if that is their will. And every nation, every people, have a moral duty to do so when the foreigners are preying upon their women and their children."

    There seems to be a certain inevitability to this. It is reminiscent to the build up to World War I. You can go back and read books in the decades leading to World War I and it seemed an accepted fact that there would be a war with Germany. Here, the political class had to know that mass immigration would, over time, encounter greater and greater push back, yet they continued. The question is why did they continue.

    In some respect, I can understand that because the welfare state Ponzi scheme is collapsing along with collapsing birth rates, these countries need to import more warm bodies to pay into the system. But if that was the primary concern, there would have been some mechanism to screen who was coming in to ensure it was someone who would be productive. But the authorities didn't, which makes me believe there is more to it--that it really is the product of a hatred and loathing of their own peoples. 

    If there is nothing else to come out of this film, it will shift the Overton Window. I've noticed people posting memes essentially pointing out that remigration is the moderate position. That may, in fact, become the popular position.  

Meme Of The Day: Did It Though?

 

VIDEO: .22 Punch Out Of A Snub Nosed Revolver

This video compares the Federal Punch in .22 LR against a Federal Personal Defense in .38 Special +P, both out of snub nosed revolvers. Shots were initially taken into clear ballistic gel and then followed up with a heavy clothing barrier and a fiber board insert to simulate ribs. Surprisingly, the .22 Punch penetrated around 14"--just shy of the penetration depth of the .38 Special. This isn't an argument that the .22 will cause as much damage as the .38, but that the .22 Punch has much better penetration than other .22 LR out of a snub nosed revolver, and will reach the recommended FBI penetration depth against those barriers.  

 VIDEO: "Is a .22 LR Snub Nose Revolver Viable for Self Defense? This Ammo is a Game Changer! - Federal Punch" - Gun Sam Revolver Ballistics (17 min.)

VIDEO: Backcountry Splinting

This video goes over wilderness treatment of a suspected fracture, stating with removing of a boot or other clothing that might cause injury as the limb swells, and then demonstrates the shaping and securing of a SAM splint. They used a dark colored splint, but my thought with emergency equipment is to have it in bright colors to make it easier for rescuers to spot you. 

VIDEO: "Splinting in the Wilderness (Survival Doctors & PrepMedic)"
PrepMedic (12 min.)

Insurrection: NY Mayor Defies Supreme Court

The New York Post reports: "Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to never accept the US Supreme Court’s ruling allowing President Trump’s administration to strip deportation protection for Haitian and Syrian migrants." 

Postal Service Won't Deliver Mailed Ballots In Corrupt States

From Time Magazine: "Postal Service Plans Not to Deliver Mail Ballots to States Unless They Hand Over Voter Data." 

    ... the Postal Service’s proposed rule said that agency employees would verify the eligibility of mail-in ballots by checking them against lists of voters that states would share with the federal government. The proposal, though, said that Postal Service staffers “would not verify whether individuals should or should not be included on a State’s Mail-In and Absentee Participation List,” adding that “states will retain full control over the content of that list.”

    At a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Steiner confirmed that the proposal would mean that the Postal Service wouldn’t deliver mail-in ballots if a state didn’t provide this list of voters who have requested absentee or mail-in ballots. 

Democrats are upset even though it was their corrupt practices that necessitated this new rule.   

Meme Of The Day: Here's The Thing, Snoopy...

 

Weekend Reading #62

Some longer and more involved reading for the weekend:

• Active Response Training's Weekend Knowledge Dump for this week. A few of the links that caught my attention in particular:
• The Spectator Australia has a piece on crime in Australia, including this bit: "When we compare these broader estimates, Australia’s rape and sexual assault rate is roughly three times higher than that of the United States. Australia’s assault rate is about twice as high, and its burglary rate is about 2.5 times higher. Robbery is the only category where the two countries report similar rates."
• Gat Daily has some tips on body language that will communicate that you are not a soft target to a criminal, such as "You should attempt to walk confidently, at a purposeful pace. Your arms should swing naturally and utilize full-body movement."
• Jerking the Trigger has a simple knife hack: using a static cord to hold the knife, allowing it to be completely carried completely concealed rather than wearing it on a belt.
• Gun Digest has some information on the legality of brandishing or displaying a firearm.
• For those that shoot revolvers in competition, Caleb Giddings has an article on determining if your .38 Special loads meet the necessary power factor.
• Urban Combatives has a video on using a water bottle in a sling bag as an improvised weapon.
• Tactical Wisdom discusses what it terms the three blade rule: that you should always have available to you a pocket folding-knife, a fixed-blade knife, and a multi-tool. The author contends that these three knives will allow you to solve most problems requiring blades and other tools. Greg, commenting on this article, also discusses why he does not carry a dedicated self-defense knife.
• Finally, an article on the dangers of bullet setback, which is often due to the constant unloading and loading of your duty or concealed carry weapon with the same bullet always being the one chambered. Each time you do that, the bullet is getting force applied and pushed slightly into the case. I also commonly see it with misfeeds, which can push a bullet quite far back into the case. The danger is that as the bullet is seated deeper, the gas pressure upon firing increases: "It’s estimated that 0.10 inch of bullet setback in the .40 Smith & Wesson can cause pressures to double."

• "CIA Drug Pilot Claims to Have Flown JFK Assassins Into Dallas"--Covert Action Magazine.  The article begins by noting:

    In a February 1985 episode of the hit NBC television series Miami Vice, Eagles singer Glenn Frey played a swashbuckling CIA pilot, Jimmy Cole, who flies ace detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rafael Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) to Colombia to conduct a drug deal.

    Crockett and Tubbs had been recruited by the DEA to work undercover as drug smugglers to help bust cartel operatives. 

    Frey’s character was loosely modeled after Robert “Tosh” Plumlee, a CIA pilot whose exploits over a 40-year career are detailed in a new memoir, Deep Cover, Shallow Graves, with Ralph Pezzullo.

    Contrary to the depiction on Miami Vice, Plumlee’s memoir shows that the CIA often worked hand-in-glove with organized crime and was the one at times smuggling drugs into the U.S.

    Plumlee claims that, on the morning John F. Kennedy was killed, he flew Johnny Roselli, a CIA-Mafia liaison, and other members of the assassination team into Dallas.     

The article traces Plumlee's history from 1957, when he was helping run guns to Fidel Castro, to the 1980s when he was flying guns to the Contra rebels and bringing back drugs. The article also notes:

    Declassified FBI and CIA files from the 1990s, and as recently as 2023, confirm Plumlee’s role as a pilot with ties to several federal agencies, sometimes under the pseudonym of William H. “Buck” Pearson. Plumlee also testified multiple times under oath before congressional committees, including the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the late 1970s and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1990-1991).

    This testimony, Russell says, much of it originally classified as top secret, reveals not only Plumlee’s proximity to the CIA’s JM/WAVE station in Miami in the early 1960s but his involvement in clandestine aviation activities during the 1980s “drug war.”

    Released documents in 2023 and 2025 provide further strong evidence supporting Plumlee’s having operated as a deep cover “asset,” challenging the FBI’s characterization of him as an “unreliable chronic complainant” who “gave confusing, illogical” accounts concerning the abort mission in Dallas. Senator Hart stated publicly that Plumlee’s information about the Kennedy assassination and CIA-mob connections was significant enough that he sought to follow up on it, only to be stymied by the powers that be. 

• "'Kill Your Parents' at the Obama Presidential Center"--Daniel Greenfield. At the recent opening of Obama's Presidential Library, the peasants "were forced to squat in camp chairs on the dying grass of what remained of a once beloved neighborhood park, burning in the hot sun, while their betters, politicians and celebrities, watched the spectacle up close."

    Media reporting spent a good deal of time spotting celebrities in the VIP section. There was a sprightly Tom Hanks in sunglasses, there was Oprah, on her fortieth diet, and girlfriend Gayle King, and LA Mayor Karen Bass who had to return home after Los Angeles burned again which seems to happen every time she leaves town.

    And then again there were the people who actually mattered, who had made Obama and the era of radicalism he brought into national politics, happen.

    “Dig it!” the old woman in the third row of the Obama Presidential Center, had once gloated over the brutal murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson Family. “First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim’s stomach! Wild!”

    “Kill all the rich people,” the old man wearing the Communist ‘red star’ had defined his radical movement. “Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, Kill your parents.”

    Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, the former terrorist leaders of the Weathermen and the Chicago power couple who spotted Obama and moved him up the political ladder getting third row seats to the opening of the Obama Presidential Center spoke more eloquently about what Obama represented than any of the hollow political speeches and media press releases.

• "Postmodern Marriage" by C. Bradley Thompson. An excerpt:

    We live in a postmodern age that seeks to change or destroy the core principles and institutions that are at the foundation not just of the West but of all civilizations. Under the long shadow cast by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Herbert Marcuse, we live in a time of nihilistic totalitarianism (nihilism is the means and totalitarianism is the end) that has as its direct goal the dismantling of those ways of living grounded in metaphysical reality.

    Let’s begin by putting our concerns in a broader context. Those who seek to destroy marriage, do so in the name of an ideological passion.

    When early twentieth-century Marxists realized that there would never be a proletarian revolution of oppressed workers because the working class was the greatest conservator of the bourgeois way of life, they recalibrated their strategy and decided that the values most important to the working class would have to be destroyed first and foremost. This led the twentieth-century Left on its “long march through the institutions” to extinguish those moral values and institutions that were suppressing and holding back the Marxist-Leninist revolution foretold by the laws of dialectical materialism. That’s when the Left discovered Nietzsche and Freud and began to wheedle away at the soul of Western man.

    After the Left captured and transformed the universities, schools, media, Hollywood, and various professional associations, etc., they went for civilization’s jugular. The single greatest scalp won by the Left in the last twenty years has been their corruption and transformation of the institution of marriage. The postmodern Left is now giggling as their minions have stripped marriage of its necessary component parts and left it corpse dangling for all to see and mock. (Apologies for mixing my metaphors!)

He goes on to describe post-modern marriage, which is defined more by what it is not than what it is. And because it is nothing concrete, it can therefore be anything. Or as the author puts it:

Ultimately, the postmodern definition of marriage is open-ended and therefore unintelligible. It has no objective referents other than whims and feelings; in fact, it represents an attempt to rewrite reality. But a concept that means everything means nothing. Ultimately, the argument for same-sex marriage is a case of ideological wish-fulfillment. 

Read the whole thing.