VIDEO: The Era Of Left Wing Violence

One of the ways that shows the power leftists have had over the government and main stream media is how attention on left wing terrorism has been minimized even though the vast majority of terrorism in the U.S. is carried out by leftists. Tellingly, some of the worst leftist terrorists were let off with little or no prison time, and given professorships at elite universities. The Trump Administration appears to be serious about cracking down on left-wing groups, but I think we will only see left-wing violence increase. 

One of the reasons I think so is that the Communists are flexing their political muscle. For instance, the New York Post reports that "Anti-Israel, Gen Z socialist who ousted 15-term Colorado incumbent calls for ‘more immigrants into office’." And what does DSA member, Ethiopian-born Ph.D student Melat Kiros want with more immigrants? 

    Kiros then called for more migrants to run for public office to ensure a shift in American foreign policy.

    “There’s a certain reckoning that we are going to have with the global world order as it exists today and the way that it fundamentally will have to shift going forward,” she said.

    “The responsibility that we have as Americans, the recognition that is going to be required of us, of the exploitative and extractive nature that we play on the global scale and the global stage is only going to be challenged if we are getting represented by people who understand that on a fundamental level.

    “And that means getting more immigrants into office. That means getting more people who have heritage in the global south into office because that’s where those decisions are made specifically.”

In other words, like all foreign invaders have done throughout history, she and her colleagues plan on pillaging the United States except, this time, using our political system and laws against us, in order to transfer wealth from Americans to the third world (with her and her cronies taking their cut, of course, because that is how things work where they come from).  

 VIDEO: "The Era of Left-Wing Violence is OVER"
America Uncovered (15 min.)

VIDEO: Testing Swords On Pig Carcass

A test of thrusting and cutting strikes against a pig carcass with several different sword styles including European long sword, rapier, and a Japanese tachi. As would be expected, the European swords excelled at thrusting attacks and the tachi excelled at cutting, but the European swords (other than the rapier, of course) did very well at the cutting as well. 

 VIDEO: "Medieval swords are WAY MORE DEADLY than you think - TESTED"
Shadiversity (28 min.)

VIDEO: GWOT Weapons And Gear That Were Failures

An interesting look at some of the weapons and gear that were rejected or useless by someone who actually had a hand on getting a couple of the items dropped from adoption or use:

• The Mark 23 Mod Zero pistol by HK (intended to be a primary CGQ weapon, it was too big for a handgun and its purpose was better fulfilled by the adoption of the M4A1);
• The SCAR Light in 5.56 (a weak lockup of the folding stock and a reciprocating charging handle system that permitted misfeads that would require the weapon being disassembled to clear, and offered no advantages over the M4--however the host notes that these problems have been fixed in the civilian version, and the SCAR Heavy in .308 was very popular);
• The XM25 Punisher 25mm grenade launcher (very little application in Afghanistan, with the host noting that the whole premise is now obsolete with the advent of small, explosive laden drones);
• The Spear-Bulk body armor system (poor quality, stupidly used vertical MOLLE);
• The Uniform Camouflage Pattern or UCP (actually made troops highly visible because the pattern didn't match any sort of terrain in which the troops operated);
• The improved outer tactical vest or IOTV (although it offered high level of protection, it was too heavy and bulky slowing down the troops). 

VIDEO: "Top 5 GWOT gun and gear fails: Barely used, not tested properly, or completely worthless."
Modern Tactical Shooting (28 min)

3rd Circuit Strikes Down N.J. Assaut Weapon & Mag. Ban

Ammoland reports: "Major 2A Victory: Third Circuit Strikes Down New Jersey’s AR-15 & Magazine Bans." From the article:

Sitting en banc [i.e., the whole court rather than a three judge panel as normal], the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled July 17 in Cheeseman v. Davenport, formerly Cheeseman v. Platkin, that New Jersey’s so-called “assault firearm” ban violates the Second Amendment as applied to every semiautomatic rifle covered by the law. The court also struck down the state’s prohibition on magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds.

 No word on whether New Jersey will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

    The article also explains the importance of this decision to other "assault weapon" ban cases that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear:

    The national importance of this ruling is difficult to overstate. Other federal appellate courts have upheld semiautomatic-rifle or magazine bans by treating commonly owned rifles as military weapons, minimizing lawful possession, or stretching late historical regulations beyond recognition.

    Judge Cheryl Ann Krause’s dissent acknowledged exactly what the majority accomplished. She complained that the ruling makes the Third Circuit “the only Court of Appeals in the Nation to afford constitutional protection to AR-15s and LCMs.”

    That admission identifies the real story. There is now a clean federal appellate split over whether the government may ban AR-15-style rifles and commonly owned magazines.

    The Supreme Court has already agreed to hear the consolidated Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins cases, which ask whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to possess AR-15-platform and similar semiautomatic rifles. The Third Circuit has now given the justices a detailed roadmap grounded in Heller, Bruen, Rahimi, Hemani, and Wolford.

The article warns against immediately treating the laws as void: "New Jersey gun owners should not treat the publication of the opinion as an immediate green light to disregard existing statutes. The appellate mandate, further district-court proceedings, and any request by the state for a stay must still be watched closely."

Over 10% Of Medicaid Funding Goes To Fraud

John Hinderaker, writing at Power Line Blog, asks "Fraud: More Than We Can Imagine?" He notes that the federal government spends $900 billion on Medicare each year, but Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. asserts that $100 billion is lost to fraud each year. 

The theft is incredibly brazen. And I suspect Kennedy’s $100 billion estimate may be low. In Minnesota, the authorities have estimated that at least one-half of the total spending on 14 Medicaid programs went to fraud. While our state government is uniquely incompetent, it may well be that other states approach those numbers. The fraud is probably less with regard to bills from doctors, clinics and hospitals, but there too, it is substantial, usually in the form of upcoding.    

But this is the key point, I believe:

At some point, one begins to wonder whether a central purpose of our government is to fund crime. If the purpose of an institution is what it does, supporting and encouraging criminals would seem to be an important aim of our government, both federal and state.    

Related:

• "Alturas Indian Rancheria members accuse leaders of misusing millions in federal and state funds"--New York Post. This is a "tribe" of only 5 members, which "has received more than $8 million in federal funding since 2013, according to USAspending.gov, the federal government’s spending database"; plus the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund Distribution, "which takes money from the bigger tribes and distributes a percentage to the smaller ones, has given the Alturas Indian Rancheria more than $26 million since 2005." And that is not all: "Factor in a gas station, casino, concrete company, moving truck company and cigarette plant that all operate as tribal [i.e., tax free] entities, and Alturas Indian Rancheria allegedly brings in millions every month, according to two members who are sounding the alarm."

Enjoy Your Street Food

From the New York Post: "Lake Hollywood Park rocked by wave of truly disgusting acts — before food is served." The Park apparently is below the famous "Hollywood" sign. But it lacks restrooms and, therefore, photographs show fruit vendors use the bushes to defecate and urinate before serving food.

The images were provided by outraged residents who say they have spent years documenting vendors relieving themselves in the park, dumping wastewater into the street and leaving behind piles of trash while city officials have repeatedly failed to stop the growing operation.

Probably because the city officials didn't want to be racist. A local resident told the Post:

“They go to the bathroom in the bushes … then they come back. Mind you, there’s no hand washing because there’s no bathroom. They’re urinating and defecating in a park space, and then they come back and cut fruit.” 

And like most illegal activities in blue states, it is part of a larger operation:

    Cobb also told The Post she believes many of the fruit carts are part of a larger operation rather than individual vendors.

    She said trucks regularly drop off multiple carts each morning and return to collect them at night. She says she suspects some workers may be exploited.

     “I think a lot of these people are trafficked to do the jobs. It’s not right.”

Houthis Declare Naval Blockade On Saudi Arabia

From the New York Post: "Yemen’s Houthis declare naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, widening threat to global oil supplies." The Houthis' statement "said the decision was in response to what they called 'an unjust and oppressive siege' imposed on Yemen by the Saudis," but the article notes that "Iran had pressed the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the US continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure."

The full closure of the Bab el-Mandeb strait would reduce global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most of Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region. The disruption would add to the massive cut to global oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.

FDA Still Links Cyclosporiasis Outbreak To Mexican Taylor Farms Facility

You may have read or heard that the FDA test of the Taylor Farms' lettuce was a false positive. 

    In its statement on Sunday, the FDA said a sample of lettuce supplied by the company had reported a positive cyclospora result on July 18.

    However, 'due to the complexity in detection of cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive.'

    The statement continued: 'FDA has notified Taylor Farms and continues working with the firm to ensure product implicated in this outbreak has been removed from the market. FDA and state partners continue to collect and analyze product samples.

However, the FDA has indicated that this does not clear Taylor Farms, and that they (the FDA) still believe that the outbreak was due to lettuce from the Mexican facility. 

Leftist Fire-Bombs NY ICE Office

The New York Post reports that "Armed loon sets off ‘incendiary device’ outside NYC fed HQ as terrorism task force probes anti-ICE attack." Not quite up to the number of bombings of the 1960s and '70s, but the left seems to be working toward it. The suspect has been named as Andrew Arrabaca, a veteran of the Army and National Guard. The article notes: "The nut was pulling a cart with the slogan, 'ICE off our streets' scrawled on the side, with two long guns and more fireworks, the sources said."

Gun & Preppings News #90

 Some links that may be of interest: 

• "Pistols in America Across 250 Years"--Guns & Ammo. With the quote of the day: "Free men own guns, and there’s perhaps no better symbol than a handgun to distinguish an American from another person living elsewhere in the world."
• "Reducing Violent Crime Isn’t Complicated, You Just Have to Want to Do It"--Shooting News Weekly. The author mentions the general points: "Governments must make crime riskier by increasing arrests and convictions, imposing longer prison sentences, and allowing law-abiding citizens to defend themselves." But he also points out:

Nor is it a coincidence that the record influx of illegal immigrants during the Biden administration coincided with a sharp increase in violent crime. It is equally unsurprising that crime has fallen as deportations have increased. Deportation records show that 70 percent of illegal immigrants deported during the Trump administration had either criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the United States. Even those who avoid arrest understand that any contact with law enforcement could lead to deportation, giving them a strong incentive to stay off the police’s radar and avoid committing additional crimes.

• "Holding Zero: A Case Study of Your Scope's Nemesis"--Rifleshooter Magazine. The author notes:

The inability to get a rifle sighted in can come from several sources. Your rifle could have a problem. Or it just may not like the loads you’re feeding it. It could—(shocking thought!)—even be you, the shooter, that’s inconsistent. However, scope and scope mounting-system issues are frequently the culprit, and that’s what we’re here to explore in this article. 

And:

    Good bases and rings do hold quality scopes precisely in place. Not just for a while, but as hundreds, even thousands of shots create mini earthquakes.

    However, some scopes just won’t hold zero, and some bases and rings just won’t hold tight. Usually, that’s because they’re either cheap (let’s call it what it is), or they’ve been improperly mounted. Either is extremely frustrating. Both must be resolved before the rifle can perform properly.

    What causes scopes, scope rings, or bases to come loose? There are a variety of possibilities, but the most common ones are recoil—when a scope is mounted improperly—and vibration. As in, vibration in the belly of an airplane, or the rifle case mounted to your ATV, or behind the seat of your pickup. 

• And on the topic of precision shooting: "AR-15 Precision Long Range Shooting Basics"--AR Build Junkie.  An interview of Former Army Ranger sniper team leader, Ryan Cleckner, who is also the author of Long Range Shooting Handbook. There are also links to a few videos on long range shooting. And for those interested into getting into precision shooting with an AR, Cleckner says: "With long-range ARs, I would only worry about the barrel and the trigger.  Even if you have a budget AR and you just want to upgrade some parts and you put a decent quality barrel on it and a nice trigger, you are going to be fine." He has some more advice on upgrading an AR, so be sure to read the whole thing.

• Something that may be of interest to those of you with military surplus rifles: "Barrel Harmonics: How Shooting With a Bayonet Attached Affects Accuracy"--Shooting News Weekly. The author explains:

    Any person with knowledge and experience shooting precision rifles — or just shooting rifles precisely — knows that when a shot is fired, the barrel flexes and then returns to its original state in a fraction of a second. That’s called “barrel harmonics.” There are plenty of super slo-mo videos online that demonstrate this. 

    During a precision rifle course our instructor had us deliberately take shots with our bolt-action precision rifles and then stick them through a section of chainlink fence with the barrels purposely resting on the fence to see if our point of impact changed. Spoiler alert, the impacts were off dramatically. Our ½-size steel silhouette targets were around 200 yards away if memory serves. 

He then tested the shift caused by mounting bayonets on an AR15 and an AK style rifle: specifically, a Springfield Armory SA-16 (a semi-auto clone of the M16A2) and a Century Arms BFT-556 (a 5.56mm AK 74 style rifle). With the bayonet mounted, the SA-16 went from a 0.68 inch 5-shot group at 25 meters to 2.3 inches; and the group printed about 3 inches above point of aim. The BFT-556 had a 2.36 inch group at 25 yards without the bayonet; and, according to the author, the group size showed only a 0.5 inch different with the bayonet mounted, and the group only moved 1.5 inches higher. The author concludes:

    When we do our rifle ballistics math and extrapolate how a one-inch group at 100 yards translates to 2 inches at 200, etc., a 3-inch rise in impact between 25 and 50 yards translates to 6 inches of rise at 100 and a full 12 inches at 200. Being 12 inches off at 200 yards could definitely translate to missed targets.

    To be fair, we wouldn’t likely fix bayonets if we knew we were engaging targets beyond 100 yards. The cold steel of a bayonet is intended for up close and personal work. In a close quarters battle environment like the jungle or a MOUT situation, we expect targets to easily be inside of 100 yards.

    It’s safe to say that adding bayonets to fighting rifles negatively affects accuracy in longer distance shooting. However, for CQB situations, having a chunk of lethal steel affixed to the end of your barrel wouldn’t have such a negative effect on accuracy as to preclude its use. Just be sure to take it off — or take it into account — before engaging anything at greater distances.  

• "Unbreakable? Not Quite: Common AK Failure Points"--The Firearm Blog. Not surprisingly, these include the extractor claw and spring, fire control group springs, recoil springs, firing pin issues, bolt wear, rivet problems, cracked trunnions, gas block wear, ejector wear, and corrosion. I will comment from experience that there are many nooks and crannies where water can collect in an AK which are hard to reach with a rag to absorb the water. I would recommend that when returning from the field using an air compressor and/or hair dryer to blow out the water and dry the weapon. 
• "A Reliable, Affordable AR-Style Shotgun: The Tokarev TT-12 PRO"--Shooting Wire. What caught my attention about this was the author's assertion that this shotgun was reliable. Oh, and the price: an MSRP of $399, but the author claims that the street price is running about $250. 
• "Concealed Carry Corner: Concealing On A Motorcycle"--The Firearm Blog.  An excerpt:

The big difference between carrying in a regular car and a motorcycle is the fact that you're exposed to the outside world and elements while on a motorcycle, so there aren't many places to just outright hide your handgun. Not only do you have to worry about keeping your handgun concealed, but you also have to keep in mind that moving around and leaning on your bike can cause different strain on your holster than what's typically normal for carrying concealed. When going at highway speed, it's common for shirts to ride up in the wind without a heavier vest to keep things in place. It's important to think about where your handgun is positioned and if there's a chance of it being exposed at higher speeds when on the highway. 

•  "Pocket Pistols Are Dead: Here's Why You're Wrong"--Handguns Magazine. The author notes:

As we have laid out, you have 4 extremely general categories of pistols to choose from for CCW. So, if you’re choosing one of the extremes in a pocket pistol, how is it relevant in 2026? Maybe your occupation doesn’t allow for a pistol on your waist - not necessarily in a legal sense - but potentially because you are in a trade like carpentry, plumbing, etc., where your waist already has a toolbelt taking up all of the real estate around your waist. So, you need to resort to more creative methods of carry like your pocket.

He also explains:

    The primary scenarios where a pocket pistol may be a good application for you would be formal attire, hot weather, or extenuating circumstances at your job. We have already painted the picture for your job. You might have a carpentry belt around your waist, work in an office where a hip-carried firearm could be accidentally brandished, or other instances that demand your pistol should reside in your pocket.

    Another opportunity to pocket carry is while donning a suit and tie. Professional wear is often tight-fitting and doesn’t take into account the possibility for concealed carry. So, if you force it, it can be tremendously uncomfortable as well as open the door for scaring your co-workers or friends who have delicate sensibilities.

    Finally, there are the oppressively hot times in the summer where you’re only wearing a thin T-shirt and shorts. This type of clothing gives you a cooling factor in hotter temps but doesn’t lend itself well to carrying a firearm.

• Speaking of pocket pistols: "Phlster Introduces Enigma Micro For Pocket Pistols"--The Firearm Blog.
• "Big Woods Bucks x Henry Repeating Arms Long Ranger Big Woods Carbine"--The Firearm Blog.  Henry has produced an 18.5" barrel version of their .308 Long Ranger lever action rifle intended for hunting in dense woods. It still uses a 4-round detachable box magazine. 
• Since these are a type of insurrection, I believe it is a topic to which preppers should pay attention: "The Scourge of Teen Takeovers"--City Journal.  Key point:

    Police officers, district attorneys, and sheriffs offer a different explanation for the teen takeovers: they are the consequence of a decades-long demonization of the criminal-justice system.

    Asked how the Chicago Police Department would have responded to a stampede on the Magnificent Mile before that demonization took hold, a recently retired officer with over 30 years on the force replied: “We would have cleared the streets, arrested those breaking windows, looting stores, and assaulting passersby. We would have used pepper spray, fists, and batons to restore order—all of which we did during the Bulls riots [in 1992], the Democratic National Convention in 1996, NATO, and other localized disturbances that didn’t make the news.”

    But then, he says, “the bottom fell out. Officers were cast as the enemy by eight years of Obama.” After the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, followed by those of Laquan McDonald in Chicago that same year and of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015, “we were cleaning spit off our windshields on a daily basis. We were physically attacked more during those years than at any other point in our careers.” Officers feared being sued for lawful tactics that make for bad optics.

    The cops disengaged. “We drove by the dope sellers on the corner, asked no questions of the juveniles who were clearly up to no good, and ignored the cars running stop signs and weaving through traffic.” Better just to do your eight hours and go home.

    Another retired Chicago cop recalls asking his commanders in 2010 when mobs were storming downtown: Can we make arrests? He was told: just hold the line and move them around. Even were the officers to engage, the chance that the average detained teen would face serious consequences was already low.

    In the 1990s and early 2000s, officers had a protective attitude toward business; they took responsibility for the well-being of shopkeepers and their customers, says a Chicago sergeant still on the job. “It’s different now.”

    And then, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd died while restrained by a Minneapolis officer. The country’s elites proclaimed that systemic racism had killed Floyd. Politicians and business leaders rushed to explain the ensuing firebombing of police cars and stations, the attempted murder of police officers, and the destruction of businesses as an understandable, even justifiable, reaction to police oppression.

    The post-Floyd race-riot era is largely coterminous with the Covid era: lockdowns began in late March 2020, and the riots erupted at the end of May. That overlap has allowed policing skeptics to attribute the crime spike that began in 2020 to Covid rather than to de-policing and de-prosecution. Those same skeptics now apply the argument to teen takeovers as well.

    The rest of the world again provides a useful benchmark. Other countries did not experience a comparable surge in crime beginning in 2020, just as they did not experience a wave of teen takeovers. The United States experienced both because police and prosecutors shied away further from imposing consequences on antisocial behavior.

    The juvenile-justice system was similarly emasculated in the twenty-first century, for much the same reason as the adult system: to avoid disparate impact. The Obama administration sued school districts for disparities in school-discipline rates between black students and white students. Suspensions and expulsions plummeted. Rather than being punished, insubordinate pupils were directed to “peace circles” and other forms of restorative justice.

    Outside the school bureaucracy, cities and states loosened their already-permissive rules for holding juveniles accountable for crimes. From 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected president, through 2021, the rate at which black male juveniles received final dispositions for violent offenses fell 67 percent, according to the National Center for Juvenile Justice. It is unlikely that this decline in adjudications reflected a 67 percent drop in violent crime among black juveniles, given victimization data and the reports of police officers. Instead, budding criminals were increasingly kept out of the juvenile system altogether, whether their misconduct occurred in schools or on the streets. Those who did enter the system encountered increasingly permissive rules.

VIDEO: Could The UK Stop Argentina From Invading The Falklands

I was in high school when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in the 1980s. At that time, Argentina was able to quickly take the largely undefended islands--the UK had no permanent military presence there--but the UK was able to assemble a military task force that was able to defeat Argentina at sea, achieve air superiority, and land troops who were able to recapture the islands.

The situation is different today. The British keep a small wing of fighters and some infantry on the islands, as well as an air defense system. And both countries can no longer deploy the air or navel assets they were able to in the 1980s. Thus, Mark Felton does not believe that Argentina currently is able to take the Falkland Islands; but neither could the UK send a taskforce to stop them. 

But Argentina is looking at increasing its military capabilities while the UK continues to let its military erode away. 

My take away from this video, though, was not primarily the current capabilities of the two sides, but the impoverishment of both the UK and Argentina in that they could no longer afford the militaries that they had in the 1980s. But the same holds true of most nations and their militaries. 

VIDEO: "Will Argentina Invade the Falklands? And Can Britain Stop Them?"
Mark Felton Productions (19 min.)

The National Security Threat Posed By UFOs

The UFO files released by the government demonstrate something that can circumvent our air defense systems and enter "secure" air space with ease. Moreover, because of institutional reluctance to report UFOs, Cappy warns that a foreign adversary mimicking a UFO would be ignored by air defense.  

 VIDEO: "The Pentagon’s New UFO Files Are Terrifying"
Cappy Army (23 min.)

Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Traced To Lettuce From Mexico

The New York Post reports that the Cyclosporiasis outbreak has been traced to products distributed by Taylor Farms:

    Taylor Farms, which is based in Salinas and has a facility in central Mexico, was identified as a possible source of tainted iceberg lettuce connected to the summer outbreak of cyclosporiasis, The Washington Post reported, citing two individuals with knowledge of the investigation.

    Taylor Farms, described on its website as a leading producer of salad kits, vegetable trays, cheese packs and other snack items, also supplies iceberg lettuce to Taco Bell — which investigators have linked to the diarrhea outbreak.

    A statement from California Department of Public Health noted that a federal investigation into the outbreak involves shredded iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Taylor Farms emphasized that although the lettuce was sourced from a single "independent farm" in Mexico, it is recalling all of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from the region. 

Trump's Address About Election Integrity And Implications

Being bedridden after my heart attack, I was pretty much stuck watching television, so I was able to catch most of Trump's speech yesterday evening. The speech started out like a mini-State of the Union, touting various accomplishments, before moving on to the substance and primary point: the 2020 election was hacked by foreign powers and he has the evidence to back it up. Town Hall sums up the salient points:

    The documents highlight major areas of concern. Starting in 2020, Beijing carried out the largest-ever compromise of election data. Some 220 million American voters' files were meddled with by Chinese intelligence services. China signed a data exploitation unit for this project. 

   Members of the Deep State within the IC worked to suppress and downplay the scope and impact of China’s election interference. U.S. spy agencies discovered that the voter data breach in 18 states was bought, stolen, or hacked by China. That breach was kept hidden; Trump, who was still president at the time, was not informed, nor was Congress. The line was that the 2020 election was the most secure in history. 

   CIA reported in mid-2018 that the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements opposed to Trump. In mid-2019, China’s approach was to undermine domestic confidence during the first Trump presidency. The Chinese government aimed to identify anti-Trump reporters and pay them large sums of money to produce stories that cast Trump in a negative light.

    The FBI obtained raw intelligence indicating that China’s activities included efforts to produce illegal ballots for Joe Biden. These were kept out of the presidential briefing. One analyst admitted to intentionally downplaying Chinese election activities. Another official stated she was running a shadow government to keep intelligence on China’s election interference away from the media and the White House. Numerous burn bags have been found. 

    Americans were lied to about the security of our election systems, including voting machines. They’re highly susceptible to attack. Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and non-state actors have the ability to compromise our election infrastructure. 

    Michigan police raided a Democrat GOTV organization and were so concerned they contacted the FBI in Detroit. The documents state that canvassers signed voter registration forms in other people’s names, registered nonexistent individuals, and got paid based on the number of applications they produced. The FBI believed crimes were committed, but the Biden DOJ slow-walked and suppressed the case. 

    Trump also said they’re releasing a report from the Department of Homeland Security, where they found 270,000 noncitizens are enrolled to vote in our elections. The real number is likely higher since blue states refused to turn over their voter rolls. 

 You can view the documents here.

     Just looking at the bare bone facts and accusations above, there are two main conclusions that can be taken away from this:

1. Our foreign adversaries have hacked our elections and probably altered the outcome of the 2020 election; and,
2. The intelligence community knew of this and not only did nothing, but concealed the fact from the President and the public. 

But there is more to it than that. You probably remember the 50 intelligence officials that signed the letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was fake. This shows that, in at least that one incident, the intelligence community actively intervened to influence the outcome of the election. We also know that they were trying to cover up what exactly went on based on the numerous burn bags that have been found which hadn't been destroyed. We can only assume that these represent only a small number of the total amount of documents and things earmarked for destruction. 

    But there is no reason to assume that it stopped with the intelligence community simply sitting back to let China do this. What comes up again and again, whether discussing the information released by Snowden about domestic spying, how the Russia dossier was arranged, and even the gain of function research carried out by Fauci, is that our government agencies often use cut-outs to do what they are not otherwise allowed to do. 

    For instance, the Five Eyes program is used to allow intelligence agencies to avoid laws prohibiting domestic spying by simply allowing a foreign intelligence agency to do the spying for them. Thus, if the NSA wants to spy on an American citizen, they simply have British or Canadian intelligence do the spying for them. 

    And we know that Fauci was doing gain of function research he was prohibited by law from doing by backdooring it through a Chinese biolab and award of contracts or grants to private companies. 

    My point with this is that we need to consider whether the intelligence community did not just bury foreign interference with U.S. elections, but actually solicited and/or directed that interference for their own ends. 

Weekend Reading #65

 Some lengthier reading for the weekend:

•  First up is Jon Low's most recent Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter. A few things that stuck out:
• Jon has linked to a 3-part series of articles by Matt Thornton entitled "The ABC’s of keeping our daughters safe." I liked this quote: "When it comes to the majority of problematic violence, masculinity is never the problem – a lack of masculine fathers in the home, is." His recipe for keeping his daughters safe is raising daughters that are (i) confident, (ii) assertive, and (iii) have mature intelligence. He goes on to explain:

Assertiveness requires confidence, and confidence in girls comes from a safe, stable, loving, connected, family environment. Where as sons need boundaries to keep in line, daughters need boundaries just to feel safe. Young girls who grow up without that feeling of safety, the kind of safety that a strong father maintains, are less likely to develop the trust and connection required to tell an adult when someone is trying to harm them. They become vulnerable to sexual predators and character-disordered creeps. They become more likely to be picked out as targets, and less likely to fight back. They become victims.

Note that leftism and feminism, if followed, creates women that will be victims. On that same note, Jon relates the following story (which he titles "Scared Bunny"):

     You need training because it will change your personality, your attitude, and of course, your behavior.  Especially, if you display scared bunny behavior.  

     Scared Bunny hears knocking on her door at 21:00.  What would you do?  Typically, you would not open your door.  You would ask, "Who is there?  What can I do for you?"  And go from there.  

     Scared Bunny does not answer the door.  She fears a home invasion.  So she calls the police.  As you might imagine, this leads to a horrible chain of events.  

     The neighbor was only trying to deliver mail that had been mistakenly delivered to his apartment.  The police charge the neighbor based on Scared Bunny's complaint.  So, the neighbor has to hire an attorney.  Huge expense.  The process is the punishment.  

     Scared Bunny complains to her friend (another resident of the apartment complex) and asks him to talk to the neighbor.  The friend thanks the neighbor for delivering the mail and tells the neighbor that in the future he may leave the mail on the welcome mat.  

     Scared Bunny calls the apartment manager to complain.  And runs her mouth (always a dangerous activity).  Mentioning that she had asked her friend, who is a firearms instructor to tell the neighbor not to bother her.  

     The apartment manager writes a letter, based on Scared Bunny's statements, telling the friend not to confront, intimidate, and threaten other residents.  And of course, that his lease is being terminated.  So he has to hire an attorney to handle the landlord-tenant action.  

     All of Scared Bunny's girlfriends tell her that she was right and that she behaved correctly.  Because Scared Bunny only associates with other Scared Bunnies.  

    Get training.  Don't be a Scared Bunny.  

The lesson here is to not unnecessarily interact with or help liberal women--they are crazy. 

• Another article Jon links to is: "He Had a Gun and Still Lost His Home Invasion Gunfight"
  by Jacob Paulsen. The gist of the story is that the dead victim had a gun, but not on him. He had to go find a gun in an upstairs bedroom. Although the victim got to his weapon and even exchanged fire with the attacker, he probably was shot trying to get his weapon. I've heard similar incidents, including one author describing a home defender shot in the back and killed as the defender was trying to open his gun safe to get to his weapon. Paulsen has a few recommendations:

• Carry on your body, even at home.
• Train for the attacker who doesn't flee.
• Know your cover. Stage it in advance.
• Have a plan for your family and the phone, not just the trigger.

•  Jon links to an article indicating that a judge is allowing a lawsuit to go ahead against the ATF for the death of Bryan Malinowski. Jon offers some thoughts about Malinowski's murder and the ATF. And, on a related note, Jon makes the following observation:

      This is why there is any support at all for "defund the police".  (Yes, it is crazy, but the effect has a cause.)  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5-uz39pAGVs  The process is the punishment and police (not the prosecutors, not the courts) initiate it.  This is why people are willing to kill cops to avoid arrest.  They know the result of being arrested:  loss of job, loss of children, loss of home, loss of reputation, etc.  And they are willing to take the risk because the probability of getting caught for the crime is about 50% (nation wide average, much lower in large cities).   

     Police alienate the good citizens by abusing their arrest powers.  False arrests directly cause protests and riots against police abuse of power under color of law.  

•  There is a lot more, so be sure to check it out, but I would leave it with this: Jon has links to a few videos addressing security and your cell phone, including a short video showing how Volkswagon spoofed the cell phones of the audience in a movie theater; how the FBI finds your real IP address even if using TOR or a VPN (and offering some solutions). I would also note the following article from PC Magazine: "A Hacker's Arrest Reveals Microsoft Can Track Users Via a Windows Device ID." From the article:

    The arrest of a teenage hacker has revealed that Microsoft can track a Windows PC and its online activity through a “Global Device ID" that seems to have no easy opt-out, sparking fears about potential surveillance. 

    Last week, the US announced it had extradited 19-year-old Peter Stokes from Europe for allegedly being a member of the notorious hacking group Scattered Spider. But the case stands out because Microsoft played a key role in linking Stokes to the suspected hacking crimes, according to an unsealed criminal complaint. 

    Stokes allegedly hacked an unnamed luxury jewelry retailer in May 2025 while using a VPN. The 39-page criminal complaint shows the FBI used Microsoft records to discover that his IP address was associated with a Microsoft device identifier known as Global Device ID (GDID). 

• Next up is Greg Ellifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump at his Active Response Training blog.  The first thing that caught my attention was this warning from Greg (bold added): "An industry insider informed me that both Federal and Winchester will be raising their ammunition prices six percent starting August first." Moving on to the links and articles that I found the most interesting or useful:
• An article discussing different defensive shotguns and offering some advice on selecting one. Contrary to many such articles in the past, the quality control issues with Remington has led the author to recommend against the Remington 870 unless you get an older, used model.
• An article about the possibility of brain injury due to repeated, long term exposure of overpressure from using firearms. For instance, the article notes, "Twenty (20) rounds from an M4 exceed the daily recommended maximum exposure." The primary concern is shooting inside shoot houses or indoor shooting ranges; the article notes that, for instance: "Shooting outdoors cuts those waves in half. While the use of a suppressor cuts it by 70%." Large shooting glasses or goggles can also reduce pressure peaks, as well as hanging wool blankets (or tapestries?) inside the shoot house.
• An article from the CP Journal on examining the collective mood of people in a particular business or locale and using that to gauge safety.
• An article on "How to Overcome 'Condition One' Anxiety," or the anxiety that comes from carrying a weapon with a round chambered. I think the article sort of misses the point. The anxiety comes from either (i) the person carrying the weapon lacks confidence that the weapon will not go off of its own accord; or (ii) the person carrying the weapon lacks confidence that they won't do something stupid and accidentally discharge the weapon. Certainly training plays some role in overcoming this anxiety, and a good holster is always advisable, but mostly it comes from practice whether shooting the weapon, dry firing the weapon, or actually handling and carrying the weapon around. 
• A good article on astigmatism and using red dot sites. The author has some suggestions--one being as easy as focusing on the target and not the dot--but also acknowledges that a red dot simply won't work for some people, and so you may need to try something different like a prism sight.
• And, finally, "The Scourge of Teen Takeovers" from City Journal. Forget about the bleeding heart liberal slop about disadvantaged teens, food insecurity, and so on. It is the result of policy decisions by Democrats:

    Police officers, district attorneys, and sheriffs offer a different explanation for the teen takeovers: they are the consequence of a decades-long demonization of the criminal-justice system.

    Asked how the Chicago Police Department would have responded to a stampede on the Magnificent Mile before that demonization took hold, a recently retired officer with over 30 years on the force replied: “We would have cleared the streets, arrested those breaking windows, looting stores, and assaulting passersby. We would have used pepper spray, fists, and batons to restore order—all of which we did during the Bulls riots [in 1992], the Democratic National Convention in 1996, NATO, and other localized disturbances that didn’t make the news.”

    But then, he says, “the bottom fell out. Officers were cast as the enemy by eight years of Obama.” After the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, followed by those of Laquan McDonald in Chicago that same year and of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015, “we were cleaning spit off our windshields on a daily basis. We were physically attacked more during those years than at any other point in our careers.” Officers feared being sued for lawful tactics that make for bad optics.

    The cops disengaged. “We drove by the dope sellers on the corner, asked no questions of the juveniles who were clearly up to no good, and ignored the cars running stop signs and weaving through traffic.” Better just to do your eight hours and go home.

    Another retired Chicago cop recalls asking his commanders in 2010 when mobs were storming downtown: Can we make arrests? He was told: just hold the line and move them around. Even were the officers to engage, the chance that the average detained teen would face serious consequences was already low.

    In the 1990s and early 2000s, officers had a protective attitude toward business; they took responsibility for the well-being of shopkeepers and their customers, says a Chicago sergeant still on the job. “It’s different now.”

    And then, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd died while restrained by a Minneapolis officer. The country’s elites proclaimed that systemic racism had killed Floyd. Politicians and business leaders rushed to explain the ensuing firebombing of police cars and stations, the attempted murder of police officers, and the destruction of businesses as an understandable, even justifiable, reaction to police oppression.

    The post-Floyd race-riot era is largely coterminous with the Covid era: lockdowns began in late March 2020, and the riots erupted at the end of May. That overlap has allowed policing skeptics to attribute the crime spike that began in 2020 to Covid rather than to de-policing and de-prosecution. Those same skeptics now apply the argument to teen takeovers as well.

    The rest of the world again provides a useful benchmark. Other countries did not experience a comparable surge in crime beginning in 2020, just as they did not experience a wave of teen takeovers. The United States experienced both because police and prosecutors shied away further from imposing consequences on antisocial behavior.

• Finally, check out John Wilder's recent piece: "Sam Colt Made Men Equal. A.I. Won’t Even Try." He notes that historically new developments in technology initially acted as equalizers, but eventually led to an accumulation of wealth and power in those best able to take advantage of the technology. One of his examples:

    Personal computers and the early internet followed suit.  A motivated individual could reach a global audience or start a business with almost nothing but time and ingenuity.

    Barriers collapsed.

    Then the platforms that captured attention and data became trillion-dollar businesses that could control commerce and shut off channels to those with controversial opinions.

    Technology does not care about fairness.

    It amplifies existing differences in talent, effort, discipline, and capital allocation.  It lowers some barriers and erects new ones built around mastery of the new tools themselves.

AI, he argues, will have the same results.

VIDEO: The Cyclosporiasis Outbreak

You probably have already seen numerous news stories and articles about the cyclosporiasis outbreak that is most notable for causing "explosive" diarrhea. The current focus is on it possibly spreading via leafy or uncooked vegetables. For instance, the Independent recently reported "Taco Bell now under investigation over outbreak of parasite that causes ‘explosive diarrhea,’ report says," noted that "several Taco Bell locations in Michigan last week warned customers that the restaurants were 'currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall.'" It also explains:

    Exposure to the Cyclospora parasite leads to cyclosporiasis, an infection with symptoms including “watery diarrhea” and “explosive bowel movements,” as well as fatigue, stomach cramps, bloating, nausea, vomiting and a low-grade fever. It is rarely life-threatening. Cases have spiked over the past week in several states including Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, Ohio, and New York. 

[snip]

    Cyclospora is transmitted when people consume food or water contaminated with fecal matter, according to the CDC. While cyclosporiasis cases are reported year-round, they are most common from May 1 through August 31. Past outbreaks have been linked to raspberries, basil, cilantro and salad mixes.

    “Most people with healthy immune systems will eventually recover from cyclosporiasis without treatment,” the CDC website states. “However, if not treated, you may be sick for anywhere from a few days to a month or longer.”

    Symptoms may take two weeks or longer to appear, and some people remain asymptomatic — factors that can make the source of an outbreak difficult to pinpoint.     

 But it isn't just any fecal matter that spreads the parasite, but human feces. 

    The video below addresses the implications that Cyclospora only comes from human feces as well as offering some steps to take to prevent an infection. It is not enough to wash contaminated vegetables; and the parasite does not appear to be affected by freezing. Rather, the only way to make contaminated food safe to eat is by cooking the food. 

VIDEO: "This Parasite Spreads Through Human Poop (How to Stay Safe)"
Neal K. Shah (21 min.)

This Has Been My Last Couple Days ...

... so posting will be light or non-existent the next several days.

 VIDEO: "Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales" - Lisa

Not-The-Bee: Transgender American Discovers The Grass Isn't Greener Over There

 Not-The-Bee reports: "Transgender American regrets fleeing to the Netherlands because all the Muslim migrants want to kill him." As the article sums up, "This transgender dude applied for asylum because he was afraid of mean Orange Man Donald Trump, but he got assigned to the Ter Apel registration center along with all the Middle Easterners and Africans." And now he fears for his life. 

Black Historian Says Telling Truth, Documenting Facts Is Racist

 From the New York Post: "Historian says it’s racist to question her — after book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies." The so-called historian is Kerri Greenidge,  whose 2022 book “The Grimkes,” which was lauded by critics and won the American Historical Association’s Joan Kelly Memorial Prize, which lacks evidence to support many of its claims, as well as containing factual errors and missing key end notes. Her response was to play the race card:

“I am heartbroken that a field I have given my life to can treat me this way,” she told the outlet. “The attack on Black women academics is real.”   

That is hamster brain thinking: the problem isn't the fake "research" but that people are being mean. But the trouble isn't just with that one book. 

    Now another one of Greenidge’s books, “Black Radical,” which also had praise heaped upon it, is now being given a closer look.

    The 2019 biography about journalist and civil rights activist William Monroe Trotter also received a glowing review by the New York Times and won the Mark Lynton History Prize, awarded by Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation of Journalism at Harvard University.

    Historian and author Stephen Fox, who wrote a biography about Trotter in 1970, said many of Greenidge’s sources cited in the book didn’t match the material when he checked after the book was published.

    Then when he heard about the controversy bubbling up over “The Grimkes” he started questioning her rigor even more.

    “I started to think maybe it wasn’t just sloppy,” he told the outlet. “I think it’s something deeper.” 

Sacramento Deploys Domestic Surveillance To Spy On Your Trash

The New York Post reports that "Sacramento deploys trash spies to snoop on homeowners so they comply with Newsom vision." From the lede:

    Sacramento residents are bracing for tight supervision of what they throw in their trash as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandates require the city to lay invasive eyes on them.

    Bin inspections are set to be deployed this month due to SB 1383, a law that requires local governments to take steps to reduce methane emissions caused by short-lived climate pollutants.

    One of the key goals of the initiative is to see if homeowners are sorting their organic waste properly. City officials say they caught many sorting their trash into the wrong bin.

I have no doubt but that they will be looking for evidence of other items to justify further surveillance or an arrest of particular households.  

9 Buildings To Scavenge After SHTF

I don't know that these 9 buildings will be forgotten by everyone--certainly they won't be forgotten by the people that work there--but they may be ignored or overlooked in the initial looting. Beyond the types of buildings that you might not immediately think of to scavenge food, water and other supplies from, the video also discusses time-lines: specifically, it suggests not doing much for the first few days while the looters are out in force; but then quickly work for the short period between when the looters have left and those that have hunkered down start to venture out.

I don't know how realistic this will be, but if there was something that happened to force people to leave the city, it sort of makes sense. Think of New Orleans immediately after Katrina where the majority of people had fled the city. I suspect that in the event of an EMP during the summer, cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas would quickly empty as they would quickly become unlivable for most people because of the lack of air conditioning and water.  

VIDEO: "The 9 Buildings Everyone Ignores When Scavenging (Still Full After the Stores Are Stripped)" - Apocalypse Coyote (11 min.)

Chinese Floods And Snakes

Some recent news from China, including flooding that led to a dam breach; and poisonous snakes escaping from a breeding facility. 

 VIDEO: "The Floods Were Devastating. Then The Dams Broke."
China Uncensored (12 min.)

Apartment Prepper: Prepping On A Budget

In "Prepping on a Ramen Budget: How to Stockpile Food for Under $20 a Month" from Apartment Prepper, the author notes:

With just $20 a month, your focus should be on affordable, long-lasting, and high-calorie foods. Prioritize staples like:

•     Rice
•     Beans
•     Pasta
•     Canned goods
•     Oats
•     Powdered milk
•     Peanut butter
•     Cooking oil
•     Salt and sugar
•     Shelf-stable proteins (tuna, Spam, lentils, dried beans)

These items provide the most calories and nutrients per dollar and have long shelf lives. 

The author goes on to set out some strategies for stretching your dollars and a schedule of what and how much to buy each month over a four month cycle that will provide you with a stockpile of a month's worth of food in that four months (I presume for a single person). The author then offers additional worthy advice, so be sure to read the whole thing.

Gat Daily: Interarms Was A CIA Front

"Interarms Was A CIA Front" reports Gat Daily, originally set up by the CIA to facilitate shipment of firearms to various clients. The author begins:

    It’s always been one of those open secrets that Interarms, a famed Virginia-based arms importer, worked for the CIA or with the CIA. The owner, or who appeared to be the owner, Samuel Cummings, had a long history of working with the government, including the CIA. The old joke that no one ever really leaves the CIA seems quite true regarding Mr. Cummings.

    There has been a massive release of documents from the CIA concerning the JFK assassination, and part of those documents confirmed that the CIA didn’t just work with Interarms; they owned the organization. Samuel Cummings acted as their representative and eventually purchased the company, but it seemed to be in the CIA space until it was taken over by High Standard. 

Brace or Stock?

Shooting News Weekly has an article about a Florida man pulled over in a traffic stop who was ultimately charged with possession of an unregistered SBR. The excuse for pulling the man over was dubious, but the point was that the officers believed they had probable cause to search his vehicle. The man had been returning from a shooting excursion and among his collection of weapons in the vehicle was an AR pistol with a brace. Or was it a brace? The officers ultimately determined that it was not a pistol brace and now the man is facing felony charges for an unlicensed SBR. The article relates:

Smith had owned the AR pistol for nearly seven years. He found it on a website and had it shipped to his local gun dealer. He had mounted a red-dot sight and what he thought was an aftermarket brace. “I was under the impression it was totally compliant,” Smith said. “The brace was actually smaller than the one it came with. I thought it was a brace, not a buttstock.” 

Unfortunately, as one of the comments to the article pointed out, it was not a brace at all but a Strike Industries MOD1 stock. The irony is that when the man purchased the AR pistol, it actually shipped with a perfectly serviceable pistol brace.  

    The lesson here is don't be like Florida man. Don't replace your pistol brace with a stock unless you have first obtained the ATF's permission to convert the pistol to an SBR.  

Wilder: 250,000 Reasons "Online Safety" Is A Scam

John Wilder's latest is: "The Grooming Gang Cover Up: 250,000 Reasons 'Online Safety' Is a Scam." Many governments are suddenly enacting various measures to censor the Internet under the guise of protecting the children, including the UK. But, as Wilder notes, there are 250,000 reasons to doubt that the UK government gives a damn about children and their safety. The 250,000 is, of course, a reference to the estimated number of white girls that have been raped by "Asians" (mostly Pakistanis) with the cooperation of the British police. Why did the police not help the girls? Because the girls were white and, for the most part, from poor families. Or, as Wilder explains:

    ... Illegal immigrants who contribute nothing are at the top [of the leftist hierarchy], because the goal of the GloboLeftist is to destroy whatever nation they’re in. 

    Sure, GloboLeftists say they’re against rape and against oppressing women, but only when white men are doing the raping and oppressing. If the[ ] rapists and abusers come from a foreign culture, well, rape and abuse as much as you want. ... 

But the police did help the rapists:

Based on anecdotal evidence, the police in Europe have zero interest in arresting anyone who isn’t a lawful white citizen. In several cases, the police brought the young girls that were being sexually abused back to the abusers. The thankful abusers gave the police a turn on the girls.  

When faced with this type of evil--the rape of innocents--we have to ask what would Jesus do? Fortunately, scripture provides an answer:

Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.    

Gen. 19:24-25 (NIV). But if you think that is overkill, Jesus has some other suggestions:

It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 

Luke 17:2 (NIV). 

Does The Odyssey Hold Clues To A Trans-Atlantic Voyage?

No one has been able to convincingly match up the locations Odysseus journeyed to during his 10-year voyage to actual locations in the Mediterranean. Some have looked beyond the Mediterranean to see if there are matches to locations in or around Atlantic Ocean, including the host of this video. He begins with a simple hypothesis: that the journey in The Odyssey is based, at least in part, from earlier stories and legends; and that some of the stories or legends might reflect actual locations or sailing journeys. He further notes that Homer used the Greek word for "ocean" to describe where Odysseus' journey took place. 

To be clear, he does not believe that all of the events and locations described in The Odyssey were based on a single voyage of exploration, but were likely from several accounts. But he picks out several that seem to describe a voyage into the Atlantic and north to Iceland, wintering in Iceland, and then heading over to a couple locations in Newfoundland that seem a plausible match with Homer's description of the whirlpool Charybdis and the creature, Scylla.  

VIDEO: "Did Odysseus Discover America?"
Lantern Jack (51 min.)

Lindsey Graham: I Know You Shouldn't Speak Ill Of The Dead, But...

I know that right now everyone is singing the praises of Lindsey Graham right after his sudden death, but I came across this interview with Benjamin Netanyahu praising Graham with a disturbing anecdote about Graham's commitment to Israel. In it, Netanyahu was apparently meeting with Graham about U.S. funding of Israel, and Graham insisted on giving Israel more aid than Netanyahu said Israel needed. But, ever careful to waste U.S. tax dollars, Graham told Netanyahu he was going to go over Netanyahu's head, and go to the Senate and ask for more aid for Israel. That is, seeking more aid for Israel than it needed or, supposedly, wanted. What a great American! (sarc.)

    It should also be remembered that Graham was one of the four Congressmen in the so-called "Gang of Eight" who sought, among other things, an amnesty program for illegals in 2013 and greatly increasing foreign work visas including H1B visas. 

    "I think 2013 is the year of immigration reform," said GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who, with the other senators, stood in front of representatives of a diverse coalition — from the AFL-CIO to the Chamber of Commerce — that has gotten behind overhaul efforts.

    "America is an idea; nobody owns it," Graham said. "We've got to create order out of chaos." 

RIP: Sam Neill Passed Away At 78

 The New York Post reports: "‘Jurassic Park’ star Sam Neill dead at 78 after cancer recovery."

California Universities Promise To Never Use Their Weapons Of War

The Guardian reports that a 2021 California law allows campus police to own military arms and equipment if necessary to uphold civilian safety. But the law also requires the universities to publicly disclose details concerning their stockpiles, which requirement is largely being ignored according to the article. But at least one university has promised to not use the tear gas grenades it was given by the military. On the other hand, UCLA often uses its long-range acoustic devices. No word on whether the universities will not use their submachine guns and assault rifles. 

Gun & Prepping News #89

Some links that may be of interest: 

•  "Why Does the .44 Special Keep Hanging On?"--American Rifleman. With Lipsey releasing a Nightguard revolver in .44 Special, the author decided to look into why this cartridge refuses to die, including the following:

    Like the .45 Colt, the .44 Special launches large-caliber bullets at moderate velocities. This provides suitable levels of bullet energy at typical handgun distances. This round has been used successfully to harvest medium-sized game, including whitetail deer and hogs, along with smaller game at closer ranges of around 75 yards or less. Although it would not be correct to call the .44 Special a "soft-shooting" round, it can yield desirable results without the muzzle flash, noise and wrist-snapping levels of recoil associated with magnum cartridges.  

    These shooting characteristics have also led to the .44 Special finding its way into various snub-nosed carry guns. Over the years, the .44 Special has proven to be an effective defensive option. And because this round operates at slightly lower pressures (15,500 psi) than the .38 Special (17,000 psi), it has been paired with smaller, lighter models, like the Charter Arms Bulldog, along with medium-frame configurations including the Ruger GP100 and, of course, the Smith & Wesson Model 396.

• "America’s Lever Revolution"--American Rifleman. The lever action rifle is a uniquely American weapon--it was invented and refined in the United States, and saw much wider use in the United States than anywhere else. The article goes over the history of this style of action before ending with a note on its renewed popularity. 
• And speaking of the renewed popularity of the lever action: "Henry’s Lever Action Supreme Rifle (LASR): Old Meets New"--The Truth About Guns. The key features is that it uses detachable box magazines (with the author noting that Magpul magazines work best), it uses an internal hammer with a tang mounted safety, it has a threaded and free-floated barrel, and adjustable trigger. It is available in .223/5.56mm, .300 Blk, and .450 Bushmaster. 
• Some more firearm history: "The Blunderbuss: Roar of the High Seas"--NRA Blog. An excerpt:

    Boasting a short stock, the blunderbuss was a hybrid of a pistol and a carbine, often hip-fired due to its short length and powerful recoil, comparable to a modern shotgun. The blunderbuss fired a cache of lead balls propelled by a large powder charge, though users, whether by necessity or imagination, could and often did fill the firearm with anything that would fit and cause damage when fired, including nails, rocks, glass, or “bundle shot,” a series of metal rods packed together that, when blasted from the bore, effectively became tiny spears. Needless to say, the more crudely fashioned projectiles were not good for the integrity of the barrel, but in the heat of battle, served as dangerous implements. Blunderbusses were also used for crowd control or clearing the decks, as the mere sight of the gun in hand served as a deterrent to potential challengers.

    Blunderbusses could also be found affixed to ship’s railing or gunwales via a mounting swivel, becoming an improvised boat gun to clear decks when approaching alongside another vessel. The gun’s flared muzzle made it easier to load in the chaos of battle, particularly in some of the more precarious places aboard ships, such as rigging and water-slicked decks rocking port and starboard.

    Blunderbusses appeared in the 17th century, seeing use up until about 1840. The height of the blunderbuss coincides with the “Golden Age of Piracy” in the mid-1700s, ....

• "The Fire Control Sequence: 3 Steps to Perfect Round Placement"--American Rifleman. The author lists the three steps as follows:
• "Step one: draw out from your holster like your life depends on it."
• "Step two is visual verification."
• "The third and final step is the trigger press without disturbing alignment."

As to step two, take note:

 

    Step two is visual verification. Using either irons or a dot, you have a very short time to call the shot. If it’s good, then move on to step three. If not, you will need to make micro-corrections. Micro corrections are needed because of any unnecessary input into the gun on the way out or at the very top of your drawstroke. Input and corrections cost time. 

 

[snip]

 

    Step two depends on if you are shooting irons or optics. If irons, it’s a focal-plane shift from hard-target focus back to the front sight, or at least to the front of the muzzle. If you're using a carry optic, you stay target-focused and remain simply aware of the dot.

    Either way, you don’t have all day. You only have time for rapid verification. If you do not have alignment, you will need to make time-consuming micro-adjustments. 

Another factor that might require corrections is if the gun doesn't naturally point for you. Perhaps you can train your way out of it, perhaps not. 

• "Is the Weaver Stance Dead? Reasons Why It Still Matters"--Shooting Times. An excerpt:

    ... I’ve shot both the Weaver and the isosceles, and I do not believe the isosceles is a good stance for real-life combat situations, any more than a trap stance is good training for driven grouse or that firing a .458 off a bench prepares you for buffalo in the long grass. Certainly, it is not as natural and flexible as the Weaver, no matter how many IPSC hot-shots have used it to win matches.

    Before Jack Weaver came along, handgunners had tried various methods of two-handed shooting. Weaver ingeniously took the age-old human “prepare to fight” position and adapted it. The Weaver is, essentially, the stance used by boxers. It is also the stance used by top wingshooters on wild birds. A right-handed shooter stands with the left foot forward, feet about 18 inches apart, body angled, weight on the balls of the feet, but mostly on the forward foot. The shooter is leaning into it, eyes focused like a wolf on a caribou.

    This boxing stance is the most natural human fighting position. Modern attempts to discredit it as being “outdated” have proven misguided, as witness an aging Floyd Mayweather’s almost laughable demolition of MMA Conor McGregor last August.

    The isosceles is praised as a “rigid platform,” but in most tactical situations rigidity is not nearly as useful as flexibility. You never know what you’ll be faced with. You might be carrying a child on one arm and have to shoot one-handed. You could be on the ground, shooting under a car, or having to shoot around the corner of a building. Once you learn the Weaver stance, you can adapt its principles to almost any situation.  

The primary advantage to the isosceles is when wearing body armor as it presents the strike face squarely at the target. Mass Ayoob has noted, however, that if you are in an isosceles stance and have to twist the torso, it will convert to a Weaver stance. 

    And speaking of Mass Ayoob, here is an article he wrote on "Basic Two-Handed Shooting Stances" covering the Weaver, isosceles, and Chapman (aka, modified Weaver) stances, including how to stand and hold the gun for each, and the pros and cons of each. 

• "Remington Performance Wheelgun 22 Rimfire Built for Classic Revolvers"--Shooting Sports USA. The round uses a 39 grain truncated bullet with a muzzle velocity of  770 fps. The subsonic speed is supposed to provide less recoil and less noise when at the range. 
• "Rising Costs Threaten to End Hunting as We Know It"--Petersen's Hunting.  The author asks "if we price out the next generation and current hunters that don’t have extra discretionary income, how are we making hunting on public land inviting? How are we honoring the heritage of hunting?" Hunting has historically been an activity for the wealthy and I suspect that is the future of hunting. 
• "MOLLE vs PALS: Key Differences Explained"--Chase Tactical.  Short version:

MOLLE (pronounced as Molly) stands for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment. Introduced by the U.S. military in the late 1990s, it replaced the older ALICE system and fundamentally changed how soldiers and operators carry gear. MOLLE is not a single product. It is the entire load-bearing ecosystem, encompassing plate carriers, tactical vests, magazine pouches, dump pouches, utility pouches, backpacks, and every other modular accessory that attaches to a PALS-equipped surface.

And:

PALS, or the Pouch Attachment Ladder System, is a grid of webbing that allows MOLLE-compatible gear to be attached to any MOLLE-equipped surface. Often confused with MOLLE itself, PALS is the framework or infrastructure behind the modularity of MOLLE gear. The horizontal rows of stitched webbing you see on backpacks, plate carriers, chest rigs, and other tactical gear are the PALS system.

• "SurviveX Large First Aid Kit Review"--Apartment Prepper. The author describes the kit thusly:

The SurviveX Large First Aid Kit is primarily focused on general wound care. It is stocked with medical supplies for treating cuts, scrapes, wounds, lacerations, burns, blisters, and fractures (bandages, gauze, splints, burn gel, antibiotic ointment among others) rather than ailments needing internal medication. It is a kit you can keep in your home, vehicle, as well bring with you on camping or hiking trips. It contains 200+ items (in the Large version) enough for general care for around 3–6 people. 

    The kit sells for $120 on Amazon. So why get this instead of a commercial kit intended for businesses or schools? There are seems to be three things that stood out in the review: (i) the bag into which it fits has Molle attachments allowing it to be secured to a pack or the attaching devices you can purchase for vehicles; (ii) it's wound treatment goes beyond the basic gauze and adhesive bandages found in most kits to include actual medical shears and zip stitch wound closures; (iii) it included additional items needed for outdoors such as a splint, survival whistle, and glow sticks. The downsides, mentioned in the article, is that "it does not include pain relief medications, allergy medicines, or stomach aids, or tourniquet" or any clotting agents. In other words, you will still need to add items or carry a separate trauma kit; as well as any medications you want to carry. 

    Is it the best deal? That is something you will have to answer yourself. For instance, you can get almost everything in the SurviveX kit in another kit that costs only $53, then add a SAM splint for $15. The bag isn't as good as the SurviveX, but if you are going to be carrying it in another bag, it probably won't make a difference.  

    The reviewer's conclusions, however, is that "[t]he SurviveX Large First Aid Kit is an excellent investment for anyone serious about upgrading their first aid supplies. For an apartment dweller, it’s like a 'mini-ER' in a small footprint that won’t clutter your living space.​ If you’re tired of digging through a chaotic mess of loose gauze and adhesive bandages that no longer stick, this kit is a worthwhile purchase."

Weekend Reading #64

•  First up is an article by Greg Ellifritz entitled "What an Escaped Mental Patient Taught Me." It is a look back to a different time. It was the 1980s and Greg was in high school, working a part-time job at a K-Mart department store when an escaped mental patient showed up and started doing crazy things. Ellifritz and some of the other young men working there were tasked to try and keep the crazy contained until police arrived. Anyway, a look back to the 1980s and an important life lesson for Ellifritz that has nothing to do with combat or self-defense.
• And another from Greg Ellifritz--this week's Weekend Knowledge Dump.  Some of the links that caught my attention in particular:

• Massad Ayoob's discussion on whether to engage or stand-down, which looks as some cases involving the initial aggressor rule and when a threat ceases to be a threat.  
• Mark Luell shares some of his experiences teaching a self-defense class; and, if you go to the bottom of the article, a link to where you can download a copy of the course curriculum.
• Massad Ayood discusses lethal force against a mob. Most of the article is about the trials of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, but with some thoughts about the BLM riots of 2021 (when the article was written) thrown in.  But the article should really be taken as a lesson in how the law has shifted in the past 250 years from one where a mob included everyone in the group to now where a "mostly peaceful" protest group is comprised of  "homicidal aggressors being sharks swimming in the protective sea of peaceful protesters" against whom you cannot use lethal force. It is this shift that allows the "homicidal aggressors" to hide behind a wall of "peaceful protestors" as they deal their violence, or suddenly rush out to mete out their violence. 
• Another historical piece that looks at women's concealed carry on the American frontier. 
• And another historical piece--"I use State of the Art Technology"--that looks at the history of night sights, weapon mounted lights, and lasers.
• Matthew Donovan writes about "mouse guns" and the defensive niche they fill. If you scoff at the idea of ever carrying such tiny handguns, you might not be familiar with the first rule of a gun fight, which is to have a gun.
• An article discussing the overall decline in quality of Smith & Wesson revolvers, but also noting that Ruger is also experiencing declining quality in its revolver lines. 
• And an interesting piece from Matt Larsen on how drone warfare is actually increasing the odds of having to resort to hand-to-hand combat as troops are driven into bunkers and trenches. 

• This article was actually part of Greg's Weekend Knowledge Dump, but I decided to give it a different treatment because it is not related to self-defense or firearms: "Mate Selection for Modernity" from Quillette.  This is an article about hypergamy (which I've discussed many times before in this blog as well as when I was doing podcasts with John Wilder) and how it has changed the modern dating marketplace. An excerpt:

Dating and the process of mate selection have changed. The rise of hook-up culture, proliferation of dating apps, and ever-increasing age of first marriage are evidence of this. This current situation can be summarized along four parameters:

1. Increasing female achievement.
2. Growing variability in male status and competence.
3. An evolutionary desire among females to marry up.
4. The globalization of the sexual marketplace and resultant collapse of local status hierarchies.

Together, these conditions have created pronounced imbalances in the modern sexual marketplace. Put plainly, an increasing cohort of successful women are chasing a shrinking number of high-value, commitment-averse men.

Hypergamy works well for women in a male-dominated society. But not so much now:

    Successful women face a shortage of demographically superior men to marry. Indeed, the nascent decline in marriage has been attributed to a putative shortage of economically attractive partners for unmarried women. Applying data imputation methods to national survey data, researchers found that unmarried women face an overall shortage of partners with either a bachelor’s degree or yearly income exceeding $40,000.

    This asymmetry in the sexual marketplace has been well documented in Jon Birger’s book Date-onomics as well as an article penned by myself and Rob Henderson.

    Premised on sex ratios, a surplus of women in education and economic groups caters to men’s desire for multiple partners. The relative rarity of men within these groups means that women, in competition with other females, are more likely to conform to the sexual strategy of males. In these environments, hookup culture is more prevalent. In contrast, environments in which men are numerous see more long-term relationships.

Of course, women are to be pitied for being shallow, where if men refused to date or marry because of a shortage of attractive women, it would be considered evidence of misogyny. And on the subject of dating and meeting people, Greg also linked to this article: "How To Read People: 5 Secrets Backed By Research." But I've known women who understood what this article teaches and were quite skilled on using their body language to manipulate men. 

• We are finally on the cusp of really entering the space age. Robert Zubrin had once written that we would not see significant space exploration and development until launch costs fell below $1,000/kg. In "Payloads used to dictate the terms of launch. That’s finally changing," Stephen Clark discusses the impact of SpaceX's Starship, with more than 100 metric tons cargo capacity, noting:

    A new report from the Aerospace Corporation helps elucidate why satellite companies are optimizing for Starship. It’s big and reusable, and once operational, it could cut the cost of launching a kilogram of payload into orbit by an order of magnitude from the Falcon 9. This means costs could come down from a few thousand dollars per kilogram to a few hundred.

    Karen Jones, a space economist and lead author of the paper, said her research supports some of those optimistic cost projections. She outlines three scenarios, two of which assume an initial launch cost of $100 million for each fully reusable Starship and Super Heavy booster, with marginal costs of 20 or 35 percent. This is in line with the marginal costs of the smaller, partially reusable Falcon 9, which SpaceX can launch for as little as $15 million per flight on a dedicated Starlink mission.

    This would bring the per-kilogram launch cost for a fully loaded Starship down to $133 to $233 after 10 reuse cycles. A more optimistic scenario with a $50 million initial launch cost and 20 percent marginal cost would reduce payload costs to $67 per kilogram for a Starship/Super Heavy launch at full capacity after nine use cycles. That’s less than it costs to fill the gas tanks of most SUVs. If SpaceX can make these more optimistic ambitions a reality, it would validate a claim made by Elon Musk in 2022 that a Starship flight could eventually cost as little as $10 million.  

The future is bright provided we can survive The Great Filter: liberal women, mass immigration, and socialism.  

• There may be a way to finally give satellites infinite "fuel" for their thrusters: "'Acceleration without fuel:' Revolutionary superconducting thruster harnesses Earth's magnetic field in 1st orbital test"--Space.com. The article explains: "Superconducting magnets can convert solar energy directly into momentum in space and provide a source of acceleration that needs no fuel, but until recently, the technology was too large and complex to fit on a satellite. That's no longer the case." 
• And last, but certainly not least: "Here We Stand"--Wilder Wealth & Wise.  The principles that made the West great.