VIDEO: Why Printing Matters

"Printing" is a term referring to a situation where the shape of your concealed weapon is discernible in whole or in part through your clothing, generally because the clothing is stretched too tight against the weapon or the weapon is pressing up against the cover garment. This video covers the topic of printing and provides three general reasons why it matters--i.e., why you should not want your weapon printing. First, is to prevent selection--that is, being targeted by someone because you are carrying. It could be a criminal wanting to steal your weapon, a cop or security guard that might hassle you (or worse), or a busybody who wants to get you in trouble. Second, to maintain the element of surprise if you are caught up in a violent incident. And, third, avoiding social friction, because there are just some people who are going to be uncomfortable around someone who they know is carrying a gun (which takes us back to point #1). 

VIDEO: "3 Reasons WHY PRINTING MATTERS"
PHLster (8 min.)

The Federal Government Has Wasted How Much?

Stephen Green at PJ Media tells us: "Instead of drawing out the big mystery over how much of your money Washington wastes on improper payments, I'll just tell you right up front: In the 20 years between 2003 and 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates the total money blown on payments made in error, or in the wrong amount, or with no documentation (!!!) is $2.7 TRILLION." 

An Update On The Salt Lake Church Shooting

 The video I had linked to the other day suggested that something that the Church could have done to avoid the shooting was to cancel the funeral. But a news report from KUTV indicated that police did not notify the Church about the tip off they received of potential violence. From the article:

    KUTV asked UPD whether they notified the local church about the “problems” tip, and, if so, when that notification was made; whether there was any discussion of sending everyone away with the possibility of a problem; and, if no notification was made, why?

    UPD Assistant Chief Justin Hoyal said officers were not aware of the funeral until they received the tip shortly before the shooting.

    Police did not notify the church because of how “last minute” the information was, and there was no credible threat, according to Hoyal.

So This Was How USAID Wasted Our Tax Dollars?

The AP article, "Sex work or starve: Aid workers in Nepal left jobless by USAID cuts turn to sex work to survive," reports:

For nine years, Lama — who is transgender — had devoted her life to conducting HIV outreach in Nepal’s marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ+ sex workers who wait by this highway each night. But after the United States slashed its foreign aid funding last year, Lama and more than 280,000 aid workers worldwide found themselves out of a job. 

So Americans were working their butts off to pay taxes to be spent providing 280,000 jobs to do this type of work? 

    Of the more than 281,000 jobs lost due to Trump’s dismantling of USAID, just 23,000 were American, says Sadie Healy, who runs a global health consulting firm and has been tracking the job losses worldwide. The rest were overseas — many of them belonging to impoverished locals living in conflict zones or economically depressed regions where other employment options are scarce.

    In Nepal alone, an estimated 35,000 aid workers lost their jobs amid the USAID cuts, says NGO Federation of Nepal President Arjun Bhattarai. With the country already facing high unemployment, the fallout was devastating.

I don't think we have an obligation to provide make-work jobs oversees for pet leftist projects. 

The Lake Dolores Waterpark: Then And Now

The photos are from this New York Post article: "Forgotten waterpark footage perfectly captures ‘unabashed California culture that is long gone’." Per the article:

    Nearly 65 years ago, America’s first water park was created and home to over 250 acres deep in the Mojave desert. Right off I-15, its remote location proved to be a spot where kids across California drove hundreds of miles for a chance to drift down one of 10 waterslides.

[snip]

    The park had tons of legal and other financial troubles which ultimately led to its closing back in 1980s. Lake Dolores rebranded almost 20 years later, and reopened in 1998 under the new name “Rock-a-Hoola.”

    Shortly after opening, an employee was paralyzed after an accident resulted in a $4.4 million judgment against the park, forcing the investors into bankruptcy, according to Jam Press. But the park was resilient, in 2002, it was again trying its luck with a new name — Discovery Waterpark.

    The move was short-lived as it was only around for two years after closing for a third time in 2004. Reports show that slides were sold off to other major parks and the once-climbed structures were left to rubble. 

 

 

Louve Jewel Thieves Hired By "Sponsor"

 In a July 14 article, the Robb Report relates: "The Louvre Jewelry Heist’s Suspects Say a ‘Mysterious Sponsor’ Recruited Them." The article begins:

    The two prime suspects in the infamous 2025 Louvre jewel heist claimed they were recruited by a “mysterious sponsor,” according to statements made to Paris judicial authorities that were published by Le Monde over the weekend.

    Arrested one week after the robbery and indicted on charges of “organized gang robbery,” Abdoulaye N., 40, and Ghelamallah A., 36, remained silent for months in pre-trial detention. In June, however, they appeared before investigating judges and, for the first time, offered an expanded account of the theft of the French Crown Jewels from the museum’s Apollo Gallery. According to the men, they were hired two or three days before the crime by a sponsor whom they do not name. That sponsor is reportedly still sought by police.  

    The alleged mastermind reportedly sent the pair a video filmed inside the Apollo Gallery, showing the royal jewels on display, along with concise instructions: break the gallery’s windows and retrieve the jewelry from the display cases. Abdoulaye N., a former motocross social media star who, by his own admission, was in desperate need of money, said he was promised between 15,000 and 20,000 euros to break into the Louvre—“maybe more,” depending on the outcome.

There's a lot more, so be sure to read the whole thing. As far as I can find, it appears that a total of 7 people have been arrested in relation to the crime, but the stolen jewelry has not been recovered. As you have probably already deduced, the suspects sort of named in the article are not really French. ABC News indicates that "[o]ne of the suspects has dual citizenship in France and Mali, and the other is a dual citizen of France and Algeria, investigators said, adding that both were already known to police from past burglary cases." 

IRA Threatens Riots Unless Migrants Expelled

"New IRA 'may bring riots' to British Isles after issuing 'civil war' warning"--Daily Star. The article begins:

    The terror group the New IRA have threatened to bring “civil war” to the British Isles as experts have warned the group could trigger riots in their attempts to form an “United Ireland.”

    Experts fear the proscribed terror group the New IRA are plotting to capitalise on tensions around migration. And could use the anxieties to launch an intimidation campaign against vulnerable communities. In a recent video a masked spokesperson for the terror group took social media to make a chilling ultimatum.

    The man stated: "It is now going to be time for civil war, and that is exactly what these guys are going to be doing and can you blame them?

    "This will be a major wake-up call for the authorities. These guys will show them how it's done and give them 24 hours to leave." He added: "They will take control, and they will give an ultimatum, not to politicians but to the illegal migrants who are in the country."

It think it odd that this New IRA is being described as a "terror group" when it is the government that is terrorizing its own people. 

Maybe Congress Could Write Their Own Bills

Politico reports: "AI slop is swamping a House office that drafts US laws." The problem:

    Congressional lawyers are struggling to manage a flood of legislative proposals generated using artificial intelligence tools, many of them riddled with errors and shoddy language.

    The strain on the House Office of Legislative Counsel is increasing as more congressional offices and outside groups rely on generative AI to draft legislation, according to interviews with eight current and former officials who work or have worked with the office.

    They said AI’s ability to quickly generate mountains of text is forcing the OLC’s lawyers to spend significantly more time reviewing and rewriting the proposals. And in many cases, the drafts are plagued by mistakes that could ripple well beyond Washington — tying up the passage of legislation and risking lawsuits over erroneously cited statutes or incorrect legal definitions. 

The real solution would be to require the elected Representatives and Senators to personally handwrite all bills that they submit for consideration. 

Aero Precision Gets New Owners

The Truth About Guns reports that "Aero Precision Isn’t Dead: New Owners Take Over as Manufacturing Restarts," stating that "[a] source inside Aero Precision confirmed to TTAG that the receivership process has been completed and Aero Precision, Ballistic Advantage, Stag Arms and VG6 are transitioning to a new family investment group" and private-equity firm White Wolf Capital is out. The author adds:

    Whatever you think about Aero Precision specifically, its survival matters to the broader firearms industry.

    Aero became one of the companies that helped move the AR market away from the old model where consumers bought complete rifles and toward the massive build-it-yourself ecosystem we have today.

    For a lot of shooters, an Aero lower became almost the default starting point for an AR build. I’m included in that group. I have an M16A2 clone built on an Aero Precision lower, along with a 10.5-inch M4E1 upper that gets swapped onto a couple of my retro-inspired CAR-15/Mk18 builds. I’ve put plenty of rounds through both over the years and haven’t had an issue with either. 

Shades of Epstein: Hayden Panettiere Trafficked At Age 18

Seems like a rite of passage in Hollywood. From the New York Post: "Haunting Hayden Panettiere interview about being betrayed and sex trafficked at age 18 resurfaces after her death." Key bit:

    A haunting interview in which Hayden Panettiere talked about being betrayed by a friend and sex trafficked to a “very famous man” on a yacht at age 18 has resurfaced after her death on Sunday.

    The troubled actress, who died of suspected cardiac arrest and overdose at age 36, described being “basically told to perform sexual acts” when she was still an up-and-coming child star.

    Panettiere said the unidentified female friend was somebody she “had grown to trust and see as a protector” before she led her onto the boat when she was 18.

    “There was no hints of anything like that happening, so it took me by surprise,” she said.

    Panettiere made the comments on the May 11 episode of Jay Shetty’s podcast, “On Purpose with Jay Shetty.” 

Trebechet Terminal Ballistics

From an article published by Smithsonian Magazine entitled, "A Medieval Man’s Injuries Reminded One Archaeologist of Modern-Day Car Crash Victims. They Turned Out to Be the Work of an English Trebuchet":

    As Jo Buckberry, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Bradford in England, announced at a recent meeting of the Paleopathology Association, a skeleton excavated at the Scottish castle bears more than 160 fractures sustained at or around the time of death, with most of the injuries concentrated on the skull and the ribs. Buckberry argues that the man’s remains represent the first known evidence of trebuchet trauma in the archaeological record.

    “It looks like he was hit from behind by something traveling at a great velocity,” Buckberry tells Science magazine’s Andrew Curry. “The most similar cases I was finding were car crashes and people hit by trains. But how do you get from there to a guy in medieval Scotland? What is large and moving very, very quickly in 1304?”

    The answer, Buckberry concluded after comparing the man’s injuries to other documented cases, was probably a large stone that struck his right shoulder and the back of his head with great force, pinning him to the ground. “The scale of the fractures of his body suggest his death was thankfully instantaneous,” the researcher says to the Daily Mail’s William Hunter. 

VIDEO: Quit Aiming Your Shotgun

This is for those shooting clays or hunting birds, rabbits, etc. Obviously you need to aim a defensive shotgun.  

 VIDEO: "Quit Aiming Your Shotgun! | How to Shotgun 4"
Target Focused Life (6 min.)

VIDEO: Another LDS Church Shooting - Tongan Gang Connection

I'd seen a couple news reports about this shooting, but this video gives more details than either of the news reports, plus analysis. The shooting--like another very early this year--was a gang shooting at a funeral for a Tongan held at an LDS Church. The police had been warned beforehand, and there was a police presence in the area, but the shooting happened anyway. It also serves as another lesson in "diversity is our strength". 

 VIDEO: "Another LDS Church Shooting and the Tongan Crip Connection"
Christian Warrior (26 min.)

VIDEO: What Pulling A Weapon Can Reveal

From the description: "A weapon can mean very different things depending on the person carrying it. For some, it provides confidence they don't have without it. For others, it's about protection, control or intimidation. And in the most dangerous situations, the weapon isn't shown at all—because it isn't there to threaten you. It's there to be used." Hopefully, you are carrying a weapon because it provides you a tactical advantage and not to bolster your confidence or ego. 

 VIDEO: "When MEN Pull a Weapon… It Reveals EVERYTHING"
Fight SCIENCE (8 min.)

Texas Defying Minnesota Request For Extradition?

 According to CBS News, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has his panties in a wad because Texas has not processed his request for extradition of an ICE agent--Christian Castro--accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, in the leg in Minneapolis in January. Castro was arrested by Texas Rangers on May 29, but Texas law only allows extradition holds for up to 90 days, so he potentially could soon be released by Texas authorities. 

    Moriarty and Ellison repeatedly stressed that extradition requests are intended to be administrative, and an apparent refusal like Abbott's is extremely rare, if not unprecedented.

    "We have never heard of anything taking this long because it is an administrative process," Moriarty said. "It is not supposed to be controversial."   

But neither, under principles of federalism, are the individual states supposed to merely be different administrative districts.  

Some Things Never Change

An article from JSTOR, "Ancient Rome: A City of Immigrants," discusses an immigrant community adjacent to Rome called Transtiberim ("beyond the Tiber") and includes this bit:

To elites, who provide almost all the written documentation except for funerary inscriptions, Transtiberim was dangerous, déclassé, and working class (to use later jargon). Strange gods were worshipped there—worship of the Syrian goddess Atargatis by “cross-dressing eunuch priests” who practiced ritual castration was banned more than once. The neighborhood was mocked in satires and condemned for its “panhandlers, prostitutes and desperate people with nowhere else to go.” 

Warning: Sharing This Meme Could Get You Arrested In The UK

 

From the Daily Mail: "Former Police Officer Convicted of Sharing ‘Grossly Offensive’ Meme About Islam in Britain." Per the article:

    Retired police officer Stephen Gray, 65, has been found guilty by the Newton Aycliffe magistrates’ court of breaching Section 127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003 over a post he reshared on Facebook, which was deemed to be “grossly offensive”.

    According to The Telegraph, Gray was reported to the Durham Constabulary for two Facebook memes by a non-Muslim neighbour of his, whom Gray had previously been in a separate dispute with.

Gray avoided conviction for the first meme because "as it concerned a political issue that had been debated in Parliament." But he was not so lucky with the second:

    The second meme depicted a picture of a man wearing a turban next to some bacon with the caption: “Fun facts about Bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9-year-old!”

    As the post was not considered to be a political message, but rather critical of a religion, it was found to be “grossly offensive” by the court. For this, Gray was found guilty of violating the Communications Act and was ordered to pay £1,000 in fines and court costs. 

Related: "Afghan man, 45, 'marries girl aged SIX before Taliban intervene... and say he must wait until she is NINE'"--Daily Mail.  

Another (!) Autozone Store Looted In L.A.

The New York Post relates that "Another LA AutoZone looted — days after cops plastered faces of brazen crew across the internet." From the lede:

    Another Los Angeles AutoZone has been hit by looters — just a week after an East LA store was ransacked twice in a single day.

    A group targeted the locaiton at 10013 S. Central Ave. in South Los Angeles around 5:30 a.m. Monday following an alleged street takeover, according to Fox 11.

    The LAPD said several vehicles blocked an intersection during the takeover, while two people were taken into custody. The number of looters involved in the latest burglary remains unclear as cops investigate. 

Photographs of the suspects appear to show Hispanics. How would you deal with a group like this targeting your house or neighborhood after a SHTF event?  

VIDEO: Finding The Perfect Barrel Length For .308

The producers of the embedded video started with a 72-inch barrel and cut it down at regular increments until they reached 19 inches to find the best barrel length for .308. I believe they expected that at the longer lengths they would see the velocity fall off (something that occurred in another video testing barrel lengths for .22 LR). Instead, what they found was a fairly consistent velocity from 72-inches down to about 45 inches of between 2,750 and 2,800 FPS, and then the velocity started to decline as they went shorter. 

 VIDEO: "Cutting The World's Longest Rifle To Find The Perfect Barrel Length"
MDT Sporting Goods (8 min.)

Richard Dawkins: Speaking From Ignorance

In the video short below, we see Richard Dawkins (an evolutionary biologist) claim to have read a portion of The Book of Mormon, and assert that it was a fake because it was written (translated) in the 19th Century but used 16th Century English and overuses the term "it came to pass". Dawkins doesn't know what he is talking about. 

    First, as the video explains, the Hebrew phrase translated in the Bible as "it came to pass" is actually used at a high frequency in the Hebrew text. 

“And it came to pass” occurs frequently in the Old Testament.[1] The actual Hebrew Bible has some 1,200 occurrences of the phrase, so the King James translators probably found it to be redundant and cumbersome. As a result, they often translated it as “and it became,” “and it was,” or “and.” On a number of occasions they simply ignored the expression altogether. By the time they finished their work on the King James Version, some 727 instances of the phrase remained in the text.   

Thus, since the people in The Book Of Mormon came Jerusalem circa 600 B.C., it would be expected that their writing would similarly have a high occurrence of "and it came to pass".  

    Second, Dawkins claims about 19th Century English differing greatly from 16th Century English is not universal--I only recently linked to a video discussing how British English rapidly changed in the 19th Century--and there were areas of England that spoke essentially what was 16th Century English up through at least World War II. In Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser, he recounts his service in the Burma Campaign alongside troops from Cumbria--a region of Northwest England bordering on Scotland. And their English is very much a King James Bible type of English full of "ye," "thee," and "thou". So much so, that I obtained my copy of Fraser's book from a friend who couldn't decipher it and gave it to me, whereas it was not difficult for me because I regularly read from scripture. 

    As for the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville, the French intellectual who traveled through America in 1831 noted the prevalence of the Bible and commented that he  saw “hardly a pioneer’s hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare.” Thus, not only would have Americans on the frontier in the early 19th Century have been familiar and comfortable with 16th Century English, it may have been the only English they regularly read.

 VIDEO: "Richard Dawkins: 'The Book Of Mormon Is An Obvious Fake'."

Wilder: "Know Your Enemy"

    The latest migrant outrage from the UK is that the government is planning on moving 1,200 single adult male asylum seekers into Linton-on-Ouse, a rural village with only 600 inhabitants. It's not the only place getting this treatment: the village of Piddington, with a population of approximately 350, will be receiving 1,250 single adult male asylum seekers. But the UK leadership doesn't care:

    Residents held a symbolic independence referendum in which 96 percent voted to leave the United Kingdom in protest. Children wrote letters pleading with the Prime Minister not to destroy the only home they have ever known. Parish council chairman Tim McNally has repeatedly warned that the scale is neither fair, safe nor responsible.

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham has responded by doubling down. He insists that “all parts of the country need to play their part” and that middle-class and leafy areas can no longer be shielded while poorer communities carry the load.

    Borders minister Anna Turley has defended the approach as creating a “more fair and equitable system,” even while acknowledging that concentrating arrivals in deprived areas previously fuelled “civil unrest.” 

    All of this brings to mind how  Anonymous Conservative begins his daily news briefs with the following, which I have rephrased as a question: "have [you] wondered how we got flooded with migrants we did not want, how our money is sent to causes overseas we do not care about, why our leaders, who should want to curry the favor of the citizens in order to get elected, do not care a whit about what we want or the well-being of our nations, or why our nations perpetually teeter at the brink of civil wars[?]" 

    Because our ruling class want it. Rod Dreher recently reposted an X-post featuring a video of one of the leaders of the largest far left political parties in France. Key point:

    Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the biggest far-left party in France, explains why the alliance between progressives and Muslims is necessary.

    “If you’re counting on white Christian workers to bring about socialism in France, it won’t happen. But our Muslim brothers and sisters will.”

    This is the same playbook being used by the left in all Western countries. 

 And its true. But it doesn't have to only be Muslims. For instance, the Left in the United States supports mass immigration from Latin America for the same reasons as European and British Leftists support mass Muslim migration: because those populations are already primed to vote for socialism. The only difference is that we know that the Muslims will eventually turn on their putative masters. 

    John Wilder's latest, "Know Your Enemy," discusses those who hate and wish to destroy all that is good and beautiful: those he (and many others) term the GloboLeft and the GloboLeftElite. Their excuses for this invasion varies. Jean-Luc Melenchon, as noted above, wants the flood of migrants to advance socialism; as John makes note in his piece, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wants them because it is worth nearly $200 million to flood our country with them and Utah Senator John Curtis ostensibly wants them here to undercut American wages. 

    The point, though, is that none of the forgoing elites represent or even care about the common man and woman of their respective countries. As John writes:

    The GloboLeft and the GloboLeftElite are not tied to the countries they live in.

    Instead, they are tied to their class.  A professor from Boulder can glide into a conference in London or Paris or D.C. and feel exactly the same:  the same polite applause, the same correct opinions, the same network of people who went to the same schools, read the same journals, and never once had to fix a carburetor.

    The nice hotel room, the brandy, and the bacon-wrapped shrimp taste identical whether the view is of the Flatirons, the Thames, or Islamabad on the Seine.  These people deal almost exclusively with other members of their class.

 And "class" is the correct word to describe them. As Angelo M. Codevilla explained in his seminal article, "America’s Ruling Class—And the Perils of Revolution," explaining why the elites on both sides of the political aisle held such disdain for the "Tea Party" (bold added):

    Never has there been so little diversity within America’s upper crust. Always, in America as elsewhere, some people have been wealthier and more powerful than others. But until our own time America’s upper crust was a mixture of people who had gained prominence in a variety of ways, who drew their money and status from different sources and were not predictably of one mind on any given matter. The Boston Brahmins, the New York financiers, the land barons of California, Texas, and Florida, the industrialists of Pittsburgh, the Southern aristocracy, and the hardscrabble politicians who made it big in Chicago or Memphis had little contact with one another. Few had much contact with government, and “bureaucrat” was a dirty word for all. So was “social engineering.” Nor had the schools and universities that formed yesterday’s upper crust imposed a single orthodoxy about the origins of man, about American history, and about how America should be governed. All that has changed.

    Today’s ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters — speaking the “in” language — serves as a badge of identity. Regardless of what business or profession they are in, their road up included government channels and government money because, as government has grown, its boundary with the rest of American life has become indistinct. Many began their careers in government and leveraged their way into the private sector. Some, e.g., Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, never held a non-government job. Hence whether formally in government, out of it, or halfway, America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats. It rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government.

    The two classes have less in common culturally, dislike each other more, and embody ways of life more different from one another than did the 19th century’s Northerners and Southerners — nearly all of whom, as Lincoln reminded them, “prayed to the same God.” By contrast, while most Americans pray to the God “who created and doth sustain us,” our ruling class prays to itself as “saviors of the planet” and improvers of humanity. Our classes’ clash is over “whose country” America is, over what way of life will prevail, over who is to defer to whom about what. The gravity of such divisions points us, as it did Lincoln, to Mark’s Gospel: “if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

But rest assured that they do not represent or care about the common people. In the article, "Inequality All The Way Down"--a discussion of Peter Turchin’s book End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration--the author relates (bold added):

... If you have money, you can easily influence the public opinion, by pushing your narratives in the media. Also, you can invest in lobbying and buy your access to politicians directly. There is an extensive piece of research about this by the political scientist Martin Gillens. He gathered thousands of policy issues between 1981 and 2002. For each of those issues he checked what was ultimately decided and how public opinion was thinking about the issue. He found the political outcomes in the United States only aligned with the interests and wishes of the richest 10 % and their interest groups. Everybody else’s preferences were simply not reflected in national policy decisions. ...

And, as John explains in his post, the elites don't want their preferences challenged:

The GloboLeftElite need the middle class to comply, and they need the anarchy from below to justify their own continued existence as managers of the chaos.  The violent and the non-productive are their power base and their enforcers while the middle class represent the last pool of money they haven’t sucked up.  After they’ve done that, they’re desperate to replace you. 

Read the whole thing.

A Couple Tutorials On Cleaning A Revolver

The first video is just a generic cleaning video with typical cleaning products. The second is from Otis and features some of their specific patches and using a cable rather than a cleaning rod.

 VIDEO: "Basic Revolver Cleaning"
Guns of the West (13 min.)

 

 VIDEO: "Gun Cleaning 101: Colt Python"
Otis Technology (3 min.)

VIDEO: Update On Situation In Africa

The U.S. is getting more involved militarily and, possibly, through mercenary companies, in Africa as it appears we are entering a period of resource competition with China. Time to dig out my old copy of the novel, The Dogs of War.  

VIDEO: "The Africa Situation is Getting Crazy"
Cappy Army (30 min.)

For Hunters: Why Pick A 200 Yard Zero Over A 100 Yard Zero

This video shows, using steel targets sized similar to the vitals of a deer, that with a 100 yard zero, you are wasting half of the vital zone. That is, if holding on the center of the vital zone, the strikes at 100 yards or less are basically the middle of the vital zone, and beyond 100 yards or less they fall below the midline until by 200 yards (using his 6.5 Creedmoor) it was hitting at the very bottom of the vital zone. Conversely, with a 200 yard zero--again aiming at the midline of the vital zone--the shots out to 200 yards were above the midline but still in the vital zone, and they you still had additional room beyond 200 yards where it was still striking in the vital zone. Obviously there will be some variance between this and other calibers and rifles, but the principle generally holds true.  

 VIDEO: "Why a 100-Yard Zero Wastes Half Your Vital Zone"
The Break (21 min.)

Gun & Prepping News #94

Some links that may be of interest: 

• "Gun-toting granny chases off shoplifting suspect: ‘I want to shake her hand’"--New York Post. This is more of a cautionary tale. The "granny" apparently saw a shoplifter leave a Ross store in Tucson and decided to confront him with a drawn gun. The shoplifter wasn't impressed and left with his goods. But here is the thing to remember: whether you agree or not, in almost all jurisdictions, you cannot threaten to use or use deadly force to protect property. Thus, as the article mentions:

    Tucson criminal defense attorney Louis Fidel said there are circumstances under which a person can display or use a firearm to prevent certain crimes, but shoplifting isn’t one of them.

    “It really depends on the details, but there is a statute that authorizes people to display or use a firearm to prevent certain crimes,” Fidel told KOLD News 13. “Shoplifting is not one of those crimes.”

    Fidel warned that pointing a firearm during the confrontation could potentially result in an aggravated-assault charge involving a deadly weapon.

The article mentions that no arrests have been made and the Tucson police are still investigating the incident. The police aren't going to care about the shoplifter but they will care about an aggravated assault with a firearm, so undoubtedly the one they are going to try and nab is the elderly woman.

• "CMP to Sell 100K Military M14 Rifles: What We Know"--Rifle Shooter Magazine. So now we know that there will be a not-insignificant number of these rifles, the price will be "under $2,000" and they will be sold as they are checked and converted to semi-auto only. 
• "Is the Beretta 92 Still Relevant?"--Shooting Times. Most of the article is about the history and features of this iconic firearm. But the article eventually answers the question posed in the title about why it is still relevant:

The fixed barrel on the 92 offers inherent accuracy and makes it a smooth cycling, soft shooter. The magazine design is one of the best ever conceived. It takes to a suppressor well. The 92’s reputation was earned serving law enforcement and the military. The pistol is customizable and in a constant state of evolution, adapting to the new shooter needs. The Beretta 92 is and always will be relevant as long as there is a need for a proven, reliable, performance driven pistol.  

Even though they are larger and heavier than what you might want for everyday carry, they make excellent handguns for home defense--the "night stand gun" or something similar.  

• On the subject of home defense pistols: "Home Defense Basics: A Beginner's Guide"--Handguns Magazine. Richard Nance covers firearm selection, ammo, lights, safes (for storage of the firearm) and making a plan. He also provides detailed advice on clearing a house. On the latter point, Nance begins:

If you can’t account for everyone, your job will become far more difficult. Clearing a structure, even one you know as well as you know your own home, is extremely dangerous. But if a loved one is unaccounted for, you won’t have any choice but to make your way to them as quickly and safely as possible. Unfortunately, quickly and safely don’t always go hand in hand.

• "The Mummy's Revolvers: The Story of the French M1873"--Firearms News. A look at the revolver used by the character Rick O'Connell in the 1999 blockbuster The Mummy. The article notes:

Adopted by the French Army in 1873, the Chamelot-Delvigne revolver was France's first standard-issue double-action military revolver. It represented a significant step forward from earlier percussion and pinfire handguns and reflected France's position as one of the world's leading firearms innovators during the 19th century.

• "Tips on Shooting Uphill/Downhill Angles"--Rifle Shooter Magazine. 

    Over the last 40 years I have no idea how many words I’ve written on figuring the correct hold when shooting uphill or downhill. The concept is simple, and I’m sure we all know it: Uphill or down, the effect is the same, and as distance and angle increase, the strike will be higher in relation to your level-ground zero.

[snip]

     There is something else you need to consider as well, and it may be more important. Finding a steady position for uphill/downhill shots is much harder than on level ground.    

The author notes that he normally shoots off a pack, but at steeper angles a bipod helps. He discusses this in more detail.  

• "Carry Confidently: 5 Essential CCW Tips for Women"--Handguns Magazine. Although the article's author obviously intends to focus on women carriers--and there are some tips specific to women--most of the tips and suggestions are useful for men starting out concealed carry or still trying to figure out how it works. The author begins:

    Choosing to carry is not just buying a gun. It is building a system. That is where a lot of women get stuck.

    For years, women were treated like an afterthought: shrink the gun, paint it pink, and call it "for women." That advice is lazy.

    After working with new students, I hear the same question all the time: "I bought a gun... now what?" My answer is usually: now we figure out the setup.

    What works for your body, clothing, and lifestyle? What can you carry consistently? The best setup is not the one that looks good on paper. It is the one you can actually use.

She covers holster selection, how body shape and lifestyle impact your carry setup, making your wardrobe part of your carry system, carry position, and training. 

• "A Precision .22 LR Can Help You Shoot Better. Here’s How You Can Build One on a Budget"--Outdoor Life. 

    Using a 22 as a practice or training rifle provides two big benefits. First, the mild little cartridge that’s propelled by just a pinch of flakey gunpowder has minimal recoil. When we discuss recoil in the context of improving your shooting, we don’t mean it as a measure of how hard it kicks — because it doesn’t. We are talking about sight picture disruption and, while the .22 LR does produce some, it’s very little. The lack of that distraction can help you focus on improving fundamental skills like trigger control, but also gives you valuable practice staying in the scope and spotting impacts — something that will benefit you both in competition and hunting.

    The second big benefit is that the round’s affordability allows lots of real shooting practice, and actual shooting gives you downrange feedback that dry firing can’t. Quality, and I mean quality, .22 LR ammo is pretty expensive, but still cheaper than most centerfire stuff. My rifle shoots affordable ammo, like CCI Standard Velocity, well enough for practice. 

• "Carbine Drill: Fight to Your Feet"--Green Ops. A drill that starts with you laying on your back, then to sitting, then to kneeling, and, finally, to standing. 
• "Guest Post: UHDPE Ballistic Plates"--Blue Collar Prepping. When combined with a layer of ceramic, it can make relatively inexpensive Level IV plates, while being much lighter than steel along. The author adds:

If you can carry the extra weight, I’d also recommend a "training" or "fitness" metal plate (it doesn’t necessarily need to have a ballistic rating) to save your chest the pain of blunt trauma after being shot, and to keep you in the fight since backface deformation (how deformed the side of armor closest to your skin becomes after being struck by a bullet) allows for potentially lethal injuries. ...

• "Be Ready, But Be Careful About Scripting Your EDC Gear Too Tightly"--Shooting Wire. An excerpt:

    For instance, I recently watched a video put out by a large gun rights group where the presenter showed off the contents of his “get home bag.” The purpose of this bag, he said, was to help him get back home no matter what might happen.

    In the bag, he had a half-dozen AR-15 magazines, three smoke grenades and a tactical tomahawk. That’s it. No way of procuring water, nothing to create a shelter, just a bunch extra mags for his truck gun, some smoke grenades for concealment and evasion…and a tomahawk.

    Clearly he had scripted out a scenario in his head where the only dangers he’d face on the way back home would be man-made and not something more mundane like inclement weather. 

• "How Much Rice and Beans Per Person Per Day for Survival"--Modern Survival Blog. The author begins:

Quick Answer: For a basic survival calculation using a 2:1 ratio by dry weight, plan on about 0.8 pound of dry white rice and 0.4 pound of dry beans per person per day. Together, they provide roughly 2,000 calories.

The author provides a table showing the amount per day, for a 30 day period, and for a year for a single person when assuming that this is to provide 100% of your 2,000 calories diet. But there is also an interactive calculator where you can calculate the amounts for more people, for different lengths of time, and the percentage of the diet (e.g., perhaps you anticipate only using the beans and rice for half of your caloric intake). 

• "Vehicle Leak Identification"--Blue Collar Prepping. Some tips on identifying types of leaks and where the leaks are coming from. 
•  "How to Tie a Bowline Knot: The Most Useful Knot to Outdoorsmen"--Outdoor Life. Why learn this knot?

    A bowline can be tied in cord, line, or string of any diameter, though it was designed for use with thicker ropes. It’s a loop knot, and the beauty of it is that it can be tied in seconds. It won’t slip under heavy strain when tied correctly. Even after it’s subjected to high tension, it can easily be undone. The bowline also allows you to create a loop of any size, which makes its applications practically innumerable.

    You may need it to quickly secure your boat to a dock piling or stump when cleats aren’t available. You can use it in a pinch to drag an ATV stuck in the mud out with your truck. You may need it to help pull a buddy out of a ravine after a bad fall. Sound extreme? Of course it does, but the point is that the simple ability to create a loop in a length of rope that you can trust to bear a heavy load is something every outdoorsman should know. With fewer than 10 minutes of practice, you’ll be able to tie a bowline with your eyes closed. 

• "How to Tie a Slip Knot: The Incredibly Simple Knot That Every Outdoorsman Should Know"--Outdoor Life.
• "Learn How to Tie a Square Knot, the Fastest Way to Join Two Lengths of Rope"--Outdoor Life. 

Weekend Reading #69

Some longer or more involved reading:

•  Due to my delay in posting this week, I am able to include the latest Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter and compendium of links from Jon Low. A few highlights:
• Jon has collected quite a few videos and articles discussing the Twin Falls' In-N-Out Burger active shooter incident. And in that regard, he includes the following quote from Gabe Suarez:

      THE GOAL IS NOT TO SAVE LIVES, OR TO STOP THE KILLING,  OR GET ANYONE TO SAFETY.  THOSE THINGS MAY HAPPEN SUBSEQUENT TO YOUR MISSION SUCCESS, BUT THEY ARE NOT YOUR MISSION. 

      THERE IS ONLY ONE MISSION - LOCATE, IDENTIFY, AND TERMINATE THE SHOOTER.  

      EVERY PIECE OF GEAR YOU CARRY, EVERY TRAINING SESSION YOU EXECUTE, AND EVERY STEP AND ACTION YOU TAKE AT THAT EVENT MUST BE ORIENTED TO ACCOMPLISH THAT MISSION - LOCATE, IDENTIFY, AND TERMINATE THE SHOOTER.

But Suarez also is quite blunt that it is not something for the average concealed carrier. From another quote Jon includes:

     So rather than the underachiever’s “three rounds at three yards in three seconds”,  we train for an event like this.  Facing an active shooter or terrorist.  We carry fighting weapons, not convenient mini-pistols.  We train for accuracy, not to beat a timer’s beep.  And we train at extended distances as well as standard distances.  And time and again, these practices have been shown to be the deciding factor in events like this.   

On the other hand, you are more likely to be killed by lightening than be the victim of an active shooter; but, based on data from a 1987 report, you have an 83% chance of being the victim of a violent crime during your lifetime (it is slightly higher if you are a man, and slightly lower if a woman). So while Suarez may poo-poo those who don't carry combat pistols on a daily basis, the "convenient mini-pistols" are sufficient for the vast majority of self-defense situations most people will find themselves in; and, more importantly, the "convenient mini-pistols" will actually be carried while the heavy and/or bulky combat pistol will often be left at home. Unfortunately, it is difficult to collect information about civilians stopping active shooters which John Lott discusses in his paper, "Do Armed Civilians Stop Active Shooters More Effectively Than Uniformed Police?" let alone the weapons used. I agree that a combat pistol would be better than a pocket pistol or sub-compact pistol once you are using it, but the question for concealed carry is what is the largest will you be able and willing to carry on a regular basis. The better solution might be to learn how to use the "convenient mini-pistol" for longer shots. There is no reason why you shouldn't be practicing shots out to 25 yards with a handgun, or even longer if your range allows for it. Fortunately, unlike the situation even a decade ago, most of the small handguns produced today can be fitted with decent sights.  

• Speaking of accurate shooting, Jon has some guidance:

     A correct grip, surprise trigger break, and correct follow-through will allow you to achieve precision. 

      Once you are able to shoot a tight group, all bullets through the same hole at 3 yards or all bullet holes touching at 5 yards, you have demonstrated precision.  Now you are ready to move your sight to achieve accuracy, which means your point-of-impact matches your point-of-aim.   

     Move your sights to move your point of impact to match your point-of-aim.  Fixed iron rear sights in a beaver tail can be pushed left or right with a sight pusher.  Fixed iron front sights can be ground down if the point-of-impact is low or replaced with a taller front sight if the point-of-impact is high.   

     Correct zero is essential for confidence.  Confidence is the difference between taking the shot, and not to taking the shot because you're not sure you will hit your target, or because you fear that you will hit the hostage.   

     Cool calm confidence is achieved with training, practice, and a properly zeroed pistol.   

     If you are using an adjustable sight on your pistol, it's too fragile for combat.  Self-defense is combat.  Yes, I know it works in the pristine conditions of your training and practice.  But that is not combat.  All kinds of strange things happen in combat.  Murphy's Law is in full force in combat.       

    "The Marine Corps uses red dot optics."       

    Yes, I know.  But that doesn't mean it is best practice.  Remember, the Army used Blackhawk SERPA holsters, which was an act of criminal stupidity.  Institutions, no matter how reputable, do not necessarily follow best practices.  Rather, they suffer from institutional inertia, bureaucracy (not meritocracy), and lowest bidder contracting.   

• Speaking of holsters, Jon has a bit from Gabe Saurez about that recent video of the guy that shot himself in the testicle when drawing a Glock from an appendix holster. An excerpt:

     Striker fired pistols are the norm for much of the CCW and LE worlds now.  But I know that they also reduce your margin of error considerably.  They are great when you are at your best, but a liability when you are not.  Like the man said, “shit happens”.  I think it happens more easily with a striker fired pistol. 

      I had a very successful doctor student. This guy was not quite Elon Musk, but I would not be surprised if they had met at some point.  He always had a very nice tuned high end pistol in class.  But it was always a double action weapon.  It was initially a Sig P226 of some sort, and later an HK P30 series.  All with marvelous DA triggers and optics and everything you could ask for.  All the others, myself included, were using Glocks.  I asked him once why he chose that system.  He told me that he had been an ER Doctor for years and he had handled a plethora of self inflicted gunshot injuries.  And that these ranged from a neophyte that had little skill, to high level sport shooters, to legitimate police operators.  All of them without exception, involved striker fired pistols.   

I've argued for years that the double action trigger acts as an additional safety on a handgun, so I do feel somewhat vindicated reading this. 

• And an important safety tip:

     "Safety Tip:  If you are a concealed carry holder who engages an active threat inside a public business, your immediate post-shooting protocol is critical for your survival.  When police officers flood through the doors on an active shooter dispatch, they are looking for anyone holding a gun.  Keep your hands empty, raise them high with fingers spread, and clearly identify yourself as the reporting citizen who stopped the attacker."  

•  Next up is a Greg Ellifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump. Some of the articles that warrant your attention:
• Tips to avoid looking like a soft target for criminals (I would note that Jon links to a different article on the same topic in his newsletter).
• Dry fire practice protocols. As Greg notes, "Dry practice is one of the more dangerous things we do with firearms." And the reason is because (a) people don't double-check that the handguns are unloaded throughout the dry-fire session (this is really a situation of "trust but verify" even if the person you are trusting is yourself); and (b) failing to follow the rules of gun safety.
• A history of the duty pistols issued by the New York Police Department starting with the first--a .32 caliber revolver in 1896--up to today's Glock 17 Gen 4. 
• A piece entitled "The Cold Test: What 100 Runs Taught Me" which goes over the value of shooting a particular drill cold at the beginning of a shooting session which will give you a better picture of your actual skills/ability if you need to use a firearm in self-defense.
• For hunters and rifle shooters, an article on using a ruck or bag as a shooting rest.
• An article discussing the 50 versus 100 yard zero for the AR.  Greg comments: "For me, my red dot sighted rifles have 50 yard zeros.  My rifles with magnified optics get 100 yards zeros." Sounds like a good rule of thumb. 
• An article on the importance of bullet construction that warns about using varmint bullets for self-defense. The issue with varmint bullets is that they are designed to expand rapidly in smaller animals (dog sized or less), even at low velocities, to avoid overpenetration and potentially ruining a pelt. But that also means that these bullets will often not penetrate deeply into something larger--like a deer or a person. If you want an expanding bullet, you should make sure to use something suitable for at least deer hunting. 

• "Humanity May Soon Have the Technology To Reach Other Star Systems"--SciTech Daily.  An article looking at using a light sail driven by a laser beam to get small probes to other star systems. 
• The banality of evil: "Fauci was not a mad scientist, but a mere bureaucrat granted unlimited power"--The Dossier.  An excerpt:

 On Monday, Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul released the first text chain from what we hope are a series of communications recovered from Fauci’s government-issued iPhone, which HHS finally handed over on August 5 in response to Johnson’s request. His phone is said to hold more than 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails. Quite suspiciously, it only contains three saved contacts, which probably means that it was tampered with. I do hope that government officials can secure the data that was possibly deleted.

The senators released something of a bombshell that discusses January 2021 communications between Fauci, then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and future Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. This was just days after former President Biden’s inauguration. The subject is pregnant women and the mRNA injections. In it, Fauci writes that the supposedly “safe and effective” shot “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.”

One week later, Fauci went in front of cameras and said the vaccines had “no red flags” regarding pregnant women. He later said that there was “no indication whatsoever” of increased adverse events in pregnant women. By September, Walensky and her comrades in the Biden Government Health bureaucracy were strongly recommending vaccination before or during pregnancy.

Annals of Corruption: Doctors Transitioning Kids

For liberals, "helping" someone is just an excuse to make money. The New York Post reports: "Hospitals, doctors got rich through shady gender-care billing tactics — and taking advantage of kids: damning report." From the lede: "US hospitals and clinics have billed out nearly $120 million in gender-related medical treatments to minors since 2019, putting thousands of children on an expensive and irreversible treadmill requiring lifelong upkeep — with the blessing of doctors and lefty politicians."

    HHS points to “financial incentives” as one potential explanation for the explosion in gender-related care for minors — as hospitals sought a way to juice profits in pediatric departments, which typically bring in lower margins than other specialties.

    “Gender clinics changed that calculus by introducing a novel source of revenue: they promised a new stream of continuous revenue for pediatrics, endocrinology, and surgical specialties by taking physiologically healthy young people — who otherwise would not need to seek medical attention, and rendering them dependent for life on the medical system.”

    The report cited watchdog analyses that have found hospitals and clinics have billed almost $120 million in gender care treatments since 2019 — involving 5,500 surgical procedures and 8,500 courses of hormones or blockers.

    HHS accuses health care providers of willfully misusing diagnostic codes — diagnosing patients with endocrine disorder or precocious puberty — to get insurance to foot the bill or to protect a patient’s privacy. 

NFA Injunction Takes Effect

From The Truth About Guns: "DOJ Lets the Stay Expire — Silencer Shop’s NFA Injunction Takes Effect." From the article:

    At 12:01 a.m. Central on August 13, the seven-day stay on Judge James Wesley Hendrix’s ruling in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF ran out — and the Department of Justice let it. No emergency motion to the Fifth Circuit. No request to extend the pause. Nothing.

    For the first time in more than 90 years, a federally licensed dealer legally transferred a suppressor to a private buyer with no tax stamp, no Form 4, and no entry in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

    Gun Owners of America, Silencer Shop, and two buyers; YouTuber turned congressional candidate Brandon “The AK Guy” Herrera and Texas state Rep. Wes Virdell closed the deal minutes after the stay lapsed.

    GOA called them the first unregistered suppressor purchases from Silencer Shop in the NFA era, and argued both men were covered twice over: as GOA members and as Silencer Shop customers. 

The article warns, however: "This is where readers need to slow down before doing anything stupid. The injunction is broad, but it is not nationwide amnesty." 

• The relief covers suppressors and AOWs bought through Silencer Shop or its dealers — not every gun store in America.
• It applies only in the 27 states without state laws mirroring the NFA. Fifteen states will still require ATF registration, and suppressors remain flat-out banned in others.
• SBRs and SBSs are covered by the ruling — but a separate law still stands. Hendrix’s order struck the NFA registration and approval requirements as applied to short-barreled rifles and shotguns too. The catch is the Gun Control Act: 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(4) independently bars a dealer from transferring an SBR or SBS without ATF sign-off, that provision sits outside the enjoined NFA sections, and an approved Form 4 is currently the only paperwork ATF offers to satisfy it. The tax is $0, and the NFA hook is gone, but a Form 4 is still required for short-barreled long guns, which is why Silencer Shop launched with suppressors and AOWs only.
• State and local law still remains regardless of this potential win.

There are more details in the article, so be sure to read the whole thing. The Mr. Guns 'n' Gear channel also goes into more detail:

VIDEO: "Breaking: The Biggest 2nd Amendment Win Ever - What You Need To Know"
Mrgunsngear Channel (26 min.)

Jelly Fish UAP On Mars?

 You may have seen images or video of a jelly-fish like UAP recorded flying over a military facility in Iraq in 2017 (if not, here is a link to a video on YouTube that has the footage). There is now being circulated a photograph taken NASA's Curiosity rover on August 20, 2023, that shows a jelly-fish like object seemingly hovering or walking over the Martian surface. "Fueling speculation that NASA’s rover had captured something moving across Mars, images taken of the same area less than a minute earlier showed no sign of the mysterious figure," the article relates, but the key photo was the last taken in that direction for that day. 

An enlarged portion of the original image. 

Islamification and the Dallas Fort Worth Airport

The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport will be installing Muslim foot washing stations inside its terminal bathrooms.  "The washing stations will provide a dedicated space in the public airport bathrooms for Muslims to wash their feet before prayer, an Islamic tradition known as Wadu," with the excuse given that it will keep Muslims from washing their feet in the bathroom sinks. It won't, and it seems suspiciously like a violation of the separation of church and state. Airports can install chapels or "meditation rooms" where they can be used by people of any religion (or none at all) for prayer or introspection, but not to promote a particular religion. In this case, though, there is no question but that the washing stations are to accommodate a religious practice specific to Muslims. 

Interesting: Fallout Season 2 Used Abandoned LA Mall For "New Vegas"

From the New York Post: "Abandoned California mall transformed into post-apocalyptic Las Vegas set for ‘Fallout’." The article relates that "[i]nstead of filming in the real Las Vegas, [Production designer Howard] Cummings used the long-abandoned Valley Plaza Mall, which opened in 1951 and has been dormant for over a decade, and turned it into the small screen New Vegas."

    The mall’s old Regal Theater building was rebranded as the Gomorrah Hotel and Casino, with the 27-foot Lucky 38 sign standing next to it, which was built by his team on set.

    “Most people think this is all CG and they just did a greenscreen,” Cummings said, insisting that these were all real practical sets, aside from digital Vegas backdrops.

    The prewar flashback scenes were filmed first, before the nuclear blast that turned Goggins’ Howard into The Ghoul, before Cummings and his team went back and “trashed” that set. 

    “All the palm trees look good at the beginning, and then they’re all dead. The brand-new cars [were] rusted and destroyed,”

    Cummings also shot the Freeside district of New Vegas in an Old West town in Santa Clarita, California, the same location where another show he worked on was shot, HBO’s “Westworld.”

    The production designer and his team had to re-face the buildings to match them to the buildings from the game, though there was some digital work as well.   

However, the Valley Plaza Mall is slated for demolition, so it won't be showing up in any subsequent seasons of the show.  

Annals of Corruption: Fauci's Pay-to-Play Scheme

The College Fix states that "Fauci’s ‘pay-to-play scheme’ both ‘unlawful’ and ‘unethical,’ Rutgers expert says." 

    New documents released by Senator Rand Paul detail Fauci’s “side hustle,” which include winning millions of dollars in cash prizes. Fauci would solicit his allies who also received federal funding from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases to nominate him for prizes.

    Some of the solicitations occurred during the nationwide COVID lockdowns that were created at the prompting of Fauci.

    He also instructed federal staffers to work for him to find prizes and manage the application process, including one that netted him $900,000.

No wonder he needed a blanket pardon. 

Surviving An Earthquake

The Associated Press addresses the question of "After an earthquake, how long can trapped people survive?" As with most questions in life, the answer is "it depends."  The article explains that "[t]rapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury while they await rescue, like under a sturdy desk...." Beyond that, survival depends on having food, water, and air. And this advice:

    The best practices for survival during an earthquake depend on where you are in the world. Building codes in regions with active fault lines are often designed to withstand earthquakes, but that doesn’t hold true everywhere.

    In many countries, including the United States, the best practices are to drop, seek cover and hang on unless you are close to a building exit. Seek shelter under a heavy table or near sturdy furniture that may yield a survivable pocket if the roof collapses. Cover your face with cloth or a mask to protect from dust and debris.

    If you are trapped in the rubble after an earthquake, save your energy and don’t overexert. Ration food and water, listen for rescue calls and search for something near you to make noise. If you have a phone with you, conserve its battery and try for help in short spurts each day.

As for time, the article notes that most survivors are rescued within 24 hours, but notes that in 2011, two people in Japan were found alive after being trapped for 9 days; and a survivor of a 2010 earthquake in Haiti was pulled from the rubble after 15 days.  

Is AOC The Democrats' Next Chosen One?

Those of you old enough to remember when Obama came on the scene probably remember how he quickly went from a complete unknown outside of Chicago to the head of the Democratic party ticket as though he had been chosen for the role. I'm seeing pundits make similar predictions about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Certainly she seems to be modifying her rhetoric to make her more palatable to the national electorate. Scott Pinsker has some thoughts about this in his piece, "The Cunning Genius of AOC’s ‘Woke’ Reboot." He warns:

    Tread carefully, Republicans: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is still America’s most dangerous Democrat — and still the odds-on favorite to win her party’s 2028 presidential nomination.

    And if she captures the nomination, there’s (roughly) a 50%-50% shot she’ll win the White House. Don’t underestimate her: She’s media-savvy, camera-friendly, photogenic, and her PR instincts are as sharp as Sardinian swords.

And his example of this is her recent comments attempting to downplay "wokeness":

    Consider how deftly she just rebooted the “woke” narrative.

    Because woke is a joke in 2026: Woke is cringe, woke is dead, woke is done. 

    Other than the fringiest of the fringe, nobody takes it seriously anymore. ...

[snip]

    The excesses of wokeism are legion. A lesser politician would’ve tried to relitigate this or recalibrate that. 

    But AOC knew better. 

    Instead of polishing a turd and pretending it’s chocolate, she acknowledged overreaching, killed the old narrative, and set the stage for the “new and improved” version 2.0.

    Remarkably, she did it in a single sentence.

Pinsker goes on to note that by this, AOC "signaled a willingness to learn, grow, adapt, and change," which will be critical on a national stage because she will come across as an open-minded pragmatist because of her ability to grow and change. 

    Dace Potas also poo-poos AOC's retreat from "Woke 1.0" in an op-ed at USA Today. He concludes:

The existence of "Woke 1" implies that a "Woke 2" is already in the works. From what I can tell, it isn't all that different in substance, just strategy and rhetoric. Progressive candidates will keep being haunted by Woke 1.0 for as long as they run for office, unless they explain – explicitly – why this time is different. Otherwise, voters will see right through it. 

And he explains:

    To anyone paying attention at the time, woke was a lot more than “a derogatory euphemism for civil rights & justice,” as AOC put it back in 2021, when she wanted those positions taken seriously.

    Among the excesses of Woke 1.0 was a movement aimed at defunding or abolishing the police, gender reassignment surgery for minors, the insistence that men can menstruate, justification of rioting, racial discrimination in hiring and much, much more. 

    Not every progressive held each of these positions, but as a collective, they were fine letting them enter the political mainstream. By her own admission, AOC described Woke 1.0 as an attempt to shift the Overton window, the range of ideas considered acceptable in mainstream political debate.

    “During this time, especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window,” AOC said. “We were shut down. There was some of the highest unemployment rates that we have seen because of those shutdowns, and I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place, and I actually think that the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful.”

    But it was more than that. Progressives pushed corporate America into diversity, equity and inclusion mandates that indoctrinated employees and built a cancel culture that met dissent with job losses and charges of bigotry.

    Even progressives who didn't believe the most extreme positions were incentivized to promote them, since it made their own positions sound reasonable by comparison. Instead of "abolish the police," mainstream Democrats arrived at "defund." Instead of "abolish borders," many arrived at "abolish ICE."

    In any event, the pivot from "Woke 1.0" is all show. To the extent there is a "Woke 2.0" it will be far worse than anything we have seen so far; just as Obama's idea of "racial healing" was to stoke racial hatred against whites. Over at the Battleswarm Blog, Lawrence Person points out:

    There was no “Woke 1.0,” just a continuous racialist, anti-Western Civilization, anti-rational, anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-capitalist, anti-Republican movement whose roots stretch back into the Comintern, Gramsci and the Frankfurt School, carried forward into the Port Huron Statement, the Weather Underground, the campus radicals of the 1960s and their long march through academia and other western institutions, special campus victimhood identity politics carve-out departments for blacks, Hispanics, radical feminists and “Queer Theory,” into the political correctness of the 1980s that blossomed into the poisonous flowers of social justice, radical transsexism, Palestinian- and Islamo-felia and anti-Israel animus that has turned into full-blown antisemitism, and a radical fringe in the Democrat Party that metastasized to its core under Obama and President Autopen. AOC’s Democratic Socialists of America and their fellow-travelers were all on-board with their lunacy every step of the way.    

[snip]

    And throughout it all, the SJW/DSA types were onboard with all of it, every step of the way. There was no “woke 1.0,” there was only the same madness taking on new forms.

    You didn’t regret it then and you don’t regret it now, you only regret getting caught. ...

[snip]

    You don’t regret any of the pain you inflicted on normies, you only regret not getting to inflict more of it. You still view yourself as the natural anointed rulers of those benighted rubes in JesusLand.

 Like other socialists before them, the DSA and its adherents truly believe "[e]verything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State". And they intend on controlling the State. Stalin blamed the Kulaks for the ills of society; Hitler blamed the Jews; and the modern Leftists blame white people. We've seen this play before and we know how it ends. 

More Memes!

 John Wilder's dog once again ate his homework, so he is offering up funny memes instead. (Link here).

AI Assistant Hacks Gym Website

The New York Post, in its article, "AI assistant goes rogue, hacks Australian gym website in stunning breach: report," relates that "[a] rogue AI assistant hacked an Australian gym’s website after a local man asked for help booking a workout class[.]" 

    An Australian man identified as Andrew asked his OpenClaw AI assistant – an open-source software whose AI agents can perform real-world tasks — to book him a spot in a morning class, Australian outlet ABC reported.

    Instead of just following instructions, the assistant, which relied on Anthropic’s Claude as its underlying model, bypassed the gym website’s safeguards to book the man in classes months in advance – beyond what the gym usually made possible, according to the outlet.

    The hack escalated after the man asked the AI assistant if it could help him get off the waitlist for a workout class schedule for later that same week. The assistant immediately found a flaw in the website’s code and exploited it to cancel another gym-goer’s reservation.

Imagine what AI will be able to do in a year or two. 

Why The British Don't Sound Like Americans Anymore

At the time of the American Revolution, American and British accents were nearly identical. What changed is that in the 1800s, the British--particularly the upper class and, later, the aspiring middle-class--deliberately chose to speak in a way that dropped pronouncing the "r" in order to sound more sophisticated. 

VIDEO: "Why Americans Don't Sound British Anymore (Here's Exactly When That Changed)"
Airlearn Language Show (15 min.)

Anonymous' Conservative's 8/11/2026 News Brief

I assume that most of you probably read Anonymous Conservative's morning newsletter--it is listed in my list of links to the side of the web version of the blog. But there were a few things that in particular jumped out to me from today's post:

•  Comments allegedly from Elon Musk who believes we are now about a decade from AI replacing most workers. After the 2035 to 2036, salaries will not increase and become irrelevant because people will become irrelevant. For people in that situation, they will need to transform from "salary earner" to "asset owner" ... and probably need to learn to grow their own food.
• A note that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gets 80% of their revenue from government refugee resettlement grants. How many other churches also rely on these grants and contract?
• "Fauci said privately in texts that he knew the data showed that 82% of the women vaccinated in the first trimester would lose their babies, and yet he still went out and assured women who were pregnant the science said they needed to be vaccinated[.]"