July 7, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT)"--SkinnyMedic (3-1/2 min.)

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• Check out this week's Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. A lot of good articles, as always, but one that jumped out at me is "Why the AR-15 Stomps the Mini-14," for the reason that I've seen some articles and videos reviewing the Mini-14 lately, and I wrote an article reviewing the Mini-14 and discussing its pros and cons a couple of months ago. Although the author of the article cited above is much harsher (and succinct) about why he dislikes the Mini-14, most of his points agree with the downsides I'd pointed out, particularly the lack of after-market parts and accessories and the cost of the magazines. I will stand by my original comments about the stainless steel Mini offering some advantages in the marine environment. Yes, it is true that there are fantastic finishes available for the AR, but I've never seen a finish (except for Meloniting, which technically isn't a finish) that can't be chipped or worn away, exposing the bare metal. (By chance, I came across this article at Ammo Land discussing whether it is worth while getting Cerekote or using stainless in context of a concealed carry pistol). 

       However, this does raise a point I've been thinking about when considering defensive rifles. To step back a bit and explain, Timothy J. Mullin has written some books reviewing various firearms, including one entitled The Fighting Submachine Gun, Machine Pistol, and Shotgun: A Hands-On Evaluation. One of the submachine guns he rated highly was the venerable Sten manufactured in the UK and Canada and widely used by Commonwealth forces in World War II--there were literally millions manufactured. He thought that not only was it a pretty good submachine gun, but it was also very cheap: the manufacturing cost in WWII got down to $10 or less per copy, and, according to Mullin, they were still pretty inexpensive in the international weapons market at the time he wrote his book (circa 1998-99). Thus, as he evaluated various post WWII submachine guns, he asked the question: is it appreciably better than a $10 Sten. In the end, while there were many post-War designs that did well, they almost universally failed the test of whether they were appreciably better than a Sten.

       At the time I'm writing this, AR rifles and carbines are fairly inexpensive: base models can be had for $500 or less, and you can build a pretty good quality AR with a free-floated barrel for $700 to $800. So, to me, in discussing defensive rifles, AR style rifles occupy the same position as the Sten did in relation to submachine guns: a well developed design of proven effectiveness and good economics. Consequently, consideration of a defensive rifle invites a similar comparison as Mullin did with the Sten: is there something that a rifle under consideration can do that makes it appreciably better than an AR, either in some desirable features or characteristics, or as to cost?

        It is hard to look at other rifles in the defensive role (or even expensive AR variants for that matter) and answer in the affirmative. Back when I built my AKs, fully assembled AKs were cheap, and building one from a kit was even cheaper. Now, not so much: prices are comparable on entry level weapons. For instance, looking at Centerfire Systems web-page today, I see Del-Ton M-4 style carbines (with a rear BUS included--it has a standard front post sight) for $400, and a Ruger M-4 style carbine for $500. In comparison, the AK style rifles they list are between $500 and $580. Even a lowly Yugo SKS is $380. And the best prices I've seen lately for AK parts kits are $300. A barrel and receiver, by themselves, would easily exceed $200.

       As I noted in my article on the Mini-14, at one time the Mini-14 was approximately 2/3 the price of an AR rifle. Now the price of a base Mini-14 is higher than comparable ARs, and factory magazines are considerably more expensive. So, comparing both rifles and considering today's prices, it is apparent that, all things considered, the Mini-14 is not appreciably better than the AR, but rather stands at a distinct disadvantage to the AR. 

       I believe that the same can be said of other defensive rifles on the market, such as the Tavor or Robinson Arm XCR rifle, just to name a couple. The Tavor is a bullpup rifle, but other than that feature, it is inferior to the standard AR in price, availability of parts and accessories, trigger, etc. The XCR is a very fine looking weapon and seems to combine the best features of the AR and AK; but other than a gas-pistol operating system, true folding stock and a side mounted cocking handle, does it offer any advantages over the AR? And are those features really that important or worth the extra one to two thousand dollars you might pay? Even among different AR style rifles, the same can be asked. For instance, HK offers a piston driven gas system on what is otherwise a standard AR style rifle. But one of those rifles will run $2,500 or more for what, in reality, will be slightly easier cleaning and maintenance issues. 

       The same reasoning can apply if you are thinking of getting a different weapon than what you have now, no matter what it is: does what you are considering offer any appreciable benefit over what you already have given the cost? For example, if you were upgrading from an SKS or Mosin-Nagant to a modern defensive rifle, the option of a detachable box magazines by itself would probably be worth it. But if you have an AK and were thinking about a fairly basic AR, the benefit to an upgrade is not so clear, particularly if you already have a substantial amount of money sunk into magazines or ammunition for the AK. On the other hand, if you decide that you need something offering a bit better accuracy at longer ranges (300+ yards), upgrading to an AR with a free-floated heavy barrel may be worth the money and hassle. 

       Obviously, if you are collecting firearms, or just want the latest and greatest, these questions are irrelevant. But if you are looking for a self-defense firearm, and you don't have an unlimited budget, you should be pragmatic in your approach. 

• Related: "Indian 7.62x51mm Ordnance Factory Board Rifle Fail Trials"--The Firearms Blog. India has been attempting to design and build a domestically manufactured combat rifle, and repeatedly failing at it. The latest offering "had excessive number of faults and stoppages to the extent of more than twenty times the maximum permissible standards, the sources said." Other than national pride, is it really worth trying to develop a domestic design over licensing a proven design from another manufacturer? 

• "Can Anything Defeat a Level IV Plate Body Armor?"--The Firearms Blog. Level IV plate is rated to stop anything up to and including .30-06 M2 Armor Piercing ammo. This article indicates that "[t]he Wound Channel have determined that .300 Winmag is no match for level IV and only one really hot .338 RUM load was able to get through an Armour Wear Level IV." But M993 AP 7.62x51mm NATO was easily able to penetrate it.
• "Skill Set: Justified"--Tactical Wire. The author warns that "[i]t's important to recognize that all your actions – from the time you touch your weapon, draw it or if necessary fire – will have to be justified. It will be necessary to explain why you did what you did." He then discusses the three elements necessary to justify drawing or using your weapon.
• Priorities: Although there are thousands of jihadists living in the UK for which law enforcement lacks to the resources to monitor or investigate, British law enforcement has announced that it foiled an attempt to smuggle 79 BB guns into the UK.

Other Stuff:

• Some good economic news: First, the U.S.'s manufacturing index rose to 57.8 last month from 54.9 in May (anything above 50 indicates that manufacturing is expanding); this is higher than China's official figures for its own economy. Second, the U.S. economy added 220,000 jobs in June. 
• "Is America Still a Nation?"--Pat Buchanan at The American Conservative. He writes:

       In the first line of the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson speaks of “one people.” The Constitution, agreed upon by the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia in 1789, begins, “We the people…”

       And who were these “people”?

       In Federalist No. 2, John Jay writes of them as “one united people … descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs…”

        If such are the elements of nationhood and peoplehood, can we still speak of Americans as one nation and one people?

        We no longer have the same ancestors. They are of every color and from every country. We do not speak one language, but rather English, Spanish and a host of others. We long ago ceased to profess the same religion. We are Evangelical Christians, mainstream Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, agnostics and atheists.

Read the whole thing.

• 16,000 environmental activists gathered in the Malheur National Forest north of Burns, Oregon, eschewing requirements for permits, and generally trashing the environment. From another article on the event:

       Forest service regulations require that all non-commercial groups of 75 people or more obtain a group use permit in advance of their gathering. The USFS says the Rainbow Family has not applied nor obtained the permit and therefore participants and spectators involved in the gathering are in violation of federal regulations.  The Rainbow Family contends they don't need a permit, because they are not an organization.

         "We are not an organization, we're not a group, where a bunch of people who happen to come to the same place at the same time,” said one man gathering.

• This doesn't look good for China's real estate bubble: "What Will China Do When Land Use Rights Begin to Expire?"--Gregory M. Stein, University of Tennessee College of Law. From the abstract:

China does not permit the private ownership of land. Instead, private parties may obtain the right to use property for up to seventy years. These parties own the structures on the land but not the underlying real estate. China’s recent economic boom hinges on the success of its real estate market, but the government has not yet addressed three critical questions it must answer soon: Does the holder of a land use right have the ability to renew that right when it expires? If the holder has this ability, must it pay to renew the right? And, if the holder must pay, how much?

• "Global debt reaches US$ 217 trillion"--Next Big Future. The United States and China near the top of the list.

• Related: "The real cause of the stock market's continued rise"--Bayou Renaissance Man. Central banks flooding the market with liquidity. The example given in the article is that the Swiss National Bank holds some $80 billion in U.S. stocks.

• Related: "Have I Ever Said That Warren Buffet is a Stinkin' Hypocrite?"--The Silicon Graybeard. The author writes:

       Neither Buffet nor Newsweek nor CNBC (the link about China) ever mention the central reason (pun intended) for the widening separations between the top and bottom earners: the central banks.  In the US, the Federal Reserve has deliberately and very actively worked to raise stock and housing prices.  In an honest stock market, a process called "price discovery" takes place: buyers and sellers determine the true price of assets.  That died in the 2008 recovery measures.  They may have believed they were helping and not hurting, but the results are the same: they've broken the information pathways in the economy.  (It's illegal, by the way, to manipulate securities prices, but nobody screamed as the Fed goosed up stock and bond prices, boosting total capitalization of both assets by as much as $20 trillion.  Well, nobody screamed except those of us who believe in real money and are opposed to Keynesian, centrally planned economies.)

       ...  As long as there's a firehouse-supply of money available, [buying stocks] becomes a momentum game.  Buying causes more buying.  Excitement causes more excitement.  Millisecond trading algorithms and "Flash Boys" trade on nothing else; they don't know or care if the company is going to be returning dividends in six months, they just care if the price is higher later.  ... 

         This frenzied trading is part of the hypertrophy of finance I talked about last May; the situation created by the central banks in which the GDP of the US is traded every three days; $600 Million per second.  This is where the wealth transfer "from main street to Wall Street" (God, I hate that term) is taking place.  When you can show that since 2007 trade in physical goods and services increased 36 % while currency trading increased 160 %, it's easy to see which sector is making money.  

        The reason I hate the term "transfer of wealth from main street to Wall Street" is that it hides what's really going on.  It implies Wall Street is taking money from the people on Main street.  To begin with, Wall Street isn't benefiting from this at all, if "Wall Street" is used in the sense of the stock markets.  A handful of very big banks are benefiting from this, and it's all being carried out by the central banks at the behest of the governments.  If those banks are traded on Wall Street, their share price may go up because of this, but aside from brokerage fees, higher bank share prices are the only benefit Wall Street gets. 

• The wages of sin: "Oral sex is causing the spread of untreatable 'SUPER gonorrhoea', World Health Organisation warns"--Daily Mail. According to the article:

       Experts said that incurable gonorrhoea has started to spread after becoming resistant to antibiotics, which has been partly caused by oral sex and a decline in condom use.

       The sexually transmitted bacteria can live at the back of the throat and, because of this, has been evolve [sic] immunity to antibiotics used to treat common throat infections.

       The WHO issued a warning after it confirmed that three people had contracted the superbug.

The three cases detected are in Japan, France and Spain. And the reduced use in condoms? The scientist interviewed in the article indicated it was "caused by misguided fears that they cause HIV in the developing world." By "developing world," she likely means Africa. And I would lay odds that the three cases are in or will lead back to the homosexual population.

• "101 shot, 14 fatally, in July 4 weekend gun violence across Chicago"--Chicago Sun-Times. If you decide to read the whole article, note the number that were shot in the early morning hours (between midnight and 4 a.m.). Two suspects were arrested in one of the triple homicides and, as would be expected, they could have been Obama's sons. 

• Related: "The Inconvenient Truth about Ghetto Communities’ Social Breakdown"--Thomas Sowell at the National Review. In this 2015 article, Sowell writes:

       The “legacy of slavery” argument is not just an excuse for inexcusable behavior in the ghettos. In a larger sense, it is an evasion of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of the prevailing social vision of our times, and the political policies based on that vision, over the past half century. 

       Anyone who is serious about evidence need only compare black communities as they evolved in the first 100 years after slavery with black communities as they evolved in the first 50 years after the explosive growth of the welfare state, beginning in the 1960s. 

       You would be hard-pressed to find as many ghetto riots prior to the 1960s as we have seen just in the past year, much less in the 50 years since a wave of such riots swept across the country in 1965. 

       We are told that such riots are a result of black poverty and white racism. But in fact — for those who still have some respect for facts — black poverty was far worse, and white racism was far worse, prior to 1960. But violent crime within black ghettos was far less. 

       Murder rates among black males were going down — repeat, down — during the much-lamented 1950s, while it went up after the much celebrated 1960s, reaching levels more than double what they had been before. Most black children were raised in two-parent families prior to the 1960s. But today the great majority of black children are raised in one-parent families. 

      Such trends are not unique to blacks, nor even to the United States. The welfare state has led to remarkably similar trends among the white underclass in England over the same period. Just read Life at the Bottom, by Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician who worked in a hospital in a white slum neighborhood.

• Related: "Shocker: Costly Social Engineering Program Fails to Work"--The American Interest. From the article:

       Minority communities and low-income Americans have many problems today. Some are the result of historical injustices whose consequences continue to ripple throughout our own time. Some are the result of medical problems and disabilities. Some result from family tragedies. Some are the result of personal choices.

       But a surprisingly large number are either caused by or substantially exacerbated by the consequences of well-intentioned government action: urban renewal projects that have destroyed livable communities, public housing projects that have created dysfunctional crime factories, living wage laws that drive low-skill jobs to the suburbs, sanctuary city policies that attract unskilled illegal immigrants to compete for jobs at the low end of the labor market, rent-control policies that reduce new housing construction, zoning and environmental regulations that make it impossible to build businesses that could hire low skill people where they live, the war on retailers like Walmart that provide cheap goods to people who need them most, pro-public sector union policies that drive up the cost of vital city and community services while entrenching “jobs for life” bureaucrats regardless of poor performance. Increasingly, the cost of retiree pensions is diminishing the amount of money available for badly needed public services in American cities and states.

•  "'We will put American boots on the face of Mars': Pence vows to send astronauts to the Red Planet and launch a return mission to the Moon during trip to NASA"--Daily Mail. We need to seize the high ground before the Chinese do.

July 6, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Israeli Bandage Demonstration"--ITS Tactical / Imminent Threat Solutions (4 min.)

As you probably know, an Israeli bandage is a compression bandage that can be wrapped around a limb and provide compression without someone having to manually apply pressure. This video demonstrates how to apply one to, for instance, a leg wound.

• I feel as though I should apologize for the break in posting. I thought I would have more time around the holiday, but the extra time disappeared. For instance, a few weeks ago, my ward (i.e., church congregation) had assisted with filling and placing sandbags to help prevent flooding. Well, at some point, sandbags have to be removed, and the local emergency authorities asked if we could remove the sandbags, take them to an empty lot a few blocks away, cut them open, dump the sand and put the bags in a dumpster. They would use a loader to remove the sand after that. So, I joined with other congregation members earlier this week in removing the sandbags. I will assure you that hefting sand bags in 100 degree weather was a good way to remind myself that I'm not as young as I used to be. Also, it emphasized the need for having dust masks available, since the sand in most of the bags had long dried out. After about 10 minutes of cutting and dumping, I wandered back to my rig to get a dust mask, which made things much more comfortable when I returned to my task. If you carry a "get home" bag, make sure to keep one or two dust masks inside it, or at least something that you could use in its stead.

So, on to more interesting things:

• "DEREGULATION OF SUPPRESSORS: New “SHUSH” Act Introduced to House and Senate"--The Firearms Blog. I guess you can teach the GOP some new tricks. A new bill has been introduced in the House and Senate (I presume to Committees) in competition to the Hearing Protection Act. Unlike the HPA, which would reclassify sound suppressors as firearms, the SHUSH Act would make sound suppressors firearm accessories and overturn any state laws prohibiting the purchase or possession of a sound suppressor. Thus, similar to the strategy that the liberals used for many years to ratchet up gun control, the Democrats and RINOs are being given a choice between the HPA (which would still require a suppressor to be treated as a firearm) or there being no regulation at all.
• If possible, it is advisable to include shooting from behind, through, or under a barricade (representing cover or concealment) as part of your training. One of the more useful training barricades is the one designed and used by VTAC (plans here in PDF). The problem is that although it is not the "walls" and barrels used in IDPA or similar competition, it is still a hefty size piece of wood and bracing that doesn't lend itself to portability. A company called GTG Consult is not now making smaller, portable barricades (that can even be assembled into larger or taller versions), and provide the same shooting options as the VTAC design. 
• "Portable Solar Generator on a Bike Trailer for Burning Man" by veggiecycle at Instructables (h/t SHTF Preparedness). The author used a 17 volt, 80 watt solar panel (scavenged from a solar lit street sign) because he was designing his system around a 12 volt battery. He also used an inverter, a charge controller (he recommends the Trace C40 or C12), and, of course, a deep cycle (marine) 12 volt battery. He assembled the whole thing on a bike trailer to make it portable, but notes that you could mount it on a balcony, a cabin, or trailer for towing behind an ATV or vehicle. The author claims that he has used it to power "such things as a small refrigerator, a skill saw, several drop lights, a Sawzall with a drop light, ghetto blaster and 3 strings of xmas lights all night, electric tea pot, and the list goes on."
• "Sailboats, survival, and SHTF"--Graywolf Survival. Another take on using a sail boat as a retreat and/or to bug out. The author notes that "learning how to sail will give you the opportunity to learn all sorts of self-sufficiency skills, emergency preparedness skills, and off-grid capabilities. As far as I’m concerned, the skills and knowledge required to sail a boat to a distant shore and live on the boat require almost exactly the same skills that preppers pursue." He also includes a list of books useful for learning to sail and getting the basic certifications necessary, and a couple blogs that follow sail boating.
• "A .338 Lapua for Under $1,700? Savage’s 110 BA Stealth Storms the Market — Full Review"--Guns America. The rifle has an MSRP of $1,622, but the author claims it has a street price closer to $1,200. He got 1/2 MOA or smaller groups at 100 yards and 1,100 yards. The scope he used was a Bushnell DMR II 3.5x21X with the G3 reticle. From what I found, the DMR II will cost about what the MSRP is for the rifle, which is a lot less than other long range scopes.
• The EU continues to fall apart: "Austrian Troops at the Brenner Pass?"--PJ Media. Michael Walsh observes that Austria is refusing to allow so-called refugees from Africa and the Middle-East to cross into Austria from Italy, which has made Italy quite irate. The Italians, "who essentially provide free ferry and naval escort service for any Libyan who steps a toe into the waters off Tripoli or Tobruk," are finally threatening to clamp down on immigration by closing their ports and impounding the ships belonging to "rescue" agencies. Nevertheless, Italy wants to get rid of those "refugees" it has taken in, but Austria is threatening to use troops to control immigration across the Brenner Pass--the main path from Italy to Austria. 
• The wages of sin socialism: "Venezuela’s Poor Rebel, Roiling Maduro’s Socialist Strongholds"--Bloomberg. The article is about how Maduro is loosing support among the poor because of the lack of food and poor services. The article describes the situation thus:

       Services are shaky in Caracas, particularly in the slums that surround the capital. Water pipes go dry for days at a time, trash sits rotting and lights go out due to an aging power grid. The flashpoint has been the failure of the neighborhood food program. Deliveries are sporadic and reports of corruption are rampant.

       “It takes us by surprise when it comes,” said Misleidy Gonzalez, a 21-year-old mother of two who cleans homes to get by. Barefooted children played on the cement floor of the wooden shack in the hillside Mamera slum, where she lives with her sister and niece.

        Years ago, the barrio boasted government food stores filled with subsidized staples.

       “Before you had to wait for hours, but you’d find something,” Gonzalez said. “Last year, I even waited in line pregnant. Now there is nothing. Only the bags.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that Oscar Perez, the "Movie star revolutionary who attacked court with grenades dropped from a helicopter urges Venezuelans to 'stand firm in the streets' against socialist government in new video."

• Global warming alert: "Harsh winter took heavy toll on wildlife across western U.S." and "Record Summer Cold Continues At The North Pole." I'll begin to believe that a minuscule fraction of the atmosphere's chemistry plays a role in shaping the climate when the untampered evidence supports it. Meanwhile, Newsweek reports that "The Sun Is Getting Quieter And Is Displaying Some Very Weird Behavior" as it prepares to enter a solar minimum in the next couple of years.  
• "Means And Ends"--AntiDem. The author observes that liberals generally focus on the means of how to reach their utopia, but not on the ends the means will bring about. He writes:

Whenever you are confronted by someone who wishes to explain their beliefs to you – their philosophical system, the type of government they favor, their preferred social arrangements, and so on – there are a few questions that are always of tremendous value to ask: “Is what you propose an end, or is it a means? If it is a means, then what end is it a means to? If it is an end, what are its inherent benefits in and of itself, apart from those of any other end?” This will almost certainly throw anyone you ask off their guard, because most people pay precious little attention to these big-picture questions. They become so focused on the details of their favored system that they lose sight of them; and yet they are critical and must be answered if we are to avoid grave, even civilization-threatening mistakes.

And thus he turns to two of the current pet projects of the so-called Progressives in both parties: immigration and ethnic diversity. 

       Let us start by considering a test case: the issue of ethnic diversity. Is it a means, or is it an end? If it is a means, what are the ends, and do our observations of the world around us indicate that it is actually producing those ends? If it is an end, then what are its inherent benefits, and do our observations of the world around us indicate that those benefits are actually accruing? Does what we observe in reality around us square with what we were promised by those who supported increased diversity, without any appreciable amount of unintended bad consequences?

       My own observation of reality tells me this: I see no end to which increased diversity is acting as an effective means except for increasing the power of leftist political parties who want the guaranteed votes provided by the importation of millions of dirt-poor immigrants, and the profits of businessmen who want the cheap labor of illegal scabs. Since I do not support these ends, I must reject diversity as a means to anything beneficial. As for diversity as an end with inherent benefits, I say this: If diversity was working as advertised, with no serious bad side effects, then I would have no objection to it. But it visibly is not: the loss of social cohesion, the erosion of freedoms (such as freedom of association and even freedom of speech), the increased risk of crime and terrorism, the slide into socialism based on untenable debt brought about by the increased power of these leftist parties, the “slipping and sliding into Third Worldism” that the great Bob Grant so presciently warned us against – all of these and more present themselves to me in reality as disastrous effects of diversity that those who supported it did not describe as part of the bargain. Weighed against this are benefits – “enrichment” and “vibrancy” – the very unquantifiable vagueness of which testifies to their effective meaninglessness.

       In short, as they say on eBay: “Item not as described”.

• Related: "95 Per Cent of Gang Criminals in Stockholm Have a Foreign Background"--Breitbart.  The article reports that "[a]midst a wave of bloody, gang-related murders in Stockholm, and police warnings that the situation is likely to get worse, a report has found 94.5 per cent of people identified as being involved in the Swedish capital’s violent, organised crime scene have a migration background." Sweden, Yes!

• Related: "Clarion: Jihadi Cult Associate Arrested in NY With Firearms Stockpile"--Breitbart. The article reports that Ramadan Abdullah, "[a] long-time associate of a U.S.-based Islamist terrorist organization, Muslims of America (MOA), has been arrested in Johnson City, NY. Authorities discovered that he had a large cache of weapons inside a storage locker. A source inside MOA says the weapons were intended for the group’s 'Islamberg' headquarters in Hancock, NY." Interestingly, Abdullah had previously been arrested for his involvement in a robbery that resulted in a murder and for possession of bomb making materials. 

• Related: "Crime Drops In Phoenix After City Drops Sanctuary City Status, Former Cops Say"--Weasel Zippers. 

• Don't forget to check out this week's Woodpile Report.

June 3, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Woodman's Pal"--Wilderness Outfitters (10 min.). 

Dave Canterbury reviews the military version of the Woodsman's Pal (WP284). 

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• "GEMTECH Sold To Smith & Wesson"--The Firearms Blog. GemTech has announced that it has been acquired by Smith & Wesson. They are a local company, and I have some concerns that they might be moved back East with the rest of Smith & Wesson, but the article indicates that "the new GEMTECH headquarters building in Meridian, Idaho is still on schedule as well as all current product development and manufacturing capabilities." The acquisition makes sense, what with the Marine Corps looking at equipping each Marine with a silenced weapon. GemTech, by itself, would not have the capital to ramp up production if a large military contract came through, but Smith & Wesson probably would.
• "Get Off the X, Don’t Turtle: Guns for Beginners"--The Truth About Guns. Discussion a video of a man showing off how fast he is with a handgun and reloads, the author of this article has one criticism: the shooter never moves. The author writes: "you need to GTF out-of-the-way first. Or, at the least, at the same time as you’re unleashing a ballistic response. And definitely towards cover (an object that stop bullets) or concealment (an object that hides you). Remembering that a moving target — you — is harder to stab, shoot, pummel or rape than a stationary one."
• "How to Predict Ethnicity of a Mass Shooter from the Ratio of Wounded to Killed"--V Dare. Looking at some mass shootings, the author notes that greater accuracy (expressed in the ratio of dead to wounded) appears to be related to "white privilege." Not a surprising observation, however, to anyone that has noticed that the best quarterbacks are white.

• Related: Speaking of poor shots: "Racist, Black, Mass Shooter “Dr.” Henry Bello Had Committed Felony Attempted Rape, but Through Criminal Justice Affirmative Action, was Only Charged with a Misdemeanor, and Always Got Jobs Through [Affirmative Action]"--Nicholas Stix, Uncensored. 

• "Dakin’s Solution for Wound Care"--Doom and Bloom. Dakin's Solution was a topical antiseptic made from bleach and baking soda, invented during the horrors of World War I to protect against infection in open wounds. According to the author:

Today, Dakin’s solution is still considered effective enough to be used after surgery and on chronic wounds, like bedsores, by many practitioners. It’s easily prepared and can be made stronger or milder by varying the amount of bleach used. Use it simply to clean the wound during dressing changes by pouring onto the affected area, or to moisten dressings used in an open wound.

The author provides a recipe for the solution, as well as instructions on canning it. However, the author notes that even canned, the solution only remains potent for about 30 days, so he recommends it be made as needed in a survival situation. As for use, he directs:

        Pour into wound once daily for mildly infected wounds, twice daily for heavily infected wounds with drainage of pus. Alternatively, moisten (not soak) dressings used inside the wound (not on top of the skin) with a mild strength solution and observe progress. I would prefer using it as a cleanser as opposed to a regular component of a wet dressing. Some studies show that use in this manner may be injurious to developing cells. Having said that, if you’re dealing with a severe infection (as opposed to preventing one), it may be reasonable to incorporate Dakin’s into the dressing.

       Dakin’s solution can be used as a mouthwash for infections inside the oral cavity, but must never be swallowed. Swish for about a minute before spitting it out no more than twice a week.

       Full strength may irritate skin, so consider protecting skin edges with petroleum jelly or other skin protectant/moisture barrier. Look for evidence of skin rashes, burning, itching, hives, or blisters. If irritation occurs, drop down to a milder strength or discontinue. Do not use in those allergic to Chlorine.

One concern I would have is the extended use of this solution. When I was a teen, my hand was caught underneath the tongue of a trailer, which slid across my hand and severely abraded the back and some of my fingers. I was sent home from the emergency room with instructions to soak my hand in hydrogen peroxide twice a day to prevent infection. What the doctor didn't say was whether there was time limit to this program. After a week of doing this, the wounds were clean with no sign of infection, but there was also no indication that they were healing; and it was extremely painful to soak the wounds like this. After the week, I stopped soaking my hand in the H2O2 and started using an antibiotic gel, and the wounds quickly healed without too much scarring. 

• "15 Ways To Wipe Your Butt When The Toilet Paper Is Gone"--Urban Survival Site (h/t SHTF Preparedness). The first three options are other paper products: wipes, kleenex, or old newspaper. Other methods (which will require that the item be cleaned between uses) are to use a sponge, rags, or a flat rock with smoothed edges (basically, a rock that would be good for skipping across a pond). You can also use water: either by washing and splashing the water into the target area using a cup or your hands; or using a squirt bottle, similar to a bidet. The author then discusses some plant leaves that will also work.
• "Thermophilic composting of human wastes in uncertain urban environments: a case study from Haiti" (PDF) -- S. Kramer, et al. A science journal article on the use of composting to dispose of toilet wastes following the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. The paper notes that "[d]espite multiple hurricanes, a cholera epidemic, and political unrest, the SOIL composting facilities have treated over 500,000 gallons of human waste in the past three years, converting it to pathogen free compost, over 10,000 gallons of which has been sold for use in agriculture and reforestation projects. The experience of thermophilic composting in Haiti is unique in scale and duration and can have global implications for waste treatment in both emergency and development contexts."
• Just a reminder to readers to check out the Vintage Projects site which has an extensive collection of DIY articles from past issues of home repair and mechanics magazines.

Other Stuff:

• Running out of other peoples' money: "'From Horrific to Catastrophic': Court Ruling Sends Illinois Into Financial Abyss"--The Anti-Media (republished from Zero Hedge). If you have been following real news, you probably are aware that the financial situation in Illinois has grown progressively worse, and that because of the state's failure to approve a budget for 3 years, Moody's was prepared to downgrade Illinois' bonds to the lowest of any state, ever. Currently, the Illinois legislature looks to have finally passed a budget, but the governor is threatening to veto it because, rather than reign in spending, "it calls for a humongous $5 billion tax increase and for a lot more spending. Especially for public employee union benefits, public schools, universities, social service groups, and other Democrat Party supporting groups latched on to the teat of government funds." Now a court may have delivered a death blow to the state's finances: 

       ... [I]n a “shocking” development, just hours remaining before the midnight deadline to pass the Illinois budget, and Illinois’ imminent loss of its investment grade rating, federal judge Joan Lefkow in Chicago ordered Illinois to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars it owes in Medicaid payments that state officials say the government doesn’t have, the Chicago Tribune reported. Judge Lefkow ordered the state to make $586 million in monthly payments (from the current $160 million) as well as another $2 billion toward a $3 billion backlog of payments – a $167 million increase in monthly outlays – the state owes to managed care organizations that process payments to providers.

        While it is no secret that as part of its collapse into the financial abyss, Illinois has accumulated $15 billion in unpaid bills, the state’s Medicaid recipients have had enough, and went to court asking a judge to order the state to speed up its payments. On Friday, the court ruled in their favor. The problem, of course, is that Illinois can no more afford to pay the outstanding Medicaid bills, than it can to pay any of its $14,711,351,943.90 in overdue bills as of June 30.

• "Gunmen Open Fire On Mosque In France"--Anonymous Conservative. The news article cited in the post indicated that police had ruled out "terrorism," which suggests that it may have stemmed from a conflict between criminal immigrant gangs. Anonymous Conservative notes, however, that if it were French "patriots" opposed to immigration, the government would attempt to downplay the same. He also warns anyone thinking of such operations about the effectiveness of the surveillance state:

       Our security services have now had over a decade and a half to practice both spotting these kinds of things before they happen, and finding who did them after they happen. ...

       If you have no experience or training in the most elite counter-intelligence aspects of the security state apparatus, keep your powder dry, and do not get involved in this battle. They will take you down fast, using technology and techniques so effective you would not believe it if you saw it.

* * * 

       Clearly the elites have set a stage for civil war, which looks unavoidable. But getting shots off now is only going to get you taken out of the big game when it goes down, and it will not affect the timetable, which by now it is obvious will be dictated by the tides of r/K.

        Things will get bad. Our side will take hits. But if it is going to come to war someday, make sure you have not been taken out of the game before it even starts by not getting into it now. Let the tide of K roll in, and wait until the decision to act is an obvious one, and there are tens of millions of your fellow citizens who have reached the same conclusion.

         Until then, keep your head down and keep your nose clean. While you do, it is entirely possible that the Muslims will kill a significant number of each other in the intervening period.

For my American readers, I would also note that as bad as things may appear, they are still picayune compared to much of what was going on in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Sure, there is the wide-spread public acceptance of sexual deviance, whether it be openly embracing such behavior by the left or the laissez faire approach favored by most Christians and libertarians, but civil strife, political violence and domestic terrorism was much greater in the '60s and '70s. 

• Someone is aiming to be bad: "Portuguese president speaks out over stolen weapons arsenal"--BBC News. The theft from a military arsenal included 9 mm ammunition and a large number of grenades, 102 explosive charges, and 264 "pieces" of plastic explosive (whatever that means--are individual "pieces" 1 pound, 1 kilogram, 500 pounds?).
• Big Brother is watching over you: "Wikileaks Exposes CIA’ Linux Hacking, Geolocation Tracker Malware"--Hack Read. The article states that one of the tools disclosed in recent Wikileaks disclosures is "OutlawCountry", which is "a tool that allows CIA to hack into Linux-based systems and perform a cyberespionage on the victims. According to the leaked documents, it essentially lets the agency to secretly monitor the activities of the victim by manipulating network traffic." The article goes on to describe, in a cursory manner, how the hack works. It also warns that another tool allowed the CIA to track the location of laptop computer via its interaction with WiFi networks, even if the WiFi was "off."

• Related: PRISM Break offers some anti-surveillance tools. 

• Cultural enrichment: "Teen jailed for life for plotting to bomb Elton John concert"--The Telegraph. From the article:

       Haroon Syed, 19, tried to get a suicide vest or machine gun and identified the Hyde Park event as a possible target.

       He was snared online by officers from the British Security Service posing as a fellow extremist.

       The Old Bailey heard the trigger for his radicalisation was the arrest of his older brother for plotting an Islamic State-inspired Poppy Day attack.

       Syed, from Hounslow, west London, had admitted preparation of terrorist acts between April and September last year.

• "As predicted climate scientists begin adjusting satellite data to fit models"--Beyond the Black. This is a space exploration blog, so it is unusual to see the author delve into this topic. Nevertheless, he reports:

If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts! The scientists in charge of the climate satellite data produced by Remote Sensing Services (RSS) in California have decided to adjust their satellite data to increase the warming trend since 2000 and make that data more closely match the surface temperature data that NASA and NOAA have already altered to show that same warming trend.

• The hoi polloi are revolting:  "Adidas executive's new home in Portland is defaced with 'go back to California' graffiti just months after he moved to the city"--Daily Mail. And this is was in tolerant Portlandia. I blame Black Claw. 
• "The mainstream media’s Leftist bias means it’s all fake news"--Bookworm Room. One method used by the mainstream media to provide fake news is by twisting language or misusing terms. For instance, the author discusses the replacement of "illegal alien" with "immigrant":

        In the old days, when there was a societal consensus that it’s a bad thing for people to sneak into a sovereign country without that country’s permission, those sneaky people were called “illegal aliens,” which was a perfect descriptive term. They were here illegally and, being illegal, they could not be “immigrants.” In a sovereign nation with border control laws, an immigrant is someone whom the government welcomes into the country through its legal process; an alien is a non-citizen who has no right to be in the country.

        Progressives, with their push to use newly arrived people, whether here illegally or not, as ballast for permanent Democrat party votes, fully understood the accurate import of the term “illegal alien.” That’s why they started calling those people “illegal immigrants.” Yeah, sure they’re illegal, but they’re still immigrants, just like all the rest of the teaming masses who arrived at Ellis Island legally and gazed up at the Statue of Liberty. (And to anyone wondering, Emma Lazarus’s nice poem at the statue’s base is not the law of the land. It’s just a nice poem that was written with one group especially in mind: those Jews who escaped the pogroms in Poland and Russia and came legally to America.)

        By changing the language, Leftists shifted the argument from illegality to immigration. And once having done that, they used two tiers of guilt on Americans. Tier one is that we’re all descended from immigrants in one way or another, unless we’re Native Americans (who also immigrated here, albeit in prehistoric times). Who are we, then, to sneer at the latest crop of immigrants? Tier two is about those native Americans. Because we immigrated here illegally as to them, and stole their land, we have no moral standing to argue about the latest crop of illegal immigrants.

• "President Trump Issues Executive Order on Reviving the National Space Council"--White House Press Release. The council was originally formed in 1989 to assist the President with developing national space policies and strategy, but was eliminated in 1993. Hopefully, this marks a renewed commitment to space exploration and access.

July 2, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Setting Up A Home Defense AK-47 or AK-74: Gear & Ammo Advice (4K)"

Mrgunsngear Channel (39 min.)

• "Fiber Optic Sights: Which Color?"--The Truth About Guns. Green or yellow. Read the article to find out why.
• "Trijicon ACOG In Use"-- John M. Buol Jr. at 1800GUNSANDAMMO.COM (h/t The New Rifleman). This 2015 article provides a brief history of optical sights in the military and the adoption of the ACOG. He then discusses BAC (Bindon Aiming Concept), named after Trijicon found Glen Bindon, explaining:

       ... With binocular vision, both eyes see an image and the brain process views from both into a single image. Different things seen by different eyes can be superimposed into a single, combined view. Red dot reflex sights work best with both eyes view down range and the sight is brought up like a heads up display. The aiming eye sees the aiming dot and the other eye continues to view the scene with the brain imposing both views together.

        A good way to learn efficient use of a red dot reflex sight is to block the objective lens, thus blocking the aiming eye’s view of the target. While the aiming eye can only see the dot, and the other eye can continue to see the target but not the dot. When done correctly, the brain superimposed both images together and dot simple appears floating in space onto of the target. The concept was first noted with the Armson OEG sight as that sight required it for use as the aiming tube is closed off at the objective end and can not be seen through.

It was interesting to see this because, by coincidence, I had an email from a reader recently who was having good luck using this method with his ACOG sight. 

• "Maximizing ACOGS"--John M. Buol Jr. at 1800GUNSANDAMMO.COM (h/t The New Rifleman). This is a follow up to the article cited above. In this article, the author discusses the BDC on ACOG models, including what mounts and bullets weights for which they were intended. For instance, he notes that "most Trijicon 4×32 .223 pattern reticles (TA01, TA11, and TA31) are set for 55 grain bullets out of a twenty-inch barrel when mounted to the carry handle," whereas others are designed for flat-top rifles using shorter barrels and different bullet weights. He then goes on to discuss zeroing, adjusting for different distances, and ideas for correcting for wind using hold points. For instance, as to zeroing, he advises:

Using an ACOG, or other good BDC-based sight, it’s best to establish a solid zero that maximizes the reticles effectiveness. Trijicon recommends a 100 meter zero. It’s best to follow that from a prone, magazine-supported position at a MEASURED 100 meters. This is confirmed in full kit as directed by the match. Once this is set, the idea is to never use the adjustment knobs. In practice, there might be a tweak needed as data is compiled. A common joke is that a good shooter is 95% zeroed within 2-3 rounds and then uses 200 to 300 rounds to refine that last 5%. In other words, a good marksman firing and calling the first round can make a bold correction that is close, well inside typical Army or Marine zero standards. A couple rounds more finishes this up. However, matches are won and lost with V or X counts. Where qualification standard is “good” with a hit anywhere in the silhouette, competition demands greater precision. Getting it so that first group fired cold is always centered in the V-ring on demand, and not merely somewhere inside that relatively small area, is the last refinement and takes some work. Especially considering this is done with issue rifles and ammunition which isn’t as consistent as we’d like.

He also notes that some competitors will use install a "peep" sight (a sticker with a hole in it) on the ACOG to make sure that their eye and cheek placement are consistent from shot to shot.

• The wages of sin socialism: "Venezuela Proceeds To The Looting Phase Of The Apocalypse"--Anonymous Conservative. Commenting on a story of looting of stores and shops, including of equipment like refrigerators, the author writes:

       This is where economic collapse goes. Once there is enough shortage that a few people begin breaking the rules (and being rewarded), everyone will break the rules. At that point, not only do you have the shortage of food and resources – you have a destruction of the very machinery which delivers those resources to everyone on top of it all.

       Once the stores are unable to operate, what little food was produced cannot be supplied, and now the only source of resources will be what you can take from other people. In the cities, where the only thing allowing that density of the population is the food delivery infrastructure, things will get particularly horrific once it is destroyed.

        The next phase is raiding and robbery, and Venezuela doesn’t even have the added factor of diversity and religious strife.

• "Yemen Is Suffering from the World’s Worst Cholera Epidemic"--American Conservative. According to the article, "Yemen is suffering from multiple humanitarian disasters, and each one contributes to the next: millions are internally displaced, tens of millions are starving or severely malnourished, and hundreds of thousands are becoming ill from preventable and treatable diseases." According to international health officials, over 200,000 are suffering from Cholera, with an estimated 5,000 new cases every day. 
• "Armed 11-year-old boy saves fishing party from charging bear"--Juneau Empire. The boy, his father, and his grandfather were charged by a brown bear. All three were armed, but the boy was the only one that didn't have his shotgun slung. The first shot was apparently just bird shot, which didn't really do anything, but the subsequent 3 shots were with slugs.
• Italy is going K: "Italy plans to seize aid agency boats in new crackdown on migrants - and push for new processing centres in Libya and voluntary repatriation"--Daily Mail. In just a few days, Italy's government has gone from threatening to close ports to aid vessels, to seizing those vessels; and to keeping migrants from getting to Europe in the first place. How soon until they insist on forced repatriation? 
• Diversity is our strength: "Swedish music festival is cancelled for 2018 after multiple sex attacks and a rape at this year's event"--Daily Mail. The attacks at past festivals have been committed by migrants, so I presume that these were as well.
• "The Hidden Signs That Can Reveal A Fake Photo"--BBC. And an analysis of the famous photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald posing with his rifle, which the analysts conclude was not tampered with.
• "Losing the Nation-State" by Andrew A. Michta at The American Interest. This seems a nice follow up to Rolf Peter Sieferle's essay, "Germany — Land of Milk and Honey", which I cited to yesterday. Michta writes that the West--Europe and the United States--is in flux, and "[t]he people seem less and less willing to listen to the explanations and admonishments of their leaders and the media, nor to accept that their nations are merely a transitional phase before the emergence of a multicultural, globalized world." The populist movements active in the West are, he suggests, "all symptoms of a deeper yet seldom articulated structural problem that has been straining democratic politics in the West: the progressive fragmentation of the nation-state.

       The weakening of the consensus that the nation-state should remain paramount in world politics lies at the base of the deepening political crisis in Western democracies. Since patriotic civic education all but disappeared from American public schools as well as from Europe’s government school curricula, two generations of Western elites have been progressively unmoored from their cultural roots, often all but bereft of even a rudimentary sense of service to and responsibility for the nation as a whole. As fractured group identities and narratives of grievance began to replace a sense of patriotism and national pride, college educated elites across the West became ever-more self-referential in their pursuits, locked in an exercise of inward-looking collective expiation for the centuries of Western racism, discrimination, and “privilege”—all allegedly the hallmarks of the culture they have inherited, which they must redefine, or repudiate altogether.

* * *

       ... So long as this shared national identity remained strong—call it patriotism, love of country, or belonging beyond one’s immediate family and local community—the nation-state retained its cohesion, resting on a sense of reciprocity between the government and the citizen.

       Today after decades of espousing multiculturalism and group rights buttressed by the politics of grievance, the foundations of a larger shared national identity have eroded such that governance—or better yet, governability—has become an increasingly scarce commodity across the West. We are at an inflection point, where a growing systemic disorder is stoked not just by shifts in the global power distribution, but by the progressive decline in governability. The dismantling of the core principle that the national homeland should be under the sovereign control of its people lies at the root of this problem.

        The hypothesis that institutions ultimately trump culture has over the past quarter century morphed into an article of faith, alongside the fervently held belief that nationalism and democratic politics are at their core fundamentally incompatible. The decades-long assault on the very idea of national identity steeped in a shared culture and defined by a commitment to the preservation of the nation has left Western leadership frequently unable to articulate the fundamentals that bind us and that we thus must be prepared to defend. The deepening fight over the right of the central government to control the national border—which is at the core of the Western idea of the nation-state—is emblematic of this situation.

       He goes on to argue that nation-states are the core building blocks to a successful international order, and that the degradation of the nation-state will weaken the international system. 

       While Michta won't go so far as to present a solution to the weakening of the nation-state, Ben Shapiro at Town Hall does in his article "Transfer is not a dirty word." Shapiro's article is about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. He concedes that "[t]he Arab enmity for Jews and the state of Israel allows for no peace process," and concludes, therefore, that the only way forward for lasting peace is to physically expel the Palestinians (it is not clear if he means all Palestinians, or only those who are Muslim) from Israel and Israeli territories. As justification, he cites to post-World War II Europe which saw Germans expelled from various countries in order to produce stable borders and populations. He writes:

       After World War II, Poland was recreated by the Allied Powers. In doing so, the Allies sliced off a chunk of Germany and extended Poland west to the Oder-Neisse line. Anywhere from 3.5 million to 9 million Germans were forcibly expelled from the new Polish territory and relocated in Germany.

       British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was pleased with the result. In 1944, he had explained to the House of Commons that "expulsion is the method which, so far as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble ... a clean sweep will be made. I am not alarmed by the prospect of the disentanglement of populations, nor even by these large transferences, which are more possible in modern conditions than they ever were before." Churchill was right. The Germans accepted the new border, and decades of conflict between Poles and Germans ended.

       I don't know if Shapiro is ignorant of the fact, or did not want to undermine his argument, but the ethnic cleansing of Poland involved not only the expulsion of Germans, but other ethnic groups, including Jews. It similarly occurred all over Europe, not just in Poland. We will probably see the same within our lifetimes all over the West.

Extra Credits: Bronze Age Collapse

"The Bronze Age Collapse - II: The Wheel and the Rod"--Extra Credits 

       Reflecting Joseph Tainter's thesis on the collapse of complex societies, this second part of a three-part series on the Bronze Age Collapse, briefly reviews how the very complexity that made these societies prosperous also made them vulnerable if important segments of the social structure disappeared, such as scribes or the warrior class trained to operate and use chariots. As I've noted before, I do not think it was a coincidence that the Bronze Age Collapse coincided with the Exodus from Egypt. While I have focused on how the loss of a couple million slaves would destroy Egypt's economy, and harm its neighbors that relied on Egypt's grain production, this video raises another point, which is the military impact of losing the professional warrior caste that maintained and used chariots. Chariots were expensive, and the warriors that used them were highly trained: it would have taken a generation to replace those warriors. And yet we know from Exodus that Egypt lost almost all of its chariot corps in the Red Sea.

        I'm not saying that the Exodus was the sole cause, or even a primary cause, of the Bronze Age Collapse--there seems to have been a perfect storm of events that combined to shatter the Bronze Age civilizations. But it certainly did not help that, just when Egypt most needed to be able to produce grain surpluses and project its military power, the slaves that planted and harvested the grains disappeared and the core of its military strength was destroyed. And, as we know, Egypt never fully recovered from the Bronze Age Collapse. While it fared better than its neighbors--most of which completely collapsed--it never recovered its power and majesty.

July 1, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Kill Or Be Killed"--The Best Film Archive (10 min.)

This short training film was intended to teach soldiers the difference between the sports field (wherein rules apply) and the battle field (on which there are no rules).

• "REVEALED: Bronx hospital shooter sent chilling email to a newspaper blaming two doctors for ruining his life two hours before rampage that left one dead and six injured"--Daily Mail. As you probably have already heard on the news, a Nigerian-born doctor--Henry Bello--entered the Bronx Lebanon Hospital yesterday, and shot 7 other people, killing one of them, before taking his own life. The motive for the shooting was apparently his being terminated two months ago over allegations of sexual harassment. His colleagues describe his an being an aggressive or angry person. Needless to say, the Hospital was a gun free zone, and, as we are all aware, New York City has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. The rifle had its pistol grip cut off and only had a 10-round magazine--presumably to comply with New York's SAFE Act (which also means that, by definition of New York law, the rifle was not an "assault rifle"). Interestingly, it also appears to have had no sights.
• Religion of Peace: "Ramadan Is Over, Result: 174 Jihad Attacks in Just 30 Days!"--Vlad Tepes.
• "Blackhawk! SERPA Holsters Banned By LAPD"--The Firearms Blog.  Not just Blackhawk! brand, but any auto-locking, trigger finger manipulated holsters. They follow other organizations and groups that have banned the holsters. A lot of the discussion on the reason for the bans are that by using the trigger finger to deactivate the holster's lock, it places the trigger finger in a location where a negligent discharge can occur. I haven't used the Blackhawk! holster, but I've used another brand with a similar locking mechanism, and I don't see that. Rather, if the firearm is pulled straight out and the finger is left in the same position, the finger is on the frame of the pistol. The other problem I've read about is that debris can get inside the locking mechanism and jam it so the firearm cannot be withdrawn. This is mostly a problem from going prone, where dirt, pebbles, a stick, etc., could potentially get into the locking mechanism. 
• "A 5.56 Magnum? Supersize Your AR with the .22 Nosler – Full Review"--Guns America. According to the article, performance approaches that of a .22-250 Remington, albeit in a smaller package. From the article:

The new .22 Nosler is roughly 300 feet per second (fps) faster than .223/5.56 with over 30 percent more energy. With 25 percent more capacity, the 55-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet launches out at 3,350 fps through an 18-inch barreled AR-15 and a 77-grain custom competition bullet flies at a screaming 2,950 fps. 

• Heh. "Arctic Expedition Cancelled Due to Excess 'Climate Change'"--Watts Up With That. The expedition to study the loss of Arctic sea ice was cancelled due to excessive sea ice. Bear-Man-Pig was unavailable for comment.
• What happens when you leak sensitive documents and lack situational awareness: "Was DNC staffer Seth Rich murdered by a hitman? Washington D.C. forensic students claim evidence points to a 'hired killer' and NOT a robbery gone wrong"--Daily Mail. The forensic team concluded that Seth Rich was deliberately killed, such as you would expect from a hit-man or serial killer, rather than a robbery gone wrong. Of course, liberal media outlets went with the "serial killer" theory. 
• "This foam could save your life"--Fox News (warning: video starts automatically). "ResQ Foam" is intended for dealing with torso bullet wounds. Per the news story: "Once the foam is injected in the abdomen, it rapidly expands. It can expand to an astonishing 35 times the original volume. ... The foam buys the patient about three more hours to get to a surgeon – this can be the critical difference between life and death." Clinical trials are expected to begin next year. 
• "Italy is running out of patience"--Deutsche Welle. According to the article, Italian officials are getting fed up with other EU members not taking in so-called refugees and/or not providing assistance in rescuing the so-called refugees. They are threatening to close Italian ports to NGOs that rescue refugees (i.e., rendezvous with boats carrying refugees at locations provided them by human traffickers). The article notes:

Pressure is piling onto Paolo Gentiloni's government as the number of refugees entering Italy continues to rise. This year, already 70,000 new migrants have entered Italy, around 15 percent more than 2016. More than 10,000 people are currently aboard rescue ships on the way to Italian harbors. Most of them come from Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Guinea, but Egyptians and Syrians are also using this way since the Balkan route is closed.

• Related: "Italy: Mafia and Migrant Gangs Running Heroin and Prostitution Rings Together"--Breitbart. 

• Race to the bottom: "Germany's Bundestag passes bill on same-sex marriage"--Deutsche Welle. Now legal in Germany.

• Related: "Days Of Lot: New Survey Finds That Evangelical Christian Support For Gay Marriage Has More Than Doubled"--The American Dream. Per the article: "Support for same sex-marriage among white Evangelicals has more than doubled compared with a decade ago (14% then, 35% now), while the share of black Protestants who favor same-sex marriage has increased from 24% in 2007 to 44% today."

• Celebrating Diversity: "‘Help Us, Help Us’: Swedish National Police Commissioner Begs as Number of No-Go Zones Rises"--Breitbart. From the article:

“Help us, help us,” Eliasson said at a press conference on the subject of the rising levels of crime and criminal networks in Sweden. Eliasson said there were at least 5,000 criminals divided into around 200 networks in Sweden operating in the now 61 no-go zones, many of which are heavily migrant-populated, Göteborgs-Posten reports.

To make matters worse, "80 per cent of Swedish police are considering leaving the force due to issues ranging from violence against them in no-go areas to lack of holiday time and poor funding."

• "Drilling Firm To Pursue Water, Gas, Oil Projects"--Jerusalem Post. You may remember that, back in 2015, an Israeli oil and gas firm had announced the discovery of a significant oil field under the Golan Heights (captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War). This article, which is from January of this year, indicated that the company was preparing to start drilling. If the oil find lives up to expectations, it will probably become a flash point for future conflict when Syria (or whatever replaces Syria) decides to try and reassert its control over the Heights.
• "Germany — Land of Milk and Honey"--Gates of Vienna. A reprint of an essay by by Rolf Peter Sieferle. He writes about the threat of Europe being overwhelmed by immigrants from Africa and the Middle-East, but then moves on to why these immigrants are fleeing to Europe (particularly Germany) over staying in their own countries or fleeing elsewhere. The answer, of course, is a combination of the proximity of Europe, and the peace and prosperity that exist there--particularly in the heavily industrialized nations such as Germany. Sieferle moves on, then, to examine why Germany (or Europe, overall) have greater peace and prosperity, especially compared to Middle-Eastern nations that have been civilized for so much longer. The reason, he concludes, is industrialization which, in turn, hinged on the development of the concept of a nation:

       So we confront the problem that a successful industrialization is based on certain historical, especially cultural and institutional preconditions which are not easy to imitate or create. People like living in the promised land, and are moved to immigrate to industrialized countries, but something is keeping them from establishing this paradise at home. Apparently, immigrating to an already existing utopia is easier. Why? If industrialization and democratization, the creation of a constitutional order and implementation of rational ways of thinking are natural characteristics of “modernization,” then why is it so much more attractive to undergo the rigors of migration, than to transform one’s own native land according this model? The reason, in general, is that the assumptions of modernization theory are false. Ours was a highly improbable process, shaped by many contingencies which had over centuries created ways of thinking and institutions, the results of which are evident today in zones of prosperity and security. This model of success cannot simply be copied. Transferring technology is easy; transferring institutions is difficult; transferring cultural-intellectual paradigms is practically impossible or at least a very lengthy process.

       An important, if not the crucial prerequisite of European development was the destruction of tribal structures by the states of the early modern age, and that was an elementary prerequisite of the national state that became the institutional center of 19th century industrialization. The nation-state dissolved the agrarian social duality of local domination and dynastic centrality. Its goal was the creation of a homogeneous unity of the people, area and power of the state, excluding and distinguishing itself from other entities. The primary achievement of the nation-state was the centralization of rule and the concomitant dissolution of intermediary powers such as tribes, clans, extended families, associations and clientele systems of all kinds. The ideal of the nation-state as constitutional state was the immediacy of state to individual (“equal rights for all”) and the state’s monopoly on force with differentiated organs for enforcement (police, military).

        This national state combined important structural elements: money, law, language, government, transportation, citizenship (instead of adherence to a community). And thus it became the provider of a complex market/industrial economy, for instance, in the administration of justice (civil trial instead of vendetta).

       To achieve this requires a centralized top-to-bottom administration sufficient to meet the demands of bureaucratic rationale (against corruption and patronage). A central element of this was a unified, legal and calculable system of taxation.

       Transforming the dynastic state of the agrarian society into the nation-state required the delegitimization of the former and the anticipatory legitimization of the latter. This was done on the basis of the ideology of nationalism, which defined the identifying unit of the state as the “people,” in its dual meaning as both demos and ethnos. The nation-state was understood as a “people’s state” and this could mean “ethnic state” or “democratic state” or both. The ideology of nationalism insisted upon the uniqueness of the given people. This could be understood in a “horizontal” sense as an element of a human plurality (as with Herder) or in a “vertical” sense of a hierarchy with a ruling elite at the top and a worker class at the base, as in the classical empires.

       The basic concept of nationalism is that the world should be ruled by political units, each of which controls ethnically homogeneous areas. This was a normative concept that — at the time of its inception — was only sparsely descriptive. In the 18th century, there were hardly any ethnically homogeneous “nations.” Nonetheless, this concept achieved an astonishing prescriptive power. In the 19th century, the existence of national states was seen as nothing less than natural, so that a poor future was predicted for political entities that could not claim the principle of nationalism. In the context of Europe, this applied particularly to Austria-Hungary, but also to Russia and the Ottoman Empire — all classical “multi-ethnic” empires whose existence until then had not been in question. The ideology of nationalism tended to ascribe quasi-tribal characteristics to the national state. The nationalistically molded nation-state perceived itself as representing a lineage, and demanded a comprehensive loyalty from its members, otherwise found only in tribal societies. Therefore, conflict with other nation-states easily achieved “total,” if not genocidal characteristics. The resultant excesses occurred largely in the first half of the 20th century, but the possibility exists everywhere where nations are being formed. In the second half of that century, the ideology was in bad odor among the elites in advanced countries, who (justifiably) see in it the potential for ethnic cleansing and genocide. There has been an ideological shift from the “ethnic” to the “democratic” accent on “people.”

He goes on to discuss how the concept of "nation" and "nationalism" has fallen into disfavor with the universal and globalist ideals of modern elites who want to form trans-national organizations such as the EU. But, unfortunately or not, there is a tension between the forces that make a nation work, and the universal ideal. 

       This is particularly obvious in the second institutional manifestation of the industrial society — the welfare state. It is the institutional solution of a problem created by the dissolution of civic communities. In European agrarian societies, the (cooperatively organized) communities had assumed certain duties of public service for their members that could not be managed by the families — especially helping the poor and support in cases of emergency. With industrialization, communal membership became an obstacle to advancement, and therefore obsolete. In the wake of the introduction of free enterprise and freedom of movement, status as a resident took the place of communal citizen, and “citizen of a community” was expanded to “citizen of a country”. Its services (as was also the case with civic communities) were for the benefit only of its own citizens. In this sense, both were exclusive of those outside and inclusive of those inside. Precisely this relation of exclusion and inclusion defines the problematic nature of the national welfare state.

       The welfare state — after nationalism’s loss of plausibility — faces the problem that it is only viable as a nation-state; that the inclusivity of its public services is based in fact on a form of exclusivity. However, the official ideology supporting the welfare state’s redistribution of wealth (out of motives of “equality” and “justice”) applies universally. If the welfare state bases its programs of “social justice” on universal humanitarianism (“human rights”), then the area of the implementation of these justice-serving programs can clearly not be confined to the nation-state. As a universalist ideology, universal redistributive socialism should be oriented toward the world state and/or world society. Since these “entities” do not actually exist, it must incorporate elements of globalization into the present nation-state/welfare state, and open the welfare system to, for instance, immigrants. The ultimate effect, of course, would be the destruction of the welfare state, but not of its universalization.

Sieferle moves from there to a discussion of whether importing people from tribal areas or failed states endangers industrialization. That is, can people from regions that lack the wherewithal to industrialize successfully maintain an industrial state that already exists. My belief is that they cannot, and Sieferle seems to suggest the same, as he notes that there are such things as "cultural capital" that contribute to the success of a nation-state: particularly "trust." Trust is high in homogeneous nations and cities and low in multi-cultural nations and cities. Sieferle notes, for instance, that "[i]n the year 2000, to the question of whether most people can be trusted, 67% of Danes and 66% of Swedes answered 'yes' but only 3% of Brazilians." In this regard, he hypothesizes: 

There is the danger that the “multicultural society” that results from immigration will destroy cultural capital, transforming ethnically and culturally homogeneous industrial countries into multi-tribal societies. It is then very likely that important institutional and intellectual-cultural prerequisites for a functioning industrial structure will be destroyed. The basic model of trust will disappear, which can drive the costs of economic transactions to enormous heights. In place of the constitutional state with its monopoly on force, the law of vendetta may reappear.

The result, he describes, will be Fourth Generational Warfare:

       When conflicts arise, attempts are made first to resolve them within the pertinent tribal structure, through their own mediators, but also perhaps with the help of enforcement-capable allies. Once this process is underway (and the beginnings of it can be observed in numerous European cities) it can gain strength with ease and develop its own dynamic. Then (along old or new borderlines) more and more tribal groups may form, with their own tax system (protection payments) and their own decision apparatus. These groups will then come into competition with the traditional constitutional state and its policing forces. Ultimately nothing will remain of this “state’ except as one tribe among other tribes. For those citizens who belong to no particular tribe, and had relied upon the constitutional state, this will be fatal.

       If such a movement should be set in motion, we would be witnessing an industrial society in the evolutionary process of destroying itself. Historically, the successful complex “industrialization and modernity” was created by a particular constellation of cultural elements. This complex, however, has developed normative characteristics of humanitarian universalism, which render it unable to regulate or prevent the immigration of members of alien cultures. Such a society — no longer able to distinguish itself from the forces disintegrating it — is living morally beyond its means. It is not sustainable. Through relativization, it is destroying its cultural identity — the prerequisite of its capacity. And so it puts an end to itself. 

* * *  

       This process of universalization and globalization is probably unavoidable, and the “peoples” who have shaped recent decades are now being consumed by it. We must be clear about the fact that this will be accompanied by countless painful frictions. Many present-day Germans would like to disappear as a people, be dissolved in Europe or humanity at large. Other peoples will vigorously resist such a prospect. It will not be harmonious. Individual cultures will attempt to use this opportunity to impose their traditional model universally, whether by force, or Western “human rights” or Islamic jihad, or whatever else. The immigration crisis we now face is just a premonitory sign of comprehensive convulsions which will swallow up everything we now take for granted.