December 7, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Remington R 51 Cycle of Operation"--Richard Mann (48 sec.)

Another animation showing how the hesitation lock system works. It is interesting because the breach block works much like a short stroke piston, delivering its energy to the slide which then completes the unlocking and cycling process; the difference being that when the slide retracts, it also takes the breach block with it.

• TGIF: This week's "Weekend Knowledge Dump" from Active Response Training. 
• "Small Arms Survey Publish Free Guide to the Identification of Small Arms"--The Firearm Blog. You can download the 352 page guide here. It doesn't appear that there is a way to download it as a single document, but you have to download each chapter separately. 
• "Don’t Consent to a Search of Your Vehicle During a Traffic Stop"--The Truth About Guns. The author warns:

       Officers who ask to search your car are trained to make the request seem casual and off the cuff. Don’t expect the officer to ask, “Do you surrender your 4th Amendment rights?” in an official tone of voice.

       The request is likely to start off low-key and informal. “Do you mind if I have a look in your car?” is a common approach. Intimidation may be used if you make a polite refusal. “If you don’t let me look in your car, I will have to get a warrant, and then you will be in trouble,” may be stated in a more threatening manner.

      The answer to all these requests should be the same: “No, I do not consent to a search of my car. I do not surrender any of my constitutional rights. Am I free to go?”

I would add that sometimes the request will come at the end of traffic stop--the officer may even tell you that you are free to go--when you are feeling grateful that nothing happened ... and then, "By the way, do you mind ...?" 

• "Jersey Trash: Federal Court Upholds State's Anti-Gun Regulations"--Townhall Magazine. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New Jersey law law limiting the size of a magazine to 10 rounds. The court found that it didn't violate gunowners' rights to self-defense and did not place an undue burden on gun owners that have to get rid of magazines and/or replace magazines.  But does it violate the right to bear arms of the type necessary to overthrow a despotic government? That should be the real test.
• Speaking of despotic governments:

• "New York Senate Bill Would Require $1 Million Liability Insurance Policy for Gun Owners."

• "City of Boulder Can’t Even Get 100 Gun Owners to ‘Certify’ Their Newly Outlawed ‘Assault Weapons’." 

• I came across a post from October at the Savannah Arsenal Project that has compiled quite a collection of YouTube reviews of micro-red dot sights from various manufactures, including Aimpoint, Bushnell, Holosun, Primary Arms, Sig Sauer, and Vortex. You might check it out if you are in the market.
• A common refrain from a prepper might be, "where am I going to put all this stuff?" The Prepper Journal has some thoughts on that in its article, "Storage Facilities: One Good Urban Commuter or Apartment Dweller’s Prep Option." The article explains a bit about self-storage facilities, including a handy guide to standard or common sizes of units. And it suggests how these units can be used as handy way-points for some bugging out (or trying to get home), or to store other prepping items. A couple of topics that I would have liked the author to cover are points to keep others from learning what you have stored there and how to access the location in the event of power being off. The first point is because most of these locations have security cameras mounted everywhere, in addition to the possibility of another tenant seeing you. The second point is because most require you to go through some sort of electronically operated gate to access the facility.
• The title of this post from Preparedness Mama is "In-Depth Guide On Water Barrel Cleaning And Care For Safe Storage," but it is more particularly about the cleaning and care of rain barrels for catching rain water. 
• "Little Things Add Up"--Blue Collar Prepping. The author reminds readers that even if you can't afford to purchase a year's supply of food all at once, or get that really cool gun you wanted, little efforts over time can add up and allow you to achieve your goals. An example:

I have a friend who really wanted a top-end 1911A1 pistol, but couldn't afford the $3000 price tag. He started by buying a cheaper, polymer-framed pistol in .45ACP and as his budget allowed, he traded it for a lower-priced 1911A1. After three or four more trades he eventually got the pistol that he wanted, but it took him a couple of years and he probably spent a bit more that the $3000 due to losses in trade value. At no time was he ever without a serviceable pistol, and he didn't have to go into debt to get the one he really wanted, both of which were important to him.

• "Excerpts from the Sarajevo Survival Guide" (h/t Getting Started in Emergency Preparedness).
• "House Democrats Plan Push to Criminalize Private Gun Sales"--Breitbart. From the article:

       Mother Jones reports that Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) met with gun control groups that included the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, the Center for American Progress, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and Gabby Giffords’ group. He asked them what they wanted, and a bill to criminalize private gun sales was on their wish list.

       So Thompson will sponsor legislation requiring a background check before someone may buy a gun from his neighbor, a co-worker to get a background check before buying a gun from a co-worker, and so forth. The bill will go so far as to require a son to get a background check before a father can give him a gun as a gift.

• Kurt Schlichter asks "How Much Blood Would Leftists Be Willing To Shed To Disarm Patriotic Americans?" He doesn't have an answer, but I'm sure that whatever the answer, the Left will believe that it was appropriate as long as it saved one child.

"America: Worth Saving?"--Blonde in the Belly of the Beast (14 min.)

The host of this video makes an important point: are things just too far gone to save, and should we instead be looking at something to replace it.

• "France braces for 'ULTRA-VIOLENT' protests, with 89,000 cops on the streets and shops boarded up as demonstrators vent fury at Macron's reforms despite the President caving in to Yellow Vest demands"--Daily Mail. Delaying implementation of a carbon tax is not caving in, and there is much more at stake here than the carbon tax, but that France is becoming unlivable for most French. The Diplomad explains things in his post, "Is Paris Churning?":

Back to the riots. One thing that struck me was some Rebel Media video in which you can see, through the swirling clouds of tear gas, demonstrators waving the Tricolor and hear them--gasp!-- singing La Marseillaise, arguably the most stirring national anthem in the world. I am not French and don't pretend to be, but that gave me goose-bumps. It, more importantly, also showed that these are not your run-of-the-mill Antifa-type thugs on the street. We might be seeing the rise of militant nationalism in revolt against the elitist globalism that has ruled and ruined the West for the past fifty or so years. De Gaul would have been proud . . .

• When governments fail at essential functions: "In Latin America, Awash in Crime, Citizens Impose Their Own Brutal Justice"--Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:

        In Brazil, mobs now kill—or try to kill—more than one suspected lawbreaker a day, according to University of São Paulo sociologist José de Souza Martins, Brazil’s leading expert on lynchings. That figure is both the highest in the world, and more than at any point in Brazil’s history, he said.

       While Latin America is known for its hardened drug cartels and street gangs, the region’s lynch mobs are made up of ordinary, otherwise law-abiding citizens, from school students to old ladies. They kill with the same grisly cruelty, sometimes mutilating victims’ sexual organs in cases of suspected rape, or burning them alive in broad daylight.

       After an angry mob killed a young suspected thief in Rio de Janeiro recently, his decomposing corpse remained on the street for days, said Mr. Martins, who compiled a database of Brazil’s lynchings by combing through decades of newspaper archives. “Then one day a sweet elderly woman appeared with a spoon,” he said. She was there to remove the victim’s eyes—an attempt to destroy his soul as well as his body. “Someone finally called the police and it took various officers to remove her.”

The article goes on to discuss motivations for the mob violence and links it to the fact that police in the region can't (or won't) solve most crimes, and so this is a fall back position for the victimized; but it also notes that there is a thirst for revenge and a lack of humanity in these attacks. LDS readers may recognize in this the same spirit of revenge that motivated the remaining Nephites in the final wars with the Lamanites. In an r/K context, this could be interpreted as the people shifting to K, but I think it is better to think of it as hard-r, like the rats in an overcrowded environment that turn to killing one another and engaging in cannibalism, rather than wolves reasserting their dominance. 

• Ross Douthat has published an op-ed at The New York Times entitled, "Why We Miss the WASPs." In it, he tries to explain the grief and nostalgia for a time when George H.W. Bush was president, writing:

        But two of the more critical takes on Bush nostalgia got closer to the heart of what was being mourned, in distant hindsight, with his death. Writing in The Atlantic, Peter Beinart described the elder Bush as the last president deemed “legitimate” by both of our country’s warring tribes — before the age of presidential sex scandals, plurality-winning and popular-vote-losing chief executives, and white resentment of the first black president. Also in The Atlantic, Franklin Foer described “the subtext” of Bush nostalgia as a “fondness for a bygone institution known as the Establishment, hardened in the cold of New England boarding schools, acculturated by the late-night rituals of Skull and Bones, sent off to the world with a sense of noblesse oblige. For more than a century, this Establishment resided at the top of the American caste system. Now it is gone, and apparently people wish it weren’t.”

      I think you can usefully combine these takes, and describe Bush nostalgia as a longing for something America used to have and doesn’t really any more — a ruling class that was widely (not universally, but more widely than today) deemed legitimate, and that inspired various kinds of trust (intergenerational, institutional) conspicuously absent in our society today.

Excuse my while I cough (b***sh** ... ack, hack). Now I feel better. 

       In any event, Douthat rambles on for quite a bit and then actually suggests that what the United States might need is a de facto aristocracy:

        But nostalgia for what was best about the old establishment might point to a more radical theory of the case, one proposed by Helen Andrews in a 2016 Hedgehog Review essay on meritocracy and its discontents:

         The meritocracy is hardening into an aristocracy — so let it. Every society in history has had an elite, and what is an aristocracy but an elite that has put some care into making itself presentable? Allow the social forces that created this aristocracy to continue their work, and embrace the label. By all means this caste should admit as many worthy newcomers as is compatible with their sense of continuity. New brains, like new money, have been necessary to every ruling class, meritocratic or not. If ethnic balance is important to meritocrats, they should engineer it into the system. If geographic diversity strikes them as important, they should ensure that it exists, ideally while keeping an eye on the danger of hoovering up all of the native talent from regional America. But they must give up any illusion that such tinkering will make them representative of the country over which they preside. They are separate, parochial in their values, unique in their responsibilities. That is what makes them aristocratic.

       This idea is heresy to our current ruling class; it would have been simple wisdom to the WASPs. If we would learn from their lost successes in our own era of misrule, reconsidering this idea — that a ruling class should acknowledge itself for what it really is, and act accordingly — might be a fruitful place to start.

• Peter Brimelow writes a bit about why George H.W. Bush was a catastrophe as a President, including his secret agreement to accept more illegal immigrants in exchange for Mexico ending its corn subsidy as part of NAFTA. He concludes:

        But I instinctively prefer Steve Sailer's theory: the Bushes' dynasty has long been attracted to the life-style of the Mexican oligarchs with whom it has surprisingly intimate relationships (except when members of the latter are in jail or exile) and simply wanted to reproduce it in the U.S. A hemispheric common maket [sic], with free movement of labor, good and capital, would mean an America of slums and gated communities. But the Bushes were fine with that. They already live in gated communities.

       There's some sentimentality now about the WASP elite, now that their power appears broken. But (speaking as an immigrant WASP myself) the coldness, selfishness and snobbery that went along with their superfical politesse should not be forgotten.

      Nor should the fact that they, George H.W. Bush prominent among them, presided over—or at least made no effort to resist—the post-1965 immigration disaster, which is on the verge of making the U.S. a Third World society.

•  "An Ancient Case of the Plague Could Rewrite History"--The Atlantic. DNA analysis of the tooth of a young woman who died in Sweden some 4,900 years ago revealed genetic sequences from Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague. The article goes on to discuss how this finding could up-end previous theories about the origin of the plague. Frankly, it should be of no surprise. Accounts of plague like incidents appear in the Old Testament and other ancient documents, so all this does is confirm that the plague has been floating around for a long time ... just as many researchers have argued. But it is ridiculous to suggest that just because some girl in Sweden was infected by plague 4,900 years ago, the Black Death of the 14th Century didn't originate in Asia.
• "5 Things We’ve Learned About The Parkland Shooting You Won’t Hear From Most Media"--The Federalist. To summarize, the 5 things are: (1) the Broward County Sheriff’s Department and its deputies (including resource officer, Scot Peterson) were incompetent and cowards, (2) the Broward County Sheriff's Department is still attempting to obfuscate and cover up its failures, (3) Obama era, liberal policies such as PROMISE (a program that gives students a second chance after disciplinary problems) repeatedly kept Cruz from being arrested, (4) the Broward County school district is also still attempting to obfuscate and cover up its gross incompetence, and (5) the schools Cruz attended ignored warnings about him.
• "Judicial Nightmare: Jeff Flake Has Pretty Much Destroyed His Party's Agenda On Judges This Year"--Townhall Magazine. 

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is leaving, but not quietly. The immensely unpopular Republicanhas decided to totally trashhis party’s judicial agenda. Flake is the key 11thvote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he’s not budging until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a binding vote on a billprotecting Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Department of Justice’s Russia investigation. ... In all, he’s holding up the advancement of 21 judicial nominations, along with the confirmation of an additional 32 nominees whose votes are now stalled on the floor.

• The war on Christmas. Paul Craig Roberts, writing at the Unz Report, catalogs all the myriad ways we are prohibited from publicly expressing our support or recognition of Christmas--even the secularized Christmas that long ago divested itself of recognizing the birth of our Lord. A short excerpt:

          Schools across the country now avoid anything that alludes to the true meaning of Christmas such as angels, the baby Jesus, stables and shepherds.

        In many of the nation’s schools, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes have also been banned as part of the effort to avoid any reference to Christmas, Christ or God. One school even outlawed the colors red and green, saying they were Christmas colors and, thus, illegal.

       Students asked to send seasonal cards to military troops have been told to make them “holiday cards” and instructed not to use the words “Merry Christmas” on their cards.

       Many schools have redubbed their Christmas concerts as “winter holiday programs” and refer to Christmas as a “winter festival.” Some schools have cancelled holiday celebrations altogether to avoid offending those who do not celebrate the various holidays.

• Related: "Principal is placed on leave after issuing a memo to teachers banning Christmas decorations in classrooms - including candy canes because they are shaped like a 'J' for Jesus"--Daily Mail. And I always thought they were shaped like canes and, hence, the name.

• Related: "Psychology professor accuses GOD of being a sexual predator for impregnating the Virgin Mary 'without her consent'"--Daily Mail. When it was pointed out to him that Mary had consented, he then argued that her consent was negated by the power differential between Deity and Mary. The professor, Eric Sprankle, is--and I kid you not--"an apparent Satanist, whose Twitter bio includes the phrase 'Hail Satan' in Latin," and who "has also posted pictures of the Satanic Christmas decorations in his home, and complained about the abundance of Christian student groups and lack of Satanic groups on his university's campus." 

• Related: Italy fights back: "In blow to political correctness, Italy wants crucifixes and nativity scenes in all classrooms"--Life Site.

• Peak oil: "US Geological Survey Discovers Largest Continuous Oil and Gas Resources EVER in Texas-New Mexico Delaware Basin"--The Gateway Pundit. "The new report indicates the basin contains an estimated 46.3 billion barrels of oil plus 281 trillion cubic feet of gas and 20 billion barrels of NGL [ed: Natural gas liquids]."

A Date To Live In Infamy

The forward magazines of the U.S. Navy battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) explode shortly after 08:00 hrs during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (USA), 7 December 1941. (Source)

The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress calling for a declaration of war. From the text of his address:

        YESTERDAY, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

         The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

        It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

        The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. 

        Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong: Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

       Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our Nation.

       As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

       But always will our whole Nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

        No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

        I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

        Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

       With confidence in our armed forces with the unbounding determination of our people we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God.

       I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

December 5, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"The Spanish Flu I THE GREAT WAR Epilogue 3"--The Great War (10 min.)

Notwithstanding the horrors of World War I, Indy Neidell explains how the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 killed far more people--in fact, it killed more than any other pandemic in history, and its effects were truly world wide. Interestingly, according to Indy, there is still no agreed upon source for the flu, compounded by the fact that wartime censorship prohibited mention of the flu in the news published in the various combatants except as to its impact in neutral countries. There is no agreed upon source of the flu, and it spread rapidly and seemingly simultaneously in widely disparate areas around the word, and even among the Inuit populations of North America who would normally have been isolated enough to not be impacted. This has led a small handful of scientists to even theorize that the flu spread through the upper atmosphere and, perhaps, even to have come from cometary dust. 

• "The Worst Pandemic in History"--Slate. A look at research into what caused the Spanish Flu pandemic, and that scientists still don't know much about it. 
• Grant Cunningham's "Hump Day Reading List" for this week. One article to look at in particular discusses why we sometimes forget our training when we are surprised or caught off guard.
• An example of why it is foolish to trust government to protect you from criminals: "Cowardice at Parkland Shooting: 'Security' Recognized Shooter, Rifle Case"--Ammo Land. More comes out about the shooting, including that Cruz wasn't carrying his rifle in a nondescript duffel bag, but in a rifle carrying case. Moreover, video has been released of the police interview of Andrew Medina, a school security monitor, where he admits that he knew about Cruz and his threats to shoot up the school, saw and recognized Cruz when Cruz showed up at the school, and knew the rifle case for what it was. The article describes what followed:

        Medina called another unarmed security monitor. That monitor hid in a closet during the shooting. This lack of action is an obvious point of failure of the system. If Medina had confronted the murderer, he might have been able to stop him from entering the school. At the minimum, he would have disrupted the murderer's plan and created a delay until armed police.

       Medina recognized him as a threat. He realized he was carrying a rifle case. The murderer was forbidden from being on the school campus. A rifle in a rifle case is not an immediate threat until it is removed from the case. The murderer did not appear to be armed with other weapons. Medina did nothing to stop him. He never shouted at him or called for him to stop.

      Medina is said, after the shooting started or  a minute after the murderer entered the school, to have driven to the front of the school (on his utility vehicle) to get Scot Peterson, the armed school resource officer, and Sheriff's deputy.  Medina said he took Peterson back to where the murderer entered the school.

      That is where Peterson stayed, calling backup, and waiting.

• The deadlier weapon: "Terrifying moment American couple narrowly escapes machete-wielding bandits on rural road in Kenya"--Daily Mail. The husband was driving. He quickly started backing the vehicle up when he saw the bandits in order to give him and his wife an chance to roll up windows. Then he quickly accelerated forward through the group and sped off. One of the bandits had a pistol stuck in a waistband, but apparently wasn't able to quickly access it. It would have been better to back away at high speed, turn around, and head back the way you just come in order to put the greatest distance between you and the attackers. But it still worked out fine in this case. Biggest point is to not stop for the bandits even if they are in the middle of the road.
• "The Three Second Rule"--All Outdoor. Key part: "Wherever you go, whatever you do, the thing to do is to exercise the 3-Second Rule. That simply means to pause where you are, inside a vehicle, at an exit to the outside, when you park before you turn off the engine or unlock the doors, to take a moment, 3-seconds, to inspect the area around you."
• "Understanding and Selecting a Muzzle Device"--Kyle Lamb at Guns and Ammo. Some good points, including that "[i]n low light or at night, muzzlebrakes, compensators and blast diverters will light up a shooting position and give bad guys a target or direction to fire."
• The author is sarcastic, but the information is still good: "Costco’s $6,000 Doomsday Food Kit Only Gets Your Family Through Year One of the Apocalypse"--Grub Street. The article notes that "the kit can, if everybody wants 2,000 calories a day, feed four people for 12 months, eight for six months, or 16 for a meager three." Also:

        Your crew gets to select from several dozen ingredients — rice, elbow macaroni, freeze-dried green beans, dehydrated apples, beef- and chicken-flavored tofu, plus a product alarmingly labeled “butter powder.” The best-preserved of these products expire in 30 years, so buying the kit honestly suggests a pretty glass-half-empty view of civilization. (The planet’s gotta go to crap by 2048, or you just burned six Gs?)

       The kit is delivered as two pallets of boxes that together weigh 1,800 pounds. To keep neighbors in the dark, Costco promises everything is “packaged discreetly.” So the reckless Griswolds next door may die of starvation, but your family can relax “knowing you have the essential foods your family will need to survive an emergency or natural disaster!” That’s even better, because you won’t have to fight over territory.

• "NSSF Explains Dip in Black Friday Gun Sales"--Guns America Digest. Basic story is that retailers had spread deals over the entire week, so you can't focus on just one day's sales. And, with that in mind: "The sales for the week of Thanksgiving were the highest on record when compared to all previous years, with the exception of 2015 and 2017."
• "The AR-10 and Big Game Cartridges"--Range365. The author takes a brief look at some of the .308 alternatives that work with AR10 style rifles, including the .243, 6.5 Creedmore, .338 Federal, .358 Winchester, and a couple others.

"Disease, War and The Lost Generation I BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1918 Part 2 of 2"--Time Ghost History (12 min.). Another video by Indy Neidell on the Spanish Flu. While covering much of the same ground as the video I linked to above, the perspective of this video focuses more on the societal consequences of the pandemic.

• "Another diplomat was diagnosed with ‘Havana syndrome.’ Here’s what we know."--Washington Post. From the article:

        Last week, another Canadian diplomat was diagnosed with a mysterious disease so weird it’s been referred to in some circles as “the thing.”

       The illness afflicts only government employees from the United States and Canada. Sufferers report feeling pulsing or hearing a ringing in their ears. Then headaches, dizziness, trouble concentrating and struggles to remember basic words and facts.

      Diplomats have been complaining about “Havana syndrome,” named for the city where nearly all the victims were based, for two years. And it certainly seems like they’ve been targeted by a hostile government or rogue officials. But, though the United States has sent CIA and FBI officials to investigate, we know very little about what’s happening or who’s behind it.

The article notes that (at least officially) no one knows who is behind the attacks, or how they were carried out. But the article adds:

       ... Victims reported headaches, dizziness, confusion and the inability to think straight. Doctors who’ve conducted brain scans of the victims say it looks as if they suffered a concussion without the preceding traumatic injury.

       It’s unclear how the victims might be suffering these injuries. Some have posited that the assailants are using a “sonic weapon,” but U.S. investigators have allegedly ruled out the possibility that the injuries were caused by the sounds themselves. Other experts — including a senior doctor who examined the victims — have suggested microwave rays, though it’s unclear how they would be targeted so precisely. But as The Post reported, “no microwave weapon that affects the brain is known to exist.”

      Others, including a specialist in neuro-weapons at Georgetown University, suggested a device that emitted radio frequencies or electromagnetic pulses that enter through the ears of the victim. (“Structural variations within their heads could help explain why some heard sounds while others didn’t,” the New Yorker explained.)

(H/t Anonymous Conservative).

• Related: "Silent Sound Kills"--Value Walk (also h/t Anonymous Conservative). The article discusses "infrasound"--low frequency sound below 20 Hz. From the article:

         These sounds might occur from the whir of motors, water pumps, construction site noise, equipment room near your residence, or close-by traffic. Daria Vaisman, a research editor at the New York Press told of an incident with Walt Disney and his team of cartoonists. They slowed down a 60-cycle tone in a short cartoon to 12 Hz; they became sick for days afterward. A good example of extreme low frequencies that might be encountered is the church pipe organ. It can cause sensations of sorrow, coldness, anxiety and even shivers down the spine.

       Sounds around 19 hz, matches the resonant frequency of the human eyeball, with reports of apparitions as detailed by the Coventry Telegraph newspaper. The most dangerous frequency is at the median alpha-rhythm frequencies of the brain, 7 hz. This is also the resonant frequency of the body’s organs. At high volumes, infrasound can directly affect the human central nervous system causing disorientation, anxiety, panic, bowel spasms, nausea, vomiting and eventually organ rupture, even death from prolonged exposure.

        The first documented attempt to reproduce the infrasound effects was by Vladimir Gavreau in 1957. He became interested in infrasound when asked to cure a case of “Sick Building Syndrome.” The staff at a research plant in Marseilles were mysteriously falling ill. Chemical or pathogen poisoning was suspected, but Gavreau eventually traced the origin of the illnesses to air-conditioning units rotating fans that were generating low-frequency sound waves.

       Gavreau began to experiment with low-frequency acoustics with the intention of creating a viable audio weapon for the French military. Several prototype designs were produced, christened “canon sonique” consisting of piston driven tubes and smaller compressed air horns and whistles. Gavreau and his team tested the instruments on themselves at the Marseilles plant with unexpected results. One of the team members died instantly “his internal organs mashed into an amorphous jelly by the vibrations.”

       Fortunately, they could turn it off quickly; even so, others in nearby laboratories were sick for hours. Everything was vibrating: stomach, heart, lungs.

• "Study: More than 7-in-10 California Immigrant Households Are on Welfare"--Breitbart. According to the article, "only about 35 percent of households headed by native-born Americans use welfare in California." Tucker Carlson made a great point yesterday when he questioned the narrative that we need immigrants to make up for falling birth rates; Carlson asked his guest, an open borders pundit, why nobody asks why or cares that the average young American can't afford to have children.

• Related: "Here's what's actually happening in France (from an American in Paris)"--Reddit. The author of this piece notes that protesters are mostly middle-aged and fed up with taxes and high costs of living. Also: "Parts of France are also filled with unassimilated migrants. These migrants get government assistance as well. A large part of the French are sick of paying for migrants when French people are suffering as well."

• Diversity is our strength: "MS-13 members charged in Lynn slay"--Boston Herald. Key points:

        The teen’s body was found in a wooded park in Lynn. He was murdered, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said, because the MS-13 gang members — many illegal immigrants — believed he was cooperating with law enforcement.

       One of the six accused, Henri Salvador Gutierrez, 19, of Somerville, dodged deportation a month before the murder.

       “Salvador succeeded in convincing an immigration court that he was not in a gang, was not violent, did not pose a threat to the public,” the feds said.

       The chilling motion for detention for all six adds: “Four of the six defendants appear to have entered or remained in the United Status unlawfully. At least four of the six defendants have MS-13 tattoos indicating that they are MS-13 homeboys, suggesting that they committed a murder or other violent attack.

      “At least two of the six defendants have felony records. At least two of the six defendants were previously in immigration custody but were released and went on to commit … murder,” prosecutors state.

      One of the suspects was arrested yesterday and the rest are locked up on state charges or in immigration custody, and will appear in federal court soon.

(Underlines added).

• The left eating the left: "Harvard University sued over single-sex club crackdown"--BBC. The gist appears to be that Harvard decided to end "exclusion" by punishing those who joined single sex clubs (I believe that the author means fraternities and sororities). Under Harvard's policy, students who join single-sex clubs cannot receive endorsement letters from college deans for postgraduate fellowships. Moreover, "members of single-sex clubs are barred from serving as captains of sports teams or leaders of other official student clubs." The University has now been sued for discriminating against students based on their sex; or, as the lawsuit apparently puts it: "Harvard's sanctions policy seeks to dictate the sex of people with whom men and women may associate and the gender norms to which men and women must conform." Or, as one of the lawyers involved stated, "Harvard 'should get out of the business of trying to dictate who students spend their time with off campus'." Nice argument, and I think it has merit. However, the same arguments were raised in the past as to racial discrimination and rejected by the courts. As I've noted before, per the courts, civil rights laws trump the First Amendment.
• MGTOW. The following two 2014 articles popped up in something or the other that I was reading the other day:

• "Dear Nice Guy, I Wasn’t Ready For You Before — But I Am Now"--Thought Catalog. From a woman that has tired of dating the "bad boys" and now is ready for a "nice guy." And remember, what women mean by "nice guy" or "good man" are those men that are docile and good providers of equal or higher social status. She writes:

         I’ve learned all the lessons I need to learn from bad boys. I now have the ability to distinguish between when to give up on a relationship and when to fight harder. I know all the excuses and lies and can see when it’s right to say a big ‘f*ck you’ or an ‘okay, I’ll let you make it up to me.’ I know what it’s like get all dressed up for a night out only to sit in your room watching Netflix, crying and staring at your phone because the person you had plans with never showed. And that a “got too drunk sorry” text is not a sufficient excuse or apology. I know all these things. My mom always said that the problem with people who end up unhappy is that they don’t know how to walk away from something that has already served it purpose. Well, I can see now that bad boys have served all the purpose they possibly could in my life and that it’s time for me to learn a new lesson. I want to learn from you, Nice Guy.

       It’s time for me to learn what its like to have someone to fall back on when I feel weak. It’s time for me to understand what its like to open up to someone without the fear that I’ll be emotionally shamed or that it will scare them away. It’s time for me to understand why people write love songs or tear up at the end of the notebook. I want to know what it’s like to be desired for more than my body, for someone to look at me with passionate eyes, slowly but surely falling in love with my mind, body and soul.

      I want to know what it’s like to have someone who will always show up, who will always make time for me and who will always respect me. I want to know what it’s like to be able to count on someone, and know that even though love is never safe, I will be safely hurt by them. Mostly, I know I can learn all these things from you, Nice Guy.

• And a response from a "nice guy": "Dear Girls Who Are (Finally) Ready To Date Nice Guys: We Don’t Want You Anymore"--Thought Catalog. He writes:

        I was wonderful to you, I was a gentleman. I treated you with respect, like a lady deserves to be treated. I enjoyed your company and you had my full attention. I didn’t expect anything in return except a chance to win your heart. I’m stable, I’m a good provider, I want marriage and kids in my future. I’m the man of your dreams, but you couldn’t see that. Or maybe you just didn’t care. You were pretty preoccupied with your texting.

       But now you’re ready to date me? Really? You’ll excuse me if I’m not jumping for joy. You’ve dissed me, rejected me, took advantage of me, dodged my goodnight kiss and couldn’t wait to get away from me. Now suddenly you want me? Sorry, I’m not buying it.

       I get it though, now that you’re on the downside of 30, the wrinkles are starting, the body is sagging and you have stretch marks and that c-section scar from pushing out that bad boy’s rugrat. I know it was impossible to see that that deadbeat irresponsible jerk was actually a deadbeat irresponsible jerk, but that’s not my problem. While you were waiting for those texts that never came I was busy getting my career in order and maximizing my credit score. Now my biggest issue is deciding which color Audi I’m going to buy. Why in the world would I choose to take on you and your problems?

       In your twenties you barely gave me the time of day. Meanwhile you were jumping in bed with any guy with a neck tattoo or a prison record. Why would I date you? I know where you’ve been, and I hope you’ve been tested. From the trail of bad boys and the mistreatment you tolerated, no, invited into your life and seeing all the drama you created for yourself, I can only conclude that you don’t need a nice guy, you need therapy! I’m a simple guy and like my life uncomplicated. You are the human embodiment of drama and chaos, I’d have to be crazier than, well… YOU to take on your baggage.

Read the whole of both articles and laugh (or weep).

December 4, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Camouflage Infrared/IR Tests"--Weaponsandstuff93 (11 min.)

Another video showing how certain camouflage that works great in the visible spectrum, is terrible when viewed using night-vision/IR equipment.

• It's Tuesday and time for a Woodpile Report.
• "Good News Alert: U.S. is Safer Than We’re Led to Believe: For Americans in their 30s, this is the safest the country has ever been in their lifetimes."--Range365. The article indicates that you are about four times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be the victim of a mass shooting and the overall violent crime rate has been halved since 1991.
• "NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD A TRIJICON RMR"--Gabe Suarez. Some advice on acceptable (and not acceptable) alternatives. Out: the Burris Fastfire (I assume any generation), the Sig Romeo, and the various Vortex units. What he thinks may work well enough is the Holosun HS507C. 
• "Skills Check: 5 Body-and-Head Drills"--Shooting Illustrated. The author notes that "The typical silhouette target has a large center-scoring area in the body and a smaller scoring area located in the head. Typically, the center portion is described by a circle or oval around 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and the head scoring zone is usually rectangular and about 3x5 inches. For these drills you’re going to need a couple of silhouette targets, or you can make your own targets with a couple of paper plates and 3x5 index cards on a piece of cardboard."
• "Your Tactical Training Scenario- Properly Timing your Resistance Efforts"--Active Response Training. No, not timing of when to close distance and strike, but when, in a situation, to offer resistance and when to wait. As Ellifritz notes, you can't outdraw someone that merely has to press the trigger. "I’m not advising you to give up. Just wait for your opportunity. Wait for the bad guy to be momentarily distracted. Act while he is doing something else or when he looks away for a second."
• "18th Century Firepower – The Ferguson Rifle"--The Firearm Blog. This was one of the first, if not the first, usable breach loading rifle designs, using a threaded breech plug which screwed up and down to close the action. A limited number were manufactured for the British and used to outfit a small unit led by Ferguson during the American Revolution. Ferguson was injured in battle, which led to the disbanding of his unit, and he was later killed in action, with the result that all efforts to develop his rifle stopped.
• "Pistol vs Shotgun vs Rifle for Home Defense"--Abe's Gun Cave. The author discusses each of the options in detail. His conclusion, though, for those too impatient to read his article:

       Pistols have the best maneuverability, good magazine capacity, and can be suppressed.  However, they are the worst people stoppers and are the hardest to aim under stress.

       Shotguns have excellent power, and are (very) slightly more forgiving with shot placement.  However, they have the highest recoil, lowest magazine capacity, are the slowest to reload, and are very limited in both bullpup and suppressor options.

       Rifles are very accurate, have excellent power and the least problem with over-penetration (assuming proper ammo).  They have the highest magazine capacity, extremely mild recoil, are easy to suppress, and there are several bullpup options.  The downside? Good bullpups are a bit expensive, and rifles are extremely loud when un-suppressed.  Other than that, I truly can’t think of any.

       My Opinion?  (if it wasn’t obvious by now).

       I think a Suppressed .223/5.56 bullpup rifle with proper bullet selection is an ideal home defense weapon.

A couple points: Self-defense now and post-TEOTWAWKI are different creatures. Your odds of having to engage a large number of motivated attackers in your home is probably pretty small, so, combined with its terminal performance (at least with 00 buckshot), I don't believe that the low number of rounds and slow reload time for a shotgun is as significant as some people apparently believe. Also, unlike an indoor shooting range, there is a considerable amount of material in your typical house to absorb sound, so most handguns won't need to be suppressed--i.e., you are not going to be deafened if you or someone near you shoots a 9 mm or similar.

•  "WRITING A TACTICAL SOI"--American Partisan. SOI stands for Signals Operating Instructions, and is a standard procedure or plan for using radio communications, including backup channels. The article also discusses the use of radio communications for a partisan unit. Interesting reading. 
• "GOVERNMENT ACQUISITIONS: A DETRIMENT TO A SNIPER’S MISSION SUCCESS"--Small Arms Defense Journal. Unlike SOCOM that can largely bypass the normal acquisition process, regular snipers are stuck with the bureaucracy and "one size fits all" mentality of procurement. The author contends that this will make snipers less flexible and less effective.
• As we are on the verge of new regulations that will classify bump-stocks as "machine guns" without any grandfathering or re-opening of the machine gun registry, it is good to reflect on the fact that the ATF did not inspect the Las Vegas Shooter’s guns before the bump stock ban was proposed. That's right: while blaming the high number of casualties on the use of a bump stock, the ATF doesn't know if any of the bump stock equipped weapons were actually used.

"What is a MAGNETRON - How Does it Work"--Blueprint (11 min.)

This video, in particular, looks at the magnetrons used in common household microwave ovens.

• I had been assured that the opioid crises was the result of over-prescription: "New Documentary Reveals How Border Insecurity Exacerbates Opioid Deaths"--The Federalist.  From the lede: 

Two of the major issues that are raging in the United States right now appear unrelated on the surface, but are keenly connected when one looks a little deeper. A new documentary film from reporter Sara Carter, “Not in Vein,” tackles the intersection of border control and opioid addiction in a terrifying light that reveals how Mexican drug cartels are terrorizing Americans with the most deadly drugs on the market.

Also:

        And heroin isn’t just heroin anymore. It’s often laced with Fentanyl — a substance that can kill you with an amount as little as 2 grains of salt. Fentanyl has contributed to rising death rates and, as one DEA officer said, could “literally be used a weapon of mass destruction.”

       The same officer called the Mexican drug cartels “the greatest threat to the U.S.” In fact, in Nebraska recently, a tractor trailer was pulled over with 118 pounds of Fentanyl — enough to kill 26 million people.

In short, Congress has made it harder for people with chronic pain conditions to get the medications they need, but refuse to do anything about border security that might cut down on opioid deaths. An unbiased observer could come to the conclusion that the Congress-critters really don't care about Americans.

• The Yellow Vest protesters have won at least a small victory: "France protests: PM Philippe suspends fuel tax rises"--BBC. The article reports:

        Mr Philippe said that the next planned rise in the so-called carbon tax on vehicle fuel, which had been due to come in on 1 January, would be suspended for six months to allow consultations across the country to see what accompanying measures might be introduced to ease the burden for the worst-off.

       He also said planned increases in gas and electricity prices this winter would be halted, and that a toughening of the rules for vehicle emissions tests would also be postponed.

      It is a major climbdown by the government of President Macron, who has said the measures are necessary to combat climate change and meet budget deficit reduction targets.

• Cultural enrichment in Britain: "'It's like she’s been savaged by a DOG!': Toddler is scarred for life with 15 bites on her face and neck after CHILDREN attack her at soft play centre"--The Daily Mail. Although the article doesn't mention it, the main culprit was a 3 year old Somoli (see this video for details). The article does describe that "[t]he mother was forced to pull a little boy off Willow's neck when it emerged she had 15 bite marks all over her body." I think a strong kick might have worked better. Also, the mother claimed that "her daughter was blue and the youngster 'had a big smile on his face and blood all around his mouth'." The article goes on: "She eventually found the mother of the child, who she claimed insisted 'That's what kids do, that's what kids do!'" Good reason to not import them into the West, then.
• "Europe Is Dying"--American Conservative. 

        The fall in the Italian birth rate has reached its lowest level ever in 2017. In a country of 60.5 million inhabitants, just 458,151 children were born last year, and even less, about 440 thousand, are the new births predicted for 2018 — just over 7 per 1,000 inhabitants, 30 per cent under the median of the European Union, which is already the region of the world with the lowest birth rate.

       If you consider the fertility rate – or “total fertility rate” – which ensures zero growth, that is, the equal exchange of the population, is 2.1 children per woman, then observe that the Italian figure has been dramatically under that for decades. In 2017 it sank to 1.32, with several regions even more prone to births, and with Sardinia even settled at 1.06.

       These are already numbers that attest an inexorable march towards the extinction of a people.

Rod Dreher notes that the majority of marriages in Italy that result in children are religious marriages; foreigners marrying and second marriages for natives are generally civil marriages that produce no children. But "[t]he number of first marriages and “religious marriages” (marriages conducted under the auspices of the Church) is in freefall. First marriages declined 7.3 percent in a single year (from 2016 to 2017), and the number of church marriages plunged by 10.5 percent in that same time period."

• Of course: "Forging Islamic science"--Aeon. There is a steadily growing number of illustrations claiming to date from the Medieval period showing Muslim "scientists" looking through telescopes, examining globes, or otherwise engaged in scientific pursuits, but which are fake. From the article:

        From Istanbul’s tourist shops, these works have ventured far afield. They have have found their way into conference posters, education websites, and museum and library collections. The problem goes beyond gullible tourists and the occasional academic being duped: many of those who study and publicly present the history of Islamic science have committed themselves to a similar sort of fakery. There now exist entire museums filled with reimagined objects, fashioned in the past 20 years but intended to represent the venerable scientific traditions of the Islamic world. 

        The irony is that these fake miniatures and objects are the product of a well-intentioned desire: a desire to integrate Muslims into a global political community through the universal narrative of science. That wish seems all the more pressing in the face of a rising tide of Islamophobia. To be clear, Muslims always conducted science, despite the claims of Islamophobes to the contrary, but often it wasn’t visually expressed in a way that we find easy to recognise today. But what happens when we start fabricating objects for the tales we want to tell? Why do we reject the real material remnants of the Islamic past for their confected counterparts? What exactly is the picture of science in Islam that are we hoping to find? These fakes reveal more than just a preference for fiction over truth. Instead, they point to a larger problem about the expectations that scholars and the public alike saddle upon the Islamic past and its scientific legacy.

What these fakes reveal is a desperation to portray Islamic culture as more important than it really was.

• "A Middle East Monarchy Hired American Ex-Soldiers To Kill Its Political Enemies. This Could Be The Future Of War"--Buzz Feed. From the article:

         Cradling an AK-47 and sucking a lollipop, the former American Green Beret bumped along in the back of an armored SUV as it wound through the darkened streets of Aden. Two other commandos on the mission were former Navy SEALs. As elite US special operations fighters, they had years of specialized training by the US military to protect America. But now they were working for a different master: a private US company that had been hired by the United Arab Emirates, a tiny desert monarchy on the Persian Gulf.

        On that night, December 29, 2015, their job was to carry out an assassination.

       Their armed attack, described to BuzzFeed News by two of its participants and corroborated by drone surveillance footage, was the first operation in a startling for-profit venture. For months in war-torn Yemen, some of America’s most highly trained soldiers worked on a mercenary mission of murky legality to kill prominent clerics and Islamist political figures.

       Their target that night: Anssaf Ali Mayo, the local leader of the Islamist political party Al-Islah. The UAE considers Al-Islah to be the Yemeni branch of the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood, which the UAE calls a terrorist organization. Many experts insist that Al-Islah, one of whose members won the Nobel Peace Prize, is no terror group. [ed: since the Nobel Peace Prize is generally awarded to dictators and terrorists, this is no defense]. They say it's a legitimate political party that threatens the UAE not through violence but by speaking out against its ambitions in Yemen.

       The mercenaries’ plan was to attach a bomb laced with shrapnel to the door of Al-Islah’s headquarters, located near a soccer stadium in central Aden, a key Yemeni port city. The explosion, one of the leaders of the expedition explained, was supposed to “kill everybody in that office.”

       When they arrived at 9:57 at night, all seemed quiet. The men crept out of the SUV, guns at the ready. One carried the explosive charge toward the building. But just as he was about to reach the door, another member of the team opened fire, shooting back along the dimly lit street, and their carefully designed plan went haywire.

        The operation against Mayo — which was reported at the time but until now was not known to have been carried out by American mercenaries — marked a pivot point in the war in Yemen, a brutal conflict that has seen children starved, villages bombed, and epidemics of cholera roll through the civilian population. The bombing was the first salvo in a string of unsolved assassinations that killed more than two dozen of the group’s leaders.

       The company that hired the soldiers and carried out the attack is Spear Operations Group, incorporated in Delaware and founded by Abraham Golan, a charismatic Hungarian Israeli security contractor who lives outside of Pittsburgh. He led the team’s strike against Mayo.

The article goes on to discuss various implications from this attack and others, including the increased reliance on assassinating specific individuals rather than targeting military infrastructure or equipment, the return to using mercenaries, and what responsibility, if any, the United States should bear. It is a long read, so set aside some time before you start digging into it.

• "We Weren’t Made for Endless Work"--by Gracy Olmstead at The American Conservative.  
• "It’s not science I don’t trust – it’s the scientists"--James Delingpole at The Spectator. An excerpt:

       If research supports a liberal shibboleth — say, the notion that violence is a learned behaviour rather than innate — then it will be given huge prominence. In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics testified to Congress that ‘more than 3,500’ studies had investigated the link between exposure to media violence and actual violent behaviour. This was a lie. Even those few studies — fewer than 1,000 — that purported to find a causal link often did so on the flimsiest of evidence. For example, one established the elevated ‘aggression’ caused by watching an exciting film by asking a child ‘whether he would pop a balloon if one were present’.

       If the evidence doesn’t accord with the correct ‘woke’ narrative then right-thinking social scientists tailor it till it does. This is what happened to a 2007 study showing racially diverse communities are more suspicious, withdrawn, ungenerous, fractured and fractious. Such an incendiary refutation of the well-known truth that ‘diversity is strength’ could not go unedited. So it didn’t. Publication was delayed until the author could ‘develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity’. To publish the facts on their own would be ‘irresponsible’.

      Eventually, the author published it with a disquisition on how increasing diversity would lead to ‘significant benefits in the medium or long term’. This accords with ‘contact theory’ — a notion popular among social scientists (see also the imaginary encounter with the gay canvasser, above) that the more we’re physically exposed to diversity the more we’ll learn to love it. And if the hard evidence speaks otherwise, well never mind. You can just do what the author of that diversity report does: every time some unhelpful conservative type cites it to back up their argument that diversity causes social problems, he accuses them of selectively citing his findings because they’ve ignored the bit at the end where he explains that diversity will be good one day.

December 3, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Remington R51 Gen 2 Review"--sootch00 (26 min.)

His conclusion: worked well, shot well, hard to disassemble and reassemble.

• "The Ever-Changing Nature of Active Killer Response"--Active Response Training. Ellifritz has noticed a disturbing trend of late--active killer's setting up ambushes for police arriving on the scene. For instance, he notes a media report of the Borderland Bar shooting recounting: "After the initial shooting, he positioned himself in anticipation of the police response, Ayub said. When officers entered, he ambushed them immediately from a position of tactical advantage." Ellifritz contends that the shooters have learned that cops will now attempt to stop the shooting immediately, leaving these shooters only 3 to 4 minutes before they will be engaged by police. Consequently, "killers are planning to either escape the scene in the first few minutes or they are setting up ambushes to take out the first couple officers on scene (as seen in the Borderland shooting)." However, he doesn't believe that the answer is to go back to the old tactic of waiting for the SWAT team. Instead, he proposes:

        Officers should make entry independently via different entry points.  Each further arriving officer should make entry from a different door if possible.

        Sending multiple cops on a hunting mission from different angles and entry points makes it very hard for the killer to ambush everyone.  It also makes it far more difficult for the killer to escape.  Whenever I’ve played the role of “bad guy” when multiple independent cops are each seeking me  from a different direction, I’ve been completely tactically overwhelmed.  When cops do this, the bad guy quickly goes on the defensive, saving the lives of both police officers and innocent victims.

       We should be training our cops to make entry from different positions as they arrive on scene.

• Defensive Pistol Craft jumped the gun this month, with Jon Low publishing his monthly round-up of news, advice and commentary on November 24. Go check it out. It is like several weeks of Greg Ellifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump and Grant Cunningham's Hump Day reading list wrapped up into a single list (and afternoon's reading), together with Low's insights. For instance, in this post, Low offers some lessons he's learned about using a pistol with a flashlight:

       Strategic Edge Gun Range was open for night shooting last night (3 Nov. 2018 A.D. till 21:00 hours), so I practiced my flashlight techniques and my left handed flashlight techniques on a steel plate rack and a steel silhouette.  

       But before that, I shot as long as I could in civil twilight to see how dark it had to be before: 
1.  I could not positively identify my target.
2.  I could not clearly resolve my front sight from my rear sight. 

       I lost the ability to identify my target long before I lost the ability to resolve my front sight.  This is a big problem.  Because one could confidently shoot at unidentified blobs in low light conditions, convincing oneself that it would be a good shoot because one could aim correctly.  I had to re-emphasize rule 4, Be Sure Of Your Target.  One of the reasons I was able resolve my front sight in low light conditions was that machinist Coach Hoffman had opened up my rear sight notch by 1/100th of an inch.  (This is important.  You need to get this done on your sights, if you can't resolve your front sight from your rear sight in low light conditions.  If you are using tight target sights, you need to change sights or get your rear sight opened up.  We are not target shooting in pristine conditions. We are combat shooting in adverse conditions.) Putting tritium glow in the dark sights creates this same problem, being able to aim long after you can no longer identify your target. 

        I found the Harries technique allowed me to aim by silhouetting my sights against the bright target.  I found the cheek index and crown index allow me to aim by lighting up my sights.  Different sight pictures that need to be practiced, because they don't necessarily give you the same point of impact.  (I'm not sure why, but I'm working on it.)

         I don't have a flashlight attached to my pistol because it's just too easy to search with the flashlight on the pistol, which violates rule 2, Never Let The Muzzle Cover Anything You Are Not Willing To Destroy.  You're going to use your flashlight a lot more than your pistol, so it's best to have a hand held flashlight.

         Shooting with a flashlight in the other hand is effectively one handed shooting.  So, you need to practice one handed shooting, left and right.  Just because you're right handed, does not mean you are going to be right handed in combat.  (This goes for knife fighting too.  If you find yourself in a fight with a knife in your secondary hand, FIGHT!  Don't attempt to transfer the knife into your primary hand.  The transfer takes time and risks losing control of the knife.  Which ever hand is not holding the knife should be holding the front of your neck protecting your carotid arteries.  Marines are called Leathernecks because they wore a leather collar around their necks to protect their carotid arteries.The enemy knows that any attempt on your part to transfer your knife between hands is an opportunity to attack.)

•  "Gun Violence Fact : Violence Prevalent As Much Elsewhere As Here In The United States"--Ammo Land. An excerpt:

[C]omparing Japan to the United States is a waste of time. Culture has a lot to do with murder and suicide rates. Japan doesn’t have the rampant illegal drug and gang problem the United States has and they don’t have the associated murder rate to go with it. Murders are very rare in Japan, with any weapon. But their suicide rate is very high — more than twice as high as the United States and virtually all those suicides are committed without a gun.

• "The Life And Death Of A Mexican Hitman"--Captain's Journal. The article describes that after receiving his assignment, the assassin spends a couple days at a Cartel safe house. During that time "he putters around until early evening, staring at the no-paint, no-plaster walls, wasting time on Facebook, uploading a post honouring his santita, his little saint, a death dispenser’s spiritual partner of choice. La Santa Muerte. The Holy Death." 
• "THE AREA DENIAL WEAPON"--American Partisan. The author suggests that an AR outfitted with a 20-inch heavy barrel and using larger magazines or drums can serve to provide suppressive fire even without being full-auto.
• "Civil Disobedience by Gun Owners in the 21st Century?"--The Truth About Guns. The author notes several social movements that were advanced via civil disobedience and asks: 

         Will gun owners take the same road? Will they start to openly defy and violate gun control laws? We have stories across the country so far from places like Colorado where gun shops only sell 30-round AR magazines, like the failure of firearm registration in New York and Connecticut mentioned earlier. Will gun owners take part in civil disobedience by not turning in their bump fire stocks? Will they openly use them at ranges when the date making them verboten passes?

       In regards to carry rights, will more gun owners simply bypass government permission in states like California Florida and march while open carrying? In Washington State, will gun owners go to their Capitol and publicly trade firearms without a background completed?

• "Med Kit Minutiae"--Raconteur Report. Aesop offers some advice on what to pack and, just as importantly, what effects temperature extremes will have kits that are stored in a vehicle. He suggests that "[i]f you put that kit bag inside a $2 Styrofoam picnic cooler (let alone anything sturdier and better made from Coleman, Igloo, Yeti, etc.) before dropping it in a trunk, it will last unattended for much longer. And in a pinch, you’ll have an extra cooler."
• "Where was this guy when we needed him???"--Bayou Renaissance Man. Link to a video showing a DIY tool that makes filling sandbags much easier and quicker.

"Volcanic Cooling"--Suspicious Observers (7 min.)

• "The Funniest Post You Will EVER Read About Genetic Engineering, Now Available in Cream or Roll-On"--Wilder Wealthy and Wise.

• Related: "Chinese scientist's gene-edited babies have opened Pandora's box. Brace yourselves."--San Diego Union-Tribune. Money quote: "Imagine the immense resentment when it is reported — as it surely will be someday — that super-rich people are having genetically engineered children that are genetic all-stars. The 1 percenters already have a profound ability to make their children’s lives’ better; now they get to have a giant new advantage?"

• Related: "Chinese scientist who claims he created world's first gene-edited babies is missing amid rumours of arrest"--Daily Mail. 

• Related: "Another Woman Is Pregnant With a Gene Edited Embryo"--Next Big Future.

• "The New Evolution Deniers"--Quillette. Conservative Christians are generally presented as the group opposed to teaching evolution. But as genetic differences in personality and behavior have been discovered, it is increasing behavioral psychologists that are digging in their heals against evolution. An excerpt:

        Despite there being zero evidence in favor of Blank Slate psychology, and a mountain of evidence to the contrary, this belief has entrenched itself within the walls of many university humanities departments where it is often taught as fact. Now, armed with what they perceive to be an indisputable truth questioned only by sexist bigots, they respond with well-practiced outrage to alternative views. This has resulted in a chilling effect that causes scientists to self-censor, lest these activists accuse them of bigotry and petition their departments for their dismissal. I’ve been privately contacted by close, like-minded colleagues warning me that my public feuds with social justice activists on social media could be occupational suicide, and that I should disengage and delete my comments immediately. My experience is anything but unique, and the problem is intensifying. Having successfully cultivated power over administrations and silenced faculty by inflicting reputational terrorism on their critics and weaponizing their own fragility and outrage, social justice activists now justifiably think there is no belief or claim too dubious that administrations won’t cater to it. Recently, this fear has been realized as social justice activists attempt to jump the epistemological shark by claiming that the very notion of biological sex, too, is a social construct.

        As a biologist, it is hard to understand how anyone could believe something so outlandish. It’s a belief on a par with the belief in a flat Earth. 

And the article doesn't even broach the subject of genetics and intelligence. That is, perhaps, a bridge too far for even the author.

• While we are supposed to all be praising George H.W. Bush and his career in government, I believe it is important that we also remember his capitulation to the left which brought us two terms of Bill Clinton. "After noting that Republicans never had control of either house of Congress while Bush was President, Meacham added: 'But what he did with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Clean Air Act, the budget deal, as President Clinton will tell you, set the terms of properity [sic] of the 1990s.'"
• The big news from Europe are the yellow vest protests and riots in France. The yellow vests are safety vests that France requires all drivers keep in their vehicles. The protests started in reaction to increases in fuel taxes in order to fund "green energy" programs, but has quickly spread to more generalized protests against high taxes and high costs of living. See articles at The Daily Mail, Powerline Blog, and Victory Girls Blog. 
• "Be celibate or leave the priesthood, pope tells gay priests"--Reuters. From the article: "Men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be admitted to the Catholic clergy, and it would be better for priests who are actively gay to leave rather than lead a double life, Pope Francis says in a new book."
• "Qatar Will Pull Out Of OPEC, As Rift With Saudi Arabia Deepens"--NPR. Qatar is going to concentrate on their production of natural gas.
• "WHY ARE SO MANY CHINESE OFFICIALS KILLING THEMSELVES?"--South China Morning Post. The article links it to anti-corruption investigations and suggests that officials getting caught up in these investigations are killing themselves to protect their family and wealth.
• "WHAT IS ‘BALLOT HARVESTING,’ AND HOW DID CALIFORNIA DEMS USE IT TO NUKE THE GOP?"--The Daily Caller. Apparently, California law allows anyone to pick up and deliver absentee ballots from a person and deliver those to polling places. Of course, these groups "harvesting" the ballots don't want to collect ballots from Republican voters, only providing the service to Democrats or those likely to vote Democrat. Thus, we get the following results:

       As the polls closed on election day last month, six California Republican House candidates, including Representatives Dana Rohrabacher, Steve Knight, and Mimi Walters, were ahead in their respective races. However, as the absentee and provisional ballots rolled in over the intervening weeks, all six lost to their Democratic opponents.

       The case of Korean-American GOP candidate Young Kim was one of the most prominent examples. On election night, Kim held an 8,000 vote lead over her Democratic opponent Gil Cisneros, and even attended freshman orientation in Washington, D.C. before watching her lead, and her victory, slowly evaporate over the subsequent weeks.

• Minority students at Princeton are upset at the lack of segregation: "Princeton students complain about white peers ‘invading’ ‘POC places’"--Campus Reform. 
• Of course: "Black college lacrosse player, 21, is arrested for spraying N-word and swastika graffiti targeting HIMSELF and other minority students in two incidents that terrorized the campus"--Daily Mail.
• Another lesson in what happens when you subsidize unwanted behaviors: "He’s Built an Empire, With Detained Migrant Children as the Bricks"--New York Times. Juan Sanchez founded a very profitable "non-profit", Southwest Key Programs, that has made hundreds of millions off of government grants to house child illegal aliens. According to the article:

        Southwest Key has collected $1.7 billion in federal grants in the past decade, including $626 million in the past year alone. But as it has grown, tripling its revenue in three years, the organization has left a record of sloppy management and possible financial improprieties, according to dozens of interviews and an examination of documents. It has stockpiled tens of millions of taxpayer dollars with little government oversight and possibly engaged in self-dealing with top executives.

* * *

        Southwest Key has created a web of for-profit companies — construction, maintenance, food services and even a florist — that has funneled money back to the charity through high management fees and helps it circumvent government limits on executive pay.

* * *

       The organization, sitting on $61 million in cash as of last fall, has lent millions of dollars to real estate developers, acting more like a bank than a traditional charity. It has opted to rent shelters rather than buy them, an unusual practice that has proved lucrative for shelter owners — who include Mr. Sanchez and the charity’s chief financial officer.

But Sanchez assures us that it is all about the children.

• Wolves in sheep's clothing: "Loud and proud complementarians: John Piper and Nick Roen"--Dalrock. The author warns:

Yesterday I described how complementarians used deception to replicate in conservative churches what feminists had already accomplished in liberal churches.  With their feminist victory in the final mopping up stages, several prominent complementarians have started switching their focus to pushing LGBT acceptance in conservative churches.  Key to the complementarian approach in both cases is to pretend they are really there to protect the church from the assaults of the culture war.  Complementarians know that if they become the defenders of conservative christian culture they can use their trusted position to dismantle the defenses.

• And a huge blow to anthropology: "Turns Out Mitochondria Don't Work Like We Thought They Did"--Popular Mechanics. If you read a book or watch a documentary about using genetics to track the spread of populations, you will hear about Mitochondrial DNA. The reason is that the Mitochondria in our cells have their own DNA, separate from those our body otherwise uses, and this DNA is only passed through the maternal line. Except, as this article notes, recent research indicates that it isn't only passed through the maternal line, but can come from the father. The article explains:

        The standard DNA in your chromosomes are a mash-up of your father’s and mother’s DNA, combined together with a handful of random mutations thrown into the mix. That makes it tough for geneticists and anthropologists to trace your genetic line through the ages. But with mitochondrial DNA only from your mother—and Y chromosome DNA only from your father, if you’re male—researchers can tease apart genetic lineages and paint a clearer picture of your heritage.

      But new research suggests that in some cases, mitochondrial DNA can be inherited from fathers, too. A group of researchers found three unrelated families where individuals had mitochondrial DNA from both parents. A total of 17 people across these three families were affected, suggesting that mitochondria aren’t as exclusively maternal as scientists believed.

      It’s tough to say just how common this condition is, since most people haven’t had their mitochondrial DNA sequenced. But this paper shows that this sort of thing does happen, and it might be possible that it could happen to a lot of people. If that’s true, it could call into question a lot of the findings from genetic anthropology.

A Review of Revelations--Part 14--Wrap Up

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13]

        This is a continuation of my series reviewing The Book of Revelation: Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass by G. Erik Brandt. Today, I will be wrapping up.

"The Second Coming" (Source)

      In my last installment, I covered chapters 12 and 13 of the Book of Revelation, which discussed the War in Heaven and the Beast. I decided, however, that I really couldn't do Brandt's book justice by a continued chapter by chapter commentary, so I've decided to wrap up with some of my own thoughts.

     Obviously, Revelation has 22 chapters and in my last installment we had only gotten half-way through. The Revelation continues much like the last few chapters by giving us a peak behind the curtain, so to speak, as well as focusing on certain events in more detail. Some of the things covered in the remainder of the Revelation include such things as the Whore of Babylon, further details on the wars and judgments poured out on the wicked prior to the Second Coming. Then it discusses various aspects of the Second Coming, from the destruction of the remaining wicked, to the restoration of Jerusalem and the descent of a New Jerusalem. As LDS readers know, the two are separate capitals, one in the old world, obviously, and the New Jerusalem in the new world. Finally, we are given just the slightest glimpse of the Millennium and final war of Gog and Magog at the end of that era, after which is the final judgment (the Great White Throne Judgment). Brandt covers all of this in detail referencing scripture and writings of the brethren.

      I want to go back and discuss some specific points. 

     When John finishes the Revelation, there are a couple interesting things he writes. First, in Rev. 22:10, he is commanded to "[s]eal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand." This is in contrast to some other end-time prophecies where the particular prophet was told to seal up his writings or what he saw until the end times. But John was specifically told not to, which suggests to me that what he wrote pertained to the people at the time and, more importantly for us, that what John wrote should have been understandable to members of the Church at the time he wrote it.

     Second, John gives a warning in Rev. 22:18-19:

        For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 

       And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

I have heard of some Christians claiming that by "this book," John meant the New Testament or, even, the whole of the Holy Bible. The context, however, shows that he was only referencing the Book of Revelation, which is only underscored by the fact that the writings that eventually were collected together to form the New Testament or the Holy Bible as whole had not yet been collected; some of the New Testament books had not even been written at the time of John's prophecy. 

      We must be cautious of the warning against adding to or subtracting from the Revelation. While this can include those outright trying to fabricate new material or excise material, I believe it also applies to how the book is interpreted. Many people read into the Revelation things that are simply not there, either directly or by inference based on other scripture, or become wed to their pet theories.

     Worse, in many ways, are those that interpret the Revelation too strictly and, thereby, limit its scope. In this latter case, I have in mind those that interpret the Revelation as only pertaining to events in the First Century and/or being only symbolic. These people would lead you to believe that the Revelation is irrelevant for us.

     My last installment covered the Beast and Brandt's explanation. I am going to simplify all that, because the Beast represents whatever organization(s) advance the cause of Satan and attempt to hinder the efforts of Christ and his true Church. That is, the Beast is "Church" of the Devil. The horns and such are particular leaders important to this movement. We should not become obsessed with trying to identify it with a particular organization or movements, because as we have seen, Satan has many tools and organizations doing his will, or cabals within certain organizations that seek to advance Satan's cause.

     The Whore of Babylon is somewhat more interesting. Brandt discusses this in detail, and the Revelation describes the Whore as the great city that is the antithesis of the City of God. Unfortunately, it includes organizations that are, on their surface, seemingly advancing the cause of the Gospel.

       A whore is a woman that has exchanged that that which is "most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue" (Moroni 9:9) for money, popularity and passing pleasure. Although the Bible is full of references to harlots and whores, the one "whore" that we encounter again and again in the writings of the prophets, however, is the Israel that has turned from God to idols. (See, e.g., Ezekiel 16:15, 28 and 33; Jeremiah 2:20 and 3:1, 6, and 8; Hosea 2:5, 3:3, 9:1; Isaiah 1:21). Thus, I believe that the Whore of Babylon includes not only Israel (the Jews who rejected Christ) but also those Christians that have sold what is most precious (the Gospel and salvation) in order to gain the popularity and riches offered by the nations of the Earth. In the end, the Whore will be destroyed, however, by the Beast. (Rev. 17:16). 

       We see this today with churches that have substituted popular sentiment and worldly philosophies for the truth of God. I have blogged about this topic many times, as have others, but churches which are converged are increasingly failing and being rejected by the world. Their congregations are evaporating even as they go chasing after new members with promises of ever greater license and worldly views. 

        As we just saw this past week, "between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year." Vox Day noted that these churches are, for the most part, dying because "[t]hey are not Christian churches, they are Churchian organizations that have been converged and are following the lead of the world into total irrelevance and eventual extinction." The Church of England, it was recently reported, is in crises because attendance has plummeted and only 2% of British young adults identify as being members. This is the same church that recently had a Bishop advise against referring to God as "He." It doesn't matter how much these Churchian organizations and their members confess their commitment to worldly philosophies and commitment to popular causes, the Beast will destroy them.

      For those who keep their faith, however, the Revelation promises us great glory, for "[Christ's] reward is with [Him], to give every man according as his work shall be," (Rev. 22:12) and "[h]e that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." (Rev. 21:7). "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Rev. 21:4).

     Be good; do good.