A nice test comparing the performance of two Hornady Critical Duty loads shot through windshield glass into ballistic gel. The extra mass of the .45 ACP meant that it did markedly better. Although the entire video is 21 minutes long, the ballistic gel testing is only during the approximately 4:30 to 12:30 period; and if you are only interested in the windshield glass test, it starts at about the 7:45 mark.
As you may have seen in the news, there was a second favorable decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the plaintiffs in the case of Mock v. Garland. The effect of the decision is limited, however: the Circuit Court did not issue an injunction but only decided that the plaintiffs had met the first of four elements necessary to obtain a preliminary injunction.
As some background, the plaintiffs in that case include William Mock and Christopher Lewis, two Texans who own braced firearms; Maxim Defense, a company that sells firearms equipped with pistol braces; and the Firearms Policy Coalition, a pro-gun rights legal advocacy group. The plaintiffs had attempted to obtain a preliminary injunction against the ATF's pistol brace rule going into effect. The case was heard before a federal district court in Forth Worth, Texas. To obtain a preliminary injunction, the district court judge noted that the plaintiffs needed to demonstrate: (1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (2) a substantial threat of irreparable harm; (3) that the balance of hardships weighs in the movant's favor; and (4) that issuance of a preliminary injunction will not disserve the public interest. The district court's decision focused on the first element. Unfortunately, the district judge decided that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits of the case and, on March 30, 2023, denied the petition for an injunction. He did not address the other three elements.
The matter was appealed to the Firth Circuit Court of Appeals. On May 23, 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction on enforcement of the rule as to the plaintiffs to the suit pending appeal. Unfortunately, the stay only applied to the named plaintiffs and not all gun owners.
On June 29, 2023, a Fifth Circuit panel heard oral arguments in the case. Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit issued its decision finding that the plaintiffs had a substantial likelihood of succeeding on the merits. Specifically, the court found that the ATF finalized the rule in January without giving the public a meaningful chance to comment on it, making it invalid under the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA). (As you may remember, the ATF had made last minute changes to the rule that eliminated a proposed "point system" with fairly straightforward worksheets to determine if a brace would be banned on a particular firearm in favor of what was essentially an outright ban of most any brace using vague criteria about what might be acceptable). The Reuters article also relates:
The court did not immediately block enforcement of the rule, instead sending the case back to U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas. O'Connor will have to decide whether to issue an order blocking enforcement while the case goes forward, and if so, whether that order will apply nationwide or only to the plaintiffs in the case.
Specifically, as this decision only deals with the first element in establishing a right to a preliminary injunction, the district court will now have to decide whether the other three elements have been met. This means that the district court could, again, refuse to issue an injunction.
The decision also did not address the more general issue of whether the proposed rule violated the Second Amendment, but "Circuit Judge Don Willett said in a concurring opinion that the rule likely violated not only the Administrative Procedure Act, but also the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the Constitution...." Specifically, he wrote (footnote omitted):
In my view, protected Second Amendment “conduct” likely includes making common, safety-improving modifications to otherwise lawfully bearable arms. Remember: ATF agrees that the weapons here are lawfully bearable pistols absent a rearward attachment. Congress might someday try to add heavy pistols to the NFA and the GCA, but it hasn't yet. These pistols are therefore lawful. Adding a rearward attachment—whether as a brace or a stock—makes the pistol more stable and the user more accurate. I believe these distinctions likely have constitutional significance under Bruen.
In a perfect follow up to my earlier post on whether a multi-ethnic society survive, we have this article from Robert Spencer: "Why Did a Muslim Stab a Shirtless Gay BLM Dancer to Death in Brooklyn?" The answer, of course, is that the Islamic religion is more than just intolerant of homosexuals. As Spencer relates: "The New York Daily News reported Sunday that Sibley was 'stabbed to death during a confrontation Saturday night with a group of Muslim men who said the victim’s impromptu performance offended their faith.'" Well, Leftist had better get used to it:
... Islamic tradition depicts Muhammad specifying the punishment for homosexual activity: “Whoever you find doing the action of the people of Loot [that is, the Biblical Lot of Sodom and Gomorrah fame], execute the one who does it and the one to whom it is done” (Sunan Abu Dawud 4462). And so the confrontation in Brooklyn ran its course. The Daily News says that one of Sibley’s friends told the Muslims: “You like girls, you look like you’re into girls, but we are not into girls. We have our own life. We can do whatever we want, you know. We’re dancing, that’s our life.”
That satisfied no one. The confrontation escalated from there until finally, “The stabbing happened in a split second, with the shocked victim still on his feet as a crowd gathered around him.” As of this writing, the murderer has not been found.
When they heard that the group at the gas station was offended at their dancing because of their Islamic faith, Sibley and his friends likely had no inkling they were in any danger. Muslims have been part of the Left’s coalition for a long time. And anyone who has warned about Islam’s death penalty for homosexuality and other violent aspects was shouted down and marginalized as “Islamophobic” long ago. And so now O’Shae Sibley is dead. Will anyone consider the larger implications of his death for what American society might be like in ten years, or twenty, or fifty? Of course not. Thus it is assured that there will be many more killings of this kind all over our once-placid land.
Conservatives warned about admitting Muslims to this country, but the liberals exalted in it because, in their minds, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." But now that the liberals have essentially emerged victorious, Muslims are going to increasingly realize that they no longer have to practice taqiyya and pretend to support woke causes.
You have probably already heard of the coup in Niger. If not, this Red State article sums up the basic points: "Coup in Niger Brings Imminent Threat of War and Foreign Military Intervention."
The Niger military announced Wednesday [of last week] that it had ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and taken power. The coup was led by the head of the Presidential Guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani. Bazoum, popularly elected in 2021, has seen the shine wear off as drought, corruption, economic malaise, and an intractable war with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara combined into a perfect storm of disillusionment. He remains under detention in the capital Niamey.
Thursday, the removal of Bazoum and the installation of a new military government became formal as Tchiani announced he was the new president and the chief of the Niger Armed Forces, General Abdou Sidikou Issa, confirmed the military supported the coup.
The coup in Niger accentuates the political stability of the Sahel. It is the sixth military coup in that region in the last year-and-a-half. Previously, elected governments in Burkina Faso, Sudan, Guinea, Chad, and Mali had fallen.
Of course, our military and intelligence agencies did their normal bang-up job of selecting and training men that we could trust: "US Spent Years Funding And Training The African Military That Just Overthrew Its US-Backed Gov’t." While the NATO-Russian war disrupted energy supplies to Germany and most of our other European allies, at least France had its nuclear power plants: "The coup in Niger has prompted concerns the West African country could curtail uranium exports, possibly hamstringing nuclear power production in France and beyond."
But Docent, you ask, how could this be related to the NATO-Russia war? Well, a couple things that caught my attention: First, look at the other countries in the same region that have fallen to coups in the last year and a half. The Red State article has a helpful map:
In a sign of growing hostility towards the West since the coup in Niger, a businessman proudly shows off his outfit in the colours of the Russian flag in the traditional heartland of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.Since the coup, there has been a war of words between the military and the West.Mr Bazoum was a staunch ally of the West in the fight against militant Islamists, and was a strong economic partner as well.Niger hosts a French military base and is the world's seventh biggest producer of uranium. The fuel is vital for nuclear power with a quarter of it going to Europe, especially former colonial power France.Since General Abdourahamane Tchiani overthrew the president in a coup on 26 July, Russian colours have suddenly appeared on the streets.Thousands took part in a protest in the capital Niamey on Sunday, with some waving Russian flags and even attacking the French embassy.It now seems this "movement" is spreading across the country.The businessman, based 800km (500 miles) away in the central city of Zinder, didn't want to give his name for safety reasons and asked that we blur his face."I'm pro-Russian and I don't like France," he said. "Since childhood, I've been opposed to France."They've exploited all the riches of my country such as uranium, petrol and gold. The poorest Nigeriens are unable to eat three times a day because of France."The businessman said thousands had taken part in Monday's protest in Zinder in support of the military takeover.He said he had asked a local tailor to take material in the Russian colours of white, blue and red and make an outfit for him, denying that it had been paid for by pro-Russian groups.
The article continues:
President Bazoum entered office in 2021 in Niger's first democratic and peaceful transition of power since independence in 1960.
But his government was a target for Islamist militants linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda who roam across parts of the Sahara Desert and the semi-arid Sahel just to the south.
Under pressure from the Islamists, the armies in both neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, also former French colonies with considerable French interests, seized power in recent years, saying this would help in the fight against jihadists.
Like Niger, both these countries previously had significant numbers of French troops helping them but as the Islamist attacks continued, anti-French sentiment rose across the region, with people in all three countries starting to accuse the French of not doing enough to stop them.
Once in power, the junta in Mali welcomed Russia's mercenary Wagner Group as they first forced out French troops and then pushed for thousands of UN peacekeepers to leave.
Although Islamist attacks have continued in Mali, Burkina Faso's junta has also grown close to Russia and expelled hundreds of French forces.
So, in answer to the question in my title: yes, it is part of the larger NATO-Russian conflict, but apparently our intelligence and military agencies and political leadership just didn't know it. Too busy chasing down Trump supporters and keeping the public from knowing about the Biden family corruption.
In this video, "The American Experiment: Can a Multi-Racial Society Actually Survive?", Victor Davis Hanson briefly explores the issue of whether it is possible for a multi-racial society to survive and exist. The historical examples he raises, such as the late Roman Empire, suggest not. And certainly we seem to see it faltering now as tribalism--particularly ethnic tribalism--replaces the "melting pot" that was the American Experiment. So, the short answer appears to be "no". The American Experiment worked as long as we were dealing with people of a common or similar heritage: English, in particular, but Anglo-Saxon and Norman peoples more generally.
Thus I have to agree with something that Vox Day wrote recently:
... America has been invaded, conquered, and occupied. My estimate is that after the disintegration wars wind down, about one-third to one-half of current US territory will ultimately be controlled by people who can be more or less be reasonably described as Americans, while the rest will be divided into various forms of states ruled by diversity of one kind or another.
But this will be after a movement of peoples that rivals the post-imperial Partition of India.
But our betters have been telling us that it was a conspiracy theory. Slay News reports that "34,000 Illegal 2020 Election Ballots Found in Michigan during Forensic Study." From the article:
Tens of thousands of illegal ballots have been found in Detroit, Michigan during an explosive criminal forensic study into the 2020 election results.
Specklin Forensics, a national expert in criminal forensics, completed an investigation into the 2020 election in Michigan and published a report on its findings.
The organization found further evidence of chronic, systemic voter fraud, according to the report.
The fraud exposed was especially among absentee ballots in the controversial 2020 election.
The firm has wide national experience testifying in criminal trials.
During its investigation, Specklin Forensics was allowed limited access to the 2020 ballots in Wayne County, which covers Detroit.
Forensic investigators found:
- A significant number of absentees in different precincts illegally had no signed ballot application. Many absentee ballots had no request whatsoever, in the two primary precincts examined the rates of illegal ballots were 12% and 20%.
- Absentee ballots often had a lighter tone and shade to the printing. The Detroit clerks even commented to the Specklin team that the type of paper felt different.
- If the numbers of absentees missing a ballot request are extrapolated out to the rest of Wayne County, Specklin reports, “with approximately 170,000 AV ballots, the range at 8%-20% would be 13,600 to 34,000 ballots with no application requesting the ballot.”
CNN reports that "Japan’s population fell by 800,000 last year as demographic crisis accelerates." The article indicates that at the beginning of 2023, Japan's population stood at 125.4 million including both Japanese and gaijin (foreigners). And while the number of foreigners rose by 289,500 compared to the prior year--an increase of more than 10%--"the number of Japanese residents shrank by 800,523, marking the 14th consecutive year of contraction since a peak in 2009, said the ministry." The article also indicates that "for the first time, all prefectures across the country saw a decrease in the number of Japanese nationals, a ministry spokesperson told CNN," although Tokyo saw its population increase slightly due to the influx of foreigners.
The article continues:
The number of deaths last year also hit another record high, with 1.56 million recorded – compared to less than half the number of births recorded, just 771,801 newborns, according to the ministry.
Deaths have outpaced births in Japan for more than a decade, posing a growing problem for leaders of the world’s third-largest economy. They now face a ballooning elderly population, along with a shrinking workforce to fund pensions and health care as demand from the aging population surges.
Japan’s population has been in steady decline since its economic boom of the 1980s, with a fertility rate of 1.3 – far below the rate of 2.1 required to maintain a stable population, in the absence of immigration.
Much of the rest of the article is about how Japan needs more foreign workers and immigrants, concluding:
A report last year by a Tokyo-based research organization found that Japan needs about four times as many foreign workers than 2020 levels by 2040 to achieve the government’s economic goals. But, it warned, to do that Japan must first create an environment that supports the human rights of migrant workers, and push for social change to be more accepting of foreigners.
In other words, Japan must cease to be Japanese in order to survive.
From Business Insider: "NASA accidentally lost contact with its Voyager 2 probe after sending a wrong command. It could mean the end of its 46-year-old mission." An excerpt:
NASA is scrambling to find Voyager 2, one of the most famous probes in space history, after losing contact with it when someone sent a wrong command.
The agency said Friday it hasn't been in contact with the probe since July 21 after "inadvertently" pointing its antenna away from Earth.
Voyager 2, which has been traveling through space for almost 46 years, is expected to be out of touch until at least October when an automatic maneuver could put the antenna back in line with Earth.
In the meantime, the probe is traveling 35,000 miles per hour through space and is 12 billion miles away from Earth.
Yesterday saw reports about the driver of an SUV that ran into 6 migrant workers in the parking lot of a North Carolina Walmart, injuring all 6, before speeding away. Per the news articles, local police indicated that the driver was an older white male and that it was an "intentional assault". (See, e.g., this report from the Daily Mail, and this one from CBS News).
Except that it wasn't a white male and probably wasn't even intentional. Today it is reported that the driver of the SUV is one Daniel Gonzalez, 68, of Hickory, North Carolina. And Gonzalez, pictured, is claiming that "he was parking at Walmart and hit the gas by accident, striking six men, then panicked and left the scene." He turned himself into police Monday evening.
The article also mentions that "[o]n Sunday evening Lincolnton Police released surveillance footage of the crash and said it appeared to be an 'intentional assault,' though the department's interim chief said they are now considering new evidence." Gonzalez has been charged with felony hit-and-run but apparently not any assault or battery charges.
The injured migrant workers were identified by police as Jorge A. Lopez, Zalapa M. Hermosillo, Jose L. Calderon, Luis D. Alcantar, Rodrigo M. Gutierrez-Tapia and Santiago Baltazar.
You might think that I'm exaggerating when I insinuate that the police were hoping that this was some sort of terrorist incident involving white nationalists. But I would note that an NBC affiliate reports that "[t]he police department said it is continuing to work with the FBI, the State Bureau of Investigation and the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles on the investigation." Maybe its different in North Carolina, but at least where I live the FBI and state police do not get involved in a simple hit-and-run incident that is being handled by the local police department. And the Charlotte Observer relates:
Earlier Monday, the FBI had joined in assisting Lincolnton police in the case.
And the Carolina Migrant Network called the incident a hate crime. The group has not yet issued a comment on the new information about the case.
The producer of this video doesn't show the Kanji for "Tako" so I can't be certain that this is the intended meaning, but "tako" generally refers to "octopus". In any event, an interesting look at how the pack was put together, including the bed roll. It was also interesting to me the commonality between this and other videos on what you need in an 24-hour sustainment pack, including bringing camouflage netting for the pack.
The producer's YouTube channel has quite a bit more on WWII Japanese uniforms and such if you like that type of thing.
