The woodpile report - #579

Woodpile Report ^ | 21MAY19 | Ol' Remus

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I'm keeping my "few words" to a few words this week.

Affirmative Action, meaning hiring quotas at the expense of qualified applicants, has been the law since March 1961. More than 58 years. Now it's been elevated to a harshly enforced cult called "diversity". If welfare, equal opportunity and Affirmative Action wasn't enough, neither will be "diversity".

Before NAFTA the U.S. held a trade surplus with Mexico of about $10 million, which was break-even or near enough. Since NAFTA we've constantly run deficits of tens of billions of dollars. What a deal.

It's no surprise the news media doesn't mention the attacks on Ebola medical aid agencies are largely the work of a Ugandan Islamist-jihadi outfit calling itself the Allied Democratic Forces.

The trade war is getting nasty. China is upping the ante by running anti-American movies on tevee. Expect Hollywood to retaliate by running anti-American movies of their own.

Some time ago I gave up splitting my firewood with a Go-Devil in favor of an axe and a heavy hammer. Call it large scale batoning. It's easier on me, but not actually easy, so I got a hydraulic splitter last week. It looks rather conspicuous in my workplace, shiny metal and bright paint.

While inventorying and rearranging our semi-deep larder I ran across six of those four ounce Mason jars we used for our maple syrup run of some years back. There's some settling but it mixes well with a little shaking. Hmm. Here I'd thought we'd given those away. Taste test to follow.

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This excerpt is from an article by Jim Higginbotham at Western Rifle Shooters Association, March 2010:

"I have accumulated confirmed incidents in which people have been shot “center mass” up to 55 times with 9mm JHP ammunition (the subject was hit 106 times, but 55 of those hits were ruled by the coroner to be each lethal in and of themselves) before he went down. During training at the FBI Academy we were told of a case in which agents shot a bank robber 65 times with 9mm, .223 and 00 buckshot – he survived! These are not rare cases. They happen quite often...

Wait wait, these are not rare cases? They happen quite often? Oh please. How is it my neighbor has gotten his deer every year for the past few years with one shot using a .223. Yes, it's legal where he hunts. Last year the bullet smashed the leg bone, destroyed the vitals, and smashed the leg bone on the other side. The deer plowed head down for a few feet and fell sideways deader than dead. This is not a rare case.

Change subject. Slightly.

It seems somewhat peculiar, to me, that long range precision shooting has taken an almost exclusively military turn. It wasn't always this way.

When I was doing a lot of chuck hunting I used a .22-250, then a .25-06. My neighbor up the road used a .222, my neighbor down the road used anything from a .220 Swift to a 7mm Magnum, with a preference for the .257 Roberts.

Four hundred yards fence-to-fence was typical but there were places offering more. None of these fields were level and horizon shots were verboten so we chose our stand with care.

These ranges are unremarkable on a man-size target, but consider, the neighbor kids were often on hand to retrieve the chucks for the freezer so anything other than head shots earned a heartfelt, if unspoken, demerit. In not much time this became the nut.

By mid season they were so fat they waddled and rippled. With my arm at my side, my forearm parallel with the ground, holding a chuck by the tail, its nose commonly touched the ground. But the head is a target no larger than a fist and the shot had to be decently centered.

Naturally we tinkered endlessly with powder loads and bullet types. Sighting in and periodic verification could, and did, take most of an afternoon, a habit I've not broken even now. Alas, over the years most of the farms around me have become mere residences, the fields grown up to tall grass and brush. So too are the kids grown up and gone. Good. They were tough taskmasters.

Wisdom in one breath

From Dion Pierre at The College Fix

Many of Harvard’s black graduates were affirmative action admits. The separate graduation ceremony was, in its way, as much a public confession as a “celebration”.

From Peter Coclanis at Aeon, quoting economist Paul Samuelson

Wall Street indexes predicted nine of the past five recessions.

From Simon Ings at Spectator USA, quoting Einstein

Since the mathematicians pounced on the relativity theory, I no longer understand it myself.

From Charles Smith at Of Two Minds

The economic and financial stresses will exceed the workforce's carrying capacity in the next recession.

From the Z Man

Cobbling together tribes of losers, hiding out in the jungle long after the war has ended, is not the future of the Right.

From James Kunstler at Kunstler blog

Next to us, the old Weimar Republic looks like a Boy Scout camporee.

From Charles Norman at Taki's Magazine, about the media struggle

The resulting confusion is trickling down to Democrat politicians, who aren’t sure how and to whom they’re supposed to submit these days.

From Brett Stevens at Amerika

Leftist politics are based on denying the failure of Western Civilization and applying palliative care.

From Karl Denninger at Market-Ticker, about Iran and Saudi Arabia

I personally do not care if the crazies over there all blow each other to Mars. We have utterly no business shooting anything at anyone until and unless our material, people or territory are attacked.

Andrea Yang at American Mind, about conservative timidity

We play for points; they play for damage.

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The photo is by Michael Smith, a legendary modeler whose work I find

captivating. More photos at Daily Mail, and an interview at New York Times.

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James Dakin has posted a series about mobile survival, at Bison Prepper. This is an excerpt from part two.

This is how you survive on almost nothing. It is the extreme frugal budget. You don’t need to buy land and a house because you cache most everything and you rely on primitive shelters built with indigenous materials. On your person is enough to get from cache to cache, shelter to shelter. Even if you only travel five miles a day, you only need food cached every thirty miles and you have a weekly resupply. A simple shelter and food every ten miles and it would be rare you couldn’t be comfortable every single night...

Part one is here . Mr. Dakin talks bedrock survival, not "tips for the traditional homesteader". Desperate times are like gravity, it needs to get the upper hand only once. If you're not thinking like an escapee from a Soviet gulag you're not preparing for the worst. And if you're not prepared for the worst, you won't survive the worst.

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Yossarian at Open Source Intelligence states the case for optimism:

Justice is coming, patriots. And when it comes to prosecuting criminal activity, the Deep-State provides what Military-Intelligence would refer to as a ‘target-rich environment.’ Everything from Uranium One and Hillary Clinton’s e-mails to the falsification of the FISA warrants and sale of missile technology to China, from Joe Biden’s pay-for-play with China and the Ukraine to the attempted overthrow of a legitimately elected President is on the table. The Great Awakening has become a tsunami and the Deep-State is powerless to resist the coming declassifications.

Pardon us while we wait for the raids by armed agents, the perp walks and jump suits. So far, nada. Not so much as a Second Assistant to a Deputy Director.

and finally,

Okay fellow travelers, there's nothing for it. Enough chitchat. Don thy chain mail, thy sabatons and greaves, pull down the visor on thy bascinet, grab thy roundel and sword, for the barbarian horde is nigh. But belay thy noble steed good knight, first there's an old ad, then Onward Woodpile Report!

 

1941. Lincoln Zephyr V-12 magazine ad

 

The majority of Lincolns sold in the '30s were Zephyrs , their lowest priced model. The name comes from the famous diesel-powered streamlined train that set speed and endurance records in that era.

Introduced in 1936 to compete with Cadillac's LaSalle, the Zephyr gradually fell behind in features, options and luxury. The V-12 engine produced 110 horsepower, less than some competing V-8s of the day. After the war, Ford formed the Lincoln-Mercury division to create a stronger distributor network for Lincoln, replacing the Zephyr altogether.

 

Remus's notebook

 

Guns America - Disarm Hate Act Introduced: Would Permanently Revoke 2A Rights for Misdemeanor Hate Crimes ... we have seen what happens when a convicted white supremacist, white nationalist, or neo-Nazi is able to purchase a gun

College Fix - More than 75 universities now host blacks-only graduation ceremonies ... others also offer similar ceremonies for Latino or LGBTQ student populations

Old School Patriot - Statement Regarding the NRA by Allen West ... it is imperative that the NRA cleans its own house

Saker - A French cop on why French cops will never join the Yellow Vests ... ironclad job security, early retirement, guaranteed pensions, chances for overtime pay, elevated social status, media worship

Wired - The Mystifying Case of the Missing Planets ... earth lies in a size gap in exoplanet systems

Cosmos - Neanderthals and modern humans parted company earlier than thought ... lineage diverged around 800,000 years ago

American Hunter - Tested: CCI Clean-22 Ammo ...

tradeoff for ease of cleaning was accuracy degradation

For the CCI Mini-Mag it was a 1.16-inch group for "clean ammo" versus

0.69-inch group for standard ammo. This isn't a tradeoff, it's capitulation.

Pat Buchanan - Tariffs: The Taxes That Made America Great ... a foreign manufacturer has no right or claim to equality with our own. He pays no taxes. He performs no civil duties

Organic Prepper - Selco: What Combat Is Really Like ... get good at suffering while still being able to work towards a goal

Washington Times - Here's your collusion: Leaking FBI agents got payouts from media ... FBI employees improperly received benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals

Voice of Europe - German states to ban knives in public places due to drastic surge in attacks

... which are due to unvetted not-Germans

Campus Reform - 'Revolutionary Communists' descend on UCLA; advocate 'overthrow of the system' ... called for the formation of “organized fighting forces"

Science Alert - The Ghostly Legacy of Hiroshima Has Finally Been Discovered in Physical Form ... where is the city, where is the material?

Ebola

Guardian - 'Terrifying' Ebola epidemic out of control in DRC, say experts

"An Ebola epidemic in a conflict-riven region of Democratic Republic of Congo is out of control and could become as serious as the outbreak that devastated three countries in west Africa between 2013 and 2016, experts and aid chiefs have warned".

Raconteur Report - I Dun Tole Ya ... We have learned nothing from 2014. Nothing whatsoever.

CT Post - Doctors go undercover to fight Ebola in violent eastern Congo ... armed fighters believed foreign health workers had started Congo's epidemic, eighty-five wounded or killed

Popular Mechanics - The Air Force Resurrects Another B-52 From the Boneyard ... will replace a B-52H that crashed and burned in 2015 in Guam

Daily Mail - Shocking moment a woman, 25, violently shoves a man, 74, off a bus to his death 'after he asked her to stop cursing and yelling at other passengers' ... 'with enough force that he never touched any of the steps'

The NRA kerfuffle

PA Gun Blog - I Will Not Help Ack-Mac Destroy NRA

Captain's Journal - Increasing Foulness In The National Rifle Association: Allen West Drops A Bomb On The NRA Board

No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money

Ack-Mac Letter Regarding LaPierre Expenses

Ack-Mac Letter Regarding Clothing Purchases

Allen West Dissents (Updated)

Florida Bulldog - NRA pays lobbyist Marion Hammer big bucks, but you won’t find that disclosed in Tallahassee

Next Big Future - Why Many Generic Drugs Went up 10-60 Times in Price ... no longer care about drug price fraud

Declination - The Case for Larger Families ... the initial cost is large, but for subsequent children, the infrastructure is present

Zero Hedge - Both Comey And Brennan Voted Communist While Cold War Was Raging ... DC rumor also says Brennan allegedly converted to Islam while in Saudi Arabia

Daily Galaxy - “Unknown Dark Object” Million Times Mass of the Sun Ripped a Hole in the Milky Way ... there are just no stars of that mass

Daily Caller - Trump Drives A Stake Through UN Gun Control Treaty ... would regulate firearms use and possession within our country

Voice of Europe - Milo Yiannopoulos’ triumphal Berlin comeback ... self-proclaimed "world’s most dangerous faggot" gave a rousing 45-minute speech to the adulatory crowd, constantly interrupted by applause

Organic Prepper - WHO’s 2050 Prediction: 10 Million People Could Die from Mutated Superbugs And We’ll Have No Drugs to Fight Them ... number of deaths due to resistant infections quintupled between 2007 and 2015

Backdoor Survival - 6 Cans of Salmon Taste Tested + Instructions For Canning Your Own Fish At Home ... Pink and Sockeye rated

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Note; All those tiny squares are links to the article that is referenced.