The Black Hole Approaches

First read this Bloomberg article and this very brief piece from Seeking Alpha.

Then read the latest from Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph.

You do understand that you, your children, and your grandchildren are being beggared not only to pay for utterly unsustainable domestic entitlement programs, but also to keep European banks afloat, don't you?

You also get that the 30 trillion Euro (~$39.1 trillion USD) liability figure cited above by AE-P will be backstopped, going forward, in large part by the remaining productive American taxpaying suckers such as you and me, right?

And finally, you do know that we moronic American serfs will receive exactly cock-a-doodle-doo in exchange for this transatlantic thievery, ja?

So what are you going to do about it?

Write a letter?

Make a phone call?

Wave a protest sign?

Cast a vote?

How's that working out for you?

Even more importantly, how's your tactics thus far working out for your children and grandchildren?

Do you understand yet?

Lonesome Rhodes Suckles From The Beast

Alvie at The Cliffs explains.

Will Washington's Failures Lead To Second American Revolution?

Thanks to the readers who pointed to this op-ed piece from Investor's Business Daily:

The Internet is a large-scale version of the "Committees of Correspondence" that led to the first American Revolution — and with Washington's failings now so obvious and awful, it may lead to another.

People are asking, "Is the government doing us more harm than good? Should we change what it does and the way it does it?"
***

Read the rest.

IBD is a mainstream, albeit conservative, periodical.

For this editorial to be published by IBD shows how far and how fast the Obamites have come.

And make no mistake - the Bad People are only getting started.

Are there enough remaining Americans with the brains and the guts to stop them -- by any means necessary?

You make the call.

From Meccania To Atlantis - Part 17: Shotgun Marriage In Europe

Fortify your Saturday-morning coffee and plunge into the latest chapter from Takuan Seiyo, which opens:

***
As the West is being destroyed by its own elected leaders, its smartest and most creative, its most successful and prettiest, and the great majority of the population follows as though after the Piper of Hamlin, the salient question is how to save what remains and the people who carry what remains. Very few of the latter are in the political or managerial leadership caste, and you could count on one hand the ones whose exceptional talents or beauty set a large number of hearts aflutter.

An even greater problem is that the destroyers and looters have been in sole purview of culture and education for so long that hardly any under-50 Whites remain who have retained their own mind and its link to their uniquely magnificent Western heritage. That link has been replaced either by a permanent hairshirt for the real and imagined transgressions of the West against the (broadly speaking) East and South, or by a moronic multiculti rainbow pastiche expressed, among others, in the pumping loins of white rappers and pop divas that are but inferior copies of stuff black people do better.

The majority of the people alive now in every Western country, and overwhelmingly so among the young, react at best with discomfort and avoidance to ideas that are not apologist for their race, history and religion. If they are socialist and proactively dhimmi, as most young are, that reaction to the West’s traditional culture and heritage often sharpens to hateful hysteria that may resemble Donald Sutherland’s vocalization as a fresh Pod(1) encountering the last remaining person in San Francisco that has not been snatched and cloned, yet.

As the prevailing social fairytales and phantom finance dominoes topple sequentially, the ruling elites that constructed that particular train of hollow pieces engage in increasingly frantic actions to disguise and postpone the effects of the staggered downfall. To paper-over gaping craters in the founding concepts and subsequent applications of the global economy and financial capitalism, they blow up sovereign debts to levels that will cause either sovereign defaults or currency cave-ins in the future. Lipstick no longer adhering to the Muslim jihad and Mexican reconquista hemlock they have planted in the West, they switched from their transparently ludicrous Beautiful Diversity propaganda to totalitarian controls like the Patriot Act in the United States, the Equality Act in Great Britain, Hate Speech laws and Snatcher-orchestrated denunciations of fictive “racism.” They are destroying their peoples in punishment for their own treason and stupidity – and nothing seems able to stop them.

This type of mega-scam that transfers the consequences of foolishness and evil by the few onto the many or by Group A onto Group B has become the main defining feature of Western democracies, as it has always been of banana republics and socialist utopias.

Instead of allowing crooked, incompetent and bankrupt TBTF (“too-big-to-fail”) enterprises to fail, elected oligarchs have socialized the Crooks’ losses by buying their garbage book assets with the people’s money at fictitious face values.

Instead of leaving Greece & Co. to eat the consequences of swindle and socialism, the EU is spending Germans’ and Americans’ (through the IMF) money in a futile attempt to bail out the bail-unworthy.

Instead of leaving spenders and speculators to learn Reality’s lesson, the rulers’ fiat saves the spenders at the expense of the savers and the speculators at the expense of the investors.

Instead of making amends for the myopic madness of exporting the West’s industrial base to China, the captains of everyone’s fate raid everyone’s pocket to support and morally incapacitate the multitudes that have been idled for life by that export.

Instead of properly controlling the criminally violent and insane, the Masters-of-Destiny have disarmed – everywhere but in America (and not for lack of trying) – the law-abiding, peaceful and sane.

Instead of allowing the best to rise to the top, they push to the top the possessors of magic skin tones and preferred orificial parameters. This cuts down the future of the West at the knees.

Instead of dressing the critical wounds they have inflicted on their peoples by seeding among them imported Muslims, the reigning Loons engage in the futile madness of trying to convert imported Muslims into postmodern Westerners and the Muslims’ 7th-century home countries into pluralistic democracies.

First they brought in the Muslims, the Aztecs and the Bantu under the pretext that we are all the same. When the imports turned out not to be the same, they invented Multiculti Diversity. Then the imports started acting out their diversity by destroying the West wholesale by PETN or drunken driving, gang rape or gangster crime, street warfare or endless welfare. So the ruling savants reinvented the Police State, crushing the West’s 800-years of struggle toward natural inalienable right and freedom from state tyranny.

Instead of profiling and discouraging easily identifiable colonizers, the Loons have turned major features of modern life into a nightmare for everyone. Air travel is now a slow and humiliating torture for a billion people who wouldn’t know Allahu Akbar from a name for a new cocktail. Wiring money to your daughter in another country rings investigative bells in three snooping centers around the world. Your face, your car and home are on Big Brother cameras always, but hostile Muslims who live off public welfare demand and get exemptions from the snooping that only Muslim terrorism can even try to justify...
***

Read the rest, and be honest about the odds of reversing the trends described.

Then act accordingly.

Prior chapters in this series here.

Word

If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.

- Attributed to Margaret Thatcher

Porretto: Bastions And Batteries - Part IV

Please read Francis Porretto's thoughts on how the OpFor will counter the growing swell towards resistance in Part IV of his ongoing series.

NYT: Firing Line

The New York Times Sunday Magazine does an extensive report on the Appleseed Program, with related slide show and video.

Reader comments are also worth the read.

Bracken: The CW2 Cube -- Mapping The Meta-Terrain Of Civil War Two

From Matthew Bracken, author of Enemies Foreign And Domestic, Domestic Enemies - The Reconquista, and Foreign Enemies And Traitors:

The CW2 Cube -- Mapping the Meta-Terrain Of Civil War Two
by Matthew Bracken

A second civil war in the United States would be an unparalleled disaster. Nobody who is sane and who has studied modern civil wars from Spain to Lebanon to the Balkans and beyond would ever wish to see one occur. But if political, cultural and demographic trends are sweeping us toward that unhappy destiny, it would be wise to at least cast a weather eye over the possible terrain.

First, a caveat. I am not going to waste our time making politically-correct genuflections after every controversial sentence, because this essay is intended to be read by mature and rational adults.

Before we move on to the cube, let’s begin with the CW2 Square. The cube is best tackled in another step. Draw the square and label one axis Poorer to Richer. Label the other axis Darker to Lighter. Darker, for brevity, includes African-Americans, Hispanics and so on. Lighter refers to those of European ancestry. The two opposed meta-groups are the poorer and darker versus the richer and lighter, or whiter if you wish to be blunt. The richer/whiter have the power of their wealth, but counterbalancing that advantage is the fact that the poorer/darker have succeeded in wresting control of much of government power. This is so, even if most of their elected leaders are anything but poor or dark.

Now, before you scream out your exceptions, yes, there are rich black cattle ranchers and poor whites living in blighted urban areas and so on. However, to focus on them is to miss the critical centers of gravity of Civil War Two for the over-study of interesting but insignificant outliers. Filling one corner of the CW2 Square will be the poorer and darker, who primarily are liberal and progressive Democrats who believe in a malleable “living Constitution.” And in the other corner will be the richer and whiter, who mainly are conservative or libertarian Republicans who believe in the original intent of the written Constitution. Again, keep your eyes on the two meta-cores, not the exceptions.

Now, let’s add the third dimension and shoot another axis out from the square to form the CW2 Cube. Label the third axis Urban versus Rural, or City versus Country if you prefer. This axis gives a geographical dimension to the meta-terrain, but there will be no convenient dividing line between the opposed sides as there was during the first civil war. It has frequently been observed that today’s red-blue political map is better understood at the county than at the state level. Even blue states like Illinois, California and New York are rural-red outside of their blue urban cores. Obviously, these urban cores are heavily populated but geographically small, with all that means to the electoral process today and to a possible civil war later.

So the opposing corners of the CW2 Cube can be seen as the poorer, darker cities versus the richer, whiter rural areas. Again, don’t quibble about outliers. Yes, there are a few rich, conservative African-Americans living in Wyoming, many poor white liberal Democrats in rural West Virginia, some rich conservatives in San Francisco and every other exceptional case imaginable.

Most of us live in the mushy, mongrel middle, far from the tips of the two opposite corners. But the centers of gravity of Civil War Two shall be as I have described: the relatively richer, whiter and more rural against the poorer, darker and urban. One can also propose many more axes of conflict than can fit on a cube, such as the religious versus the non-believers, socialists versus capitalists, statists versus individualists and so on. However, after you reflect upon the CW2 Cube, I think you will find that most of these extra axes can be overlaid parallel to one of the three already posited.

*******

(click to enlarge)

So, of what use is the CW2 Cube, other than in providing a conceptual map for Civil War Two? In my research as a novelist who attempts to write realistic fiction about the coming years, I have long been a student of modern civil wars. One repeated lesson of modern civil war is that there is inherently dangerous, even fatal terrain. Some of this predictably-dangerous terrain is often highly desirable and even advantageous before the outbreak of civil war.

To begin: you do not want to live as a trapped and cut-off minority in what might become “enemy territory.” If you live amidst your civil war enemies, as defined and located within the CW2 Cube, you will be in mortal danger even if your immediate neighbors know, love and respect you. Those persons who have a stake in fanning the flames of CW2 (and their number shall be legion), will intentionally target those remaining “holdouts” who may be respected minority neighbors. (In this essay, minority means “the minority within a given group or area.” Blacks are the majority in some areas, and whites are the minorities in others, and so on.)

Frequently in modern civil wars, roaming armed groups (in or out of uniform) will even force people to kill their own beloved and respected minority neighbors as an ultimate loyalty test. If they refuse, they may themselves be killed as “traitors.” Besides pre-conflict racists and radicals, there will be an ever-increasing pool of persons attempting to expel minorities from their homes. Those embittered unfortunates who have already been ethnically cleansed will be seeking new living quarters, and the homes and property of “enemy” minorities still living in majority territory will be the first on the chopping block. (Not the auction block, because payment of any kind is rarely offered.) This process of minority eviction becomes self-perpetuating.

Often, those members of minorities who escape as refugees are the lucky ones who do not lose their lives during the back-and-forth of escalating violence. The fact that they may have been loved, admired and respected for many years by their majority-population neighbors will not protect them. This is a clear lesson of modern civil war. Another is that while the rich or the well-to-do can sometimes hide their wealth and pass as proles, the same cannot be said about concealing one’s racial or ethnic identity. Religious affiliation and political leanings can also be hidden, but outward appearance cannot. Civil War Two may begin on purely political grounds, but it will devolve into something worse.

Does this mean that all white city-dwellers should head for the hinterland, or that dark-skinned folks living in the country should move to the city? It’s not for me to say. We all hope and pray that there will never be a second “hot civil war” in America, instead of merely the “cold civil war” we are engaged in today. But the lessons of modern civil wars should not be ignored. Another lesson is that it will take tremendous moral courage to defy the hot-heads and radicals, and shield your minority neighbors from harm. Think of Anne Frank. Think of those indescribably brave inhabitants of the former Yugoslavia who hid their minority neighbors, when the discovery of that fact could and often did lead to their own deaths.

*******

While Civil War Two is on the table for discussion, allow me to introduce two aggravating factors that don’t fit neatly on the cube. The first is the concept of multiple embedded minorities. Picture the old cartoon mainstay showing a line of fish getting ready to gobble another fish, from the leviathan down to the small fry. You might live in a neighborhood where you are in the majority, but the neighborhood is in a town where you are in the minority. And the town is surrounded by a larger area where your own kind once again predominates.

Or you might fit into the picture as the smallest of all fish, living in the only minority household within a majority neighborhood. From street to neighborhood to city to state to region can easily place you in the middle of several levels of embedded minorities-within-majorities. This formulation might work for many decades during times of relative prosperity and well-being, but during a civil war it is a recipe for disaster, as unstable as nitroglycerin-filled bowling pins. It’s all cool just as long as the pins are standing still and calmly hanging out together, but look out when the Black Swan bowling ball comes rolling in! An unstoppable chain reaction ensues, as each new act of violence is avenged up and down the line.

Remember that funny line-of-fish cartoon, and imagine it a few seconds later when the biting begins. It’s not so funny then -- especially for the smaller fish.

The second aggravating factor is the unstable triangle of the three-sided civil war. The Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslims provide a classic example. Each side of the unstable triangle will backstab yesterday’s ally at the moment they perceive themselves to be at a local disadvantage, or when they see an opportunity to wipe out an historic enemy with a new Final Solution. The unstable ethnic triangle in the United States will in many places be composed of black, white and Hispanic sides. By comparison, the old black and white social dichotomy was inherently stable, even when it might have been rife with injustice.

In some areas, Asians, Middle-easterners, Native Americans and other groups will contribute to the formation of regional social geometries that are even more unstable than the unstable triangle. Study modern civil wars and you will cringe at the implications. A steel roller-coaster overloaded with old dynamite and electric blasting caps during a lightning storm comes to my mind.

And finally, some urban settings are just disastrous during a modern civil war, even if they might offer a terrific quality of life during peacetime. Perhaps the top of the list of danger areas are high-rise buildings located near potential civil war flashpoints or fault lines. Living in a cluster of high-rises divided by a “green line” during a guerrilla sniper war is a worst-case horror show. Not to mention the misery attendant to life in a tall building without running water, electricity, sewage service, working elevators, heating or air-conditioning. While under intermittent sniper fire. For months.

So should you stay or should you go? If you don’t believe that another civil war in America is possible, then simply disregard this column. But if you think that a second civil war could happen then picture the CW2 Cube and map your location within it. If you think that you live near a possible civil war fault line, especially as a local minority, consider relocating.

After the fact, a common sentiment heard from urbane, secular Bosnians living in the Olympic City of Sarajevo expressed complete disbelief that a brutal, bloody civil war could have come to their modern European city and tear their lives apart.

But it did.

A parting suggestion to students of modern civil war is to read “Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia’s War” by the British journalist Ed Vulliamy. It’s currently collecting dust at your local public library, waiting only to be read.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Matthew Bracken is the author of the “Enemies” trilogy, beginning with 2003's “Enemies Foreign And Domestic”. For more information, go to http://www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com/

See also Misha Glenny's The Third Balkan War for his account of what happens when a society commits autogenocide.

Another Ratchet Click

Read this post at Atlas Shrugs.

Citizens, there is nothing to see here!

Your Federal Bureau of Investigation has a long and illustrious history of protecting civil rights and avoiding the abuses perpetrated by other state security police agencies.

Pay no attention to those malcontents, wreckers, and saboteurs who claim that the FBI has already abused the National Security Letter mechanism.

As you know, your FBI has instituted special educational processes to ensure that its agents are sensitive to privacy issues.

It's time for all real Americans to support Director Mueller, General Holder, and the President in their never-flagging efforts to look into every digital communication and thus keep all right-minded Americans safe from the threat of domestic terrorism, thoughtcrime, and the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Sincerely,

SSA Lon Horiuchi
Director
Special Community Outreach Program
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, DC

Looky-Looky

(click to enlarge)

Someone over at Princess Nancy's place this morning must be curious about the activities of the groundlings.

Either that, or someone in the House of Representatives is actually thinking about building a guerrilla sniper rifle for their own purposes.

Your tax dollars at work....

Quote Of The Week

What you and I consider grievances, the Obama administration considers accomplishments.

-- A commenter on AR15.com

Are Cops Constitutional?

Bill St. Clair links to this 2001 article asking a fundamental question.

Read the whole thing, and also consider how seldom the judicial branch restrains the executive branch's blue-uniformed enforcers.

What would Lee Greenwood say?

Porretto: Bastions & Batteries - Part III

Here's the latest from Francis Porretto in his ongoing series.

Consider this -- the mainstream media cannot be trusted to supply facts upon which sound action plans can be based.

If you can't trust the media to gather facts, how will you make your plans?

That's right. You'll gather information on your own.

More on that topic soon.

Porretto: Bastions & Batteries

Please take the time to read these two essays from Francis Porretto at Eternity Road:

Bastions And Batteries, Part 1: A Coda To Codevilla

Bastions And Batteries, Part 2: Techno-Fascism, 2010

Building the right positions in the right places at the right time, combined with the willingness and ability to go mobile immediately and leave those positions forever, is part of the answer.

Defending people, principles, and provisions, rather than places, is another part of the answer as well.

Keep at your training in all spheres.

It will not be for nought.

10 Principles for a Black Swan-Robust Society

This piece by Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan, is introduced by Vanderleun, who notes:

***
The author of "The Black Swan" proposes some fundamentals so simple that even a Neanderthal can implement them.

Hence chances for implementation approach absolute zero until the coming catastrophe subsumes trillions of dollars and billions of people and members of our "expert elite ruling class" are demoted to pinatas and lampost decorations...
***

Read all of the links, then think through what it means if Vanderleun's arch prediction of non-implementation is accurate.

Tempus fugit.

The Ministry of Truth

Take a good long look at these people.

They are members of the mainstream media and members of a now-defunct list server called "Journolist".

They believe they are the annointed Media Elite, which helps to shape the world about which they report.

They also believe that each of you is an ignorant rube who must be told what to do and how to behave, by government and its servants, the mainstream media.

Remember these names and these faces:

(click to enlarge)

There will be a test.

The Soviet Story

Extended trailer above.

Wiki entry here.

Full movie (not great quality, but available), plus brief commentary, here from Moonbattery (h/t to Maggie). Alternative hosting is here.

Not coincidentally, this is a Latvian movie from 2008.

The Baltics and the other captive eastern European nations delivered by the fellow traveler Roosevelt for bolsheviki gang-rape know exactly in full about the gap between American words and deeds.

Watch the movie, and keep that gap in mind as the Mighty Kenyan's USA stumbles, gasping, into the gutter.

Restore The Constitution Eastern Rally -- 14 August -- Greensboro, NC

Link here:

RTC Eastern Rally -- 14 August -- Greensboro, NC

Details:

Time: August 14, 2010 from 1pm to 4pm
Location: Guilford Courthouse Battleground Park
Street: 2331 New Garden Rd
City/Town: Greensboro, NC

From Muster 8-14:

RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION – NOW!

Speakers at this rally include:

1. Mike Vanderboegh (Alleged leader of a merry band of Three Percenters)

2. Daniel Almond (Organizer of the Original Restore The Constitution rally)

3. Dr. Ida Fisher(National Spokeswoman for the Conservative Republican Party)

4. Taylor Ruble (from NC Rangers)

5. John Ainsworth (Civil War and Constitutional historian)

6. Ron Woodard (NC Listen)

7. David DeGerolamo (Founder of NC Freedom)

8. Bubba from the blog “What Bubba Knows”

9. Laura Long from “Triangle Conservative Unite”

10. Dr Dan (from the mountains in NC and has his owm TV show)

11. Dr BJ Lawson (running for Congress)

12. Rick Smith (Former Marine and running for NC State Senate)

13. Bill Randall (running for Congress)

14. June Griffin (running for Governor of Tennessee)


Help spread the word.

Restore The Constitution Western Rally -- 14 August -- Capitan, NM

Flyer here.

Website here.

Help spread the word.

Harry & Nancy's Last Stand

Neo-Neocon on the upcoming lame duck session in Congress:

Harry and Nancy’s Last Stand
Think cap and trade and other unpopular bills are dead? Think again, no matter who wins at the ballot box in November.
June 23, 2010 - by Neo-Neocon

Think cap and trade is dead? Think again: Politico’s Mike Allen reports that Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership have a plan, a continuation and deepening of the disregard for the American public they so amply demonstrated through the process by which they passed the despised HCR bill:

Phil Schiliro, the White House congressional liaison, has told the Senate to aim to take up an energy bill the week of July 12, after the July 4 break (and after the scheduled final passage of Wall Street reform). Kagan confirmation will follow, ahead of the summer break, scheduled to begin Aug. 9. The plan is to conference the new Senate bill with the already-passed House bill IN A LAME-DUCK SESSION AFTER THE ELECTION, so House members don’t have to take another tough vote ahead of midterms.

The rest of the piece goes on to make it clear that this plan has the full support of President Obama, who himself does not face re-election until 2012 and wants cap and trade passed before the year is out.

This “fierce urgency of now” comes from the obvious political consideration that a lame duck Congress has nothing to lose. Once it’s been thrown under the bus and lies there bleeding (actually, you might say it threw itself in front of the bus, but let’s not quibble about the finer points), it might just as well enact a piece of legislation that will further bankrupt the country and please the left fringe and nobody else. Beware a group that’s still in power but has stopped fearing any consequences from the public.

Jay Cost adds:

This strategy has the same odor that stank up the final stages of health care reform.

Actually, the stink is much stronger. At least with HCR, the representatives in the House and a third of the Senate knew they would have to face the voters in 2010. If Republicans win control during that election, and then the present Democratic Congress takes up and passes the hugely unpopular cap and trade between November’s election and January’s swearing in, nearly all pretense of accountability will be gone, and whatever might still remain of Obama’s affable “let us reason together” disguise will have been vaporized as he is fully revealed for the arrogant and cold-blooded power-hungry operator he always has been.

To many people, the congressional Democrats’ contempt for the public’s wishes came as somewhat of a surprise when the HCR bill was first being pondered, and especially when the push was renewed despite the election of Scott Brown. After all, politicians are usually more interested in self-preservation than that. But by the time the bill had become law, we had learned a great deal more about how the Democrats had morphed into an overbearing majority (that phrase comes from Federalist Paper #10, written by the prescient James Madison), determined to pass their agenda and thwart the will of the people because yes, they could.

Back in mid-April, I wrote this piece for the Weekly Standard on that very topic. The following bears repeating now:

[The process of passing HCR] revealed a president and a congressional leadership that in concert have shown more callous contempt than any in history for the will of the American people, the safeguards against the tyranny of the majority built into the Constitution, and the parliamentary rules by which Congress operates. And there’s every indication that, if need be, the same will be true of cap and trade, immigration reform, or whatever else Obama, Pelosi, and Reid may deem the next morsel they plan to cram down the recalcitrant throat of the American public.

It is this stench of tyranny on the part of Congress that is very new and very noticeable, even to ordinary Americans who usually don’t pay a particle of attention to the arcane rules of the House and Senate.

Obama may try to freshen it up and disguise the smell with an overlay of perfumed talk. But, like those little pine tree air fresheners that hang in cars, or the sprays people spritz into a stinky room, it fools no one. It only serves to add an additional nasty odor on top of the first, so that we now have two smells instead of one.

But the Democrats do not appear to be so concerned with fooling people any more...
***

Read the rest.

Do you understand yet?

Thoughts on Codevilla’s “Ruling Class” Article

From Chicago Boyz:

Much has already been said about this excellent article.

Rather than pile on the (deserved) praise, I want to ask the following question(s).

How does one defeat this “class?” What strategies will succeed? What resources are necessary? I think these are important questions because the article succeeds in raising our consciousness to the problem, but doesn’t offer a game plan as to how to proceed. It is up to us (Country Class) to develop one. After developing it, we need to start executing, regardless of whether others come along with us.

Let me start with a few observations.


First, I argue that a plan of some sort is necessary. I’ll back that up by relaying two stories from last week. I was talking to a gentleman running for an IL state rep. seat. He’s right on the issues, he’s running for the 2nd time, and he actually does have a shot. He is also running un-aided by the ILL GOP (ruling class), who ran candidates against him in the primary and tried to bribe him out of the race. His race is microcosm of what Codevilla describes in his article. When asked to lay out how he was going to win, he ruminated about “this cycle” and the “Tea Party.” He had no plan. He had nothing to show a potential donor or supporter that could give them confidence that he knew what he was doing. If he wins, it will be luck.

The second incident occurred at a meeting of some think tank and activist types discussing the IL Budget and some strategies to address the issue. One of the attendees, a former operative of the ILL GOP machine (who started back when it could win a few elections), discussed the collapse of the party after Ryan, and pined for the days when the Thompson and Edgar Patronage system worked. (I laid out my view that these patronage Republicans are the ones who destroyed the party by creating a system that split the productive base from unproductive patronage pension suckers. But that could use a whole book to unpack.) This operative, however, did have one thing going for him. He had a plan.

Second, the ‘tea parties’ are NOT enough. They are already showing wear and tear brought on by their vaunted “independence.” (Some might call it lack of discipline.) Also, we ought not believe that the Tea Party is some new phenomenon. They have always been there. Their last iteration was the Perot voter. We are seeing something significant in their emergence absent a Perot. If there was ever a year/cycle where a slightly less crazed billionaire attempted to start a party, this would be it. A good chunk of Democrats, regular Republicans, and the newly active Tea Party could form a majority, and throw a presidential election to Congress.

Third, just like Codevilla makes us conscious of the failed and morally flaccid “ruling class,” we need to continue the process by identifying first the principles, and then the policies, that are supported by the “country class.” Conservatives need to understand that while the principles will look (r)epublican, the policies will, by necessity, have to seem much more centrist.

For my part, I remain pessimistic about the prospect of any nondescript movement ‘fixing’ or re-orienting the Republican Party. The party is too compromised to change. That is why I’m pretty sure that we need a 3rd party to develop. This party will either a) supplant the Republican Party, or b) threaten its existence to the point where they have no choice but to shed the “ruling class” members in favor of the “country class.” Either result is worth losing an election cycle, IMO. As of this moment, I’m holding out some hope that I’m wrong, and that the Republican Party reverts to its roots...
***

Read it all.

Awesome Gun Porn

Go read it all, courtesy of Ricketyclick.

Quote Of The Week

There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.

- Ayn Rand, “Foreign Policy Drains U.S. of Main Weapon,” The Los Angeles Times, Sept. 9, 1962

Report From The UN

See this note from the Second Amendment Foundation re the Arms Trade Treaty under consideration.

That simplifies the problem.

How The Bad People And Their Supporters See You

Vandam links to Soja, each with commentary.

Understand that once your principled objection to unlimited government power has been converted via iteration and the Big Lie process to support for chattel slavery, the New Lincoln and his state security forces can do literally whatever they want to you so as to keep you and your "domestic terrorist" plans from succeeding.

As I said the other day, this beat will go on.

And once they have the memetic battlespace prepared, they will act.

Will you?

And by the way, do you still think we can live peacefully with one another?

Guerrilla Sniper Rifle Project

Test vehicle for Guerrilla Sniper Rifle project

From reader AS:

The Case for the Guerrilla Sniper Rifle

My personal view is that in any coming maelstrom, most individual level “misbehavior” will very likely manifest itself in the form of small encounters, systems disruption, and “Clinton Rules” engagements. While small unit action is possible and may happen in some instances, I think that it will be the aberration and the rule will be the small, individual action. This is the territory of the guerrilla – individual, self supporting, and operating in their home AO.

For much of this type of activity, a reasonably accurate, potent, robust, and above all portable rifle is the most desired and efficient tool possible (especially for many of the “semi hard” targets that systems disruption activity must deal with).

Enter the Guerrilla Sniper Rifle.

While the concept is not new, the modern use of the term has recently been popularized on Gabe Suarez’s “Warrior Talk” forum. More specific references to this site are found in the “Sources For Further Study” section of this document. There is a large amount of good information on Warrior Talk and I strongly suggest any serious student go there and digest it. It should help you sharpen your thoughts on the concept, as should the other resources referenced. Additionally, I end this document with a “Sources For Acquisition” section that may help those interested in a similar project.

Through my own research and much supporting material gleaned from other sources (Warrior Talk being one of the primary ones), I decided on the components necessary to build a couple of rifles as proof of concept vehicles. I focus on one specific example here, but many other variations and implementations could be equal or better solutions. Experiment and find what works for you – just make sure that you test it so that you know it works and can prove it on demand.

There will be no dress rehearsals.

For my Guerrilla Sniper Rifle subject, I utilized a Savage bolt action 308 (short action length), a Choate Folding Sniper Stock, and a Nikon 3-9 x 40 BDC reticle scope. That and a minimal set of supporting accoutrements are really all one needs.

First, why a bolt action?

In the Guerrilla Sniper role, it is unlikely that multiple fast follow up shots will be needed, at least in the context of how I foresee such activity. We are generally talking about one or perhaps at most three well placed shots, and then scoot. A bolt action does this with a lighter, more accurate, less complicated, and usually much cheaper implementation than a semi-auto battle rifle. A solid bolt action is simple and offers several tactical advantages (brass retention, ease of scoping, superior suppressor platform, etc.). Keep it simple when you can and you will usually find that you have the best tool for the job. So I chose a bolt action.

Second, why the Savage 100/10/Stevens 200 action in particular?

From my analysis, I think there are three significant advantages that this action offers:

1) Accuracy/Economy ratio – they are the most affordable option and inherently accurate
2) Barrel changes – to be able to replace or exchange barrels yourself is unique and enabling
3) Accutrigger – to have an excellent trigger out of the box is a significant advantage

That all said, don’t get too hung up on requiring the gun to have an Accutrigger, as most of the standard triggers can easily be made quite serviceable (possible exception being the basic “two screw” variety that comes on the Stevens 200 and some older Savages). The three screw models I’ve played with are just fine. If this is not the case for you, several excellent aftermarket triggers exist.

I cannot overstress that the modularity of the rifle, in particular the ease of barrel replacement, is what really makes this the best choice, in my opinion. Never underestimate the utility of being able to replace or exchange your barrel in the field, with no need for precision, powered machinery or a trained gunsmith. It could be a life saver. Ponder the concept and I think you’ll agree.

As to barrels, while one can make do with the standard 22” factory sporter barrel, the Guerilla Sniper concept really shines when you utilize a shorter barrel, something in the 16” – 20” range. It may not seem like much, but shortening the barrel by just a few inches significantly improves the handiness of the rifle when in use and opens up whole new areas for transport and storage with the stock folded. I have played with barrels from 22” down to 18” so far, with a 16-1/2” barrel next in the queue for testing.

A worthwhile option is to thread the barrel for a flash hider (Smith Enterprise Vortex model 1009V is my recommendation) and potentially a suppressor. This is especially true if you have the barrel cut down to the 16” – 18” range. If going this route, just make sure you plan ahead and have the barrel threaded to a pattern that will support both the flash hider and suppressor – not always a simple task. Minimizing sound and flash can be critical in this role, so consider these options carefully.

The Choate Ultimate Sniper Folding Stock

The availability of this stock is really what made me decide to put together such a rifle. Were I limited to traditional full length stocks, I could easily ‘make do” with my Steyr Scout with FFP reticle Pride Fowler scope and angelic trigger. It’s an awesome package and still is my go-to “walking around” rifle. However, if you add the ability to shorten a rifle by 10 inches, you suddenly open up flexibilities normally associated with “hand rifles” such as the T/C Contender/Encore, Savage Striker, Remington XP-100, etc. With the Choate folder, a short action, and an 18” barrel, you have a potent and accurate rifle that can be reduced to a storable length of less than 30”. For a .308 rifle, that is excellent utility value.

Clearly this reduced form enables storing in some large packs and cases, but an aspect overlooked by most is the ability to sling the rifle over your back and yet be able to move much more freely than with a full length slung rifle. The barrel does not poke down so low as to make kneeling or sitting down as problematic as is often the case with African Carry. Similarly, nothing extends above the shoulder, as muzzle down is the obvious way to sling this setup. Not only can you thus move much more easily, but when moving you will not stand out nearly so much as “a man with a rifle slung over his back.” This lower profile is another huge advantage offered by a folding stock.

Originally, I was concerned about whether or not this stock would be rigid enough to provide a solid shooting platform for a .308 rifle. After a number of shooting sessions, I am convinced it is more than up to the task. Shooting it is comparatively comfortable and does not introduce any impediments to accurate field shooting. It plain works.

There are downsides, however. The stock is just a bit heavy for its size (but it’s cut down and thus manageable). It also has no sling swivels, although that is easily fixed. Given the abbreviated forearm, a traditional bipod location is not possible. You can mount one, though (and I did). That said, the Guerrilla Sniper role likely is best served by a rucksack or pack rest, keeping with clean lines and minimalist equipment. If you really want to put a bipod on it though, you have that option. A decent sling, however, is not negotiable.

A good sling is required for carry and should be of a type offering proper sling supported position use, preferably via some type of loop for the support arm. That is out of the scope of this paper, but is something that must be stressed – a Rifleman needs to be competent with the use of sling supported firing position in the field. I care not what you can do off the bench in the shade, but what you can do in the field from sitting or rice paddy prone might just save your life – or mine. Learn it, well. (If you have no idea of what I speak, seek out an Appleseed and then follow it up with more training, since you won’t learn things like rice paddy prone at an Appleseed, which is only a starting point.)

One further carry idea that makes a lot of sense is something I picked up from the Warrior Talk forum. Using one of the “sniper rifle” scope cover/muzzle cover combinations makes the folded rifle into a durable package, whether slung on your back or laying on the back seat floorboard. It protects the scope and muzzle as you would expect, but also retains the folded stock and covers the bolt handle. It’s not quite as protective as a traditional soft case, but leaps ahead of just the bare rifle. Such considerations are moot for the bench rest potato taking his rifle to the range, but of huge value to the lone rifleman in the field.

NOTE:
There is one significant caveat when buying this stock if you are working with a Savage Short action rifle. Currently, this stock is only available in the 4.3” action screw spacing length. Since some point in time around 2006, Savage switched over to the newer “center feed” action, which uses a 4.41” action screw separation. The older “staggered feed” actions are what fit the Choate Folder, while rifles manufactured recently do not fit.

If you have a 4.41” action, it is possible to buy the Choate Varmint Folder (as used in the factory Savage "Model 10 FP Folding Choate" package). However, as far as I can tell the stock is currently only available directly from Choate at full retail ($285 IIRC). Worse than that, it is HEAVY.

For Long Action Savage rifles, there is only one screw spacing length and you are OK. Similarly, those utilizing Winchester or Remington actions should also have no issues.

Thus if going this route, be careful with the parts you try to combine.



In summary: 

The Choate Sniper Folder stock weighs about 3.5lbs and is what I describe here. 
The Savage Choate FP folder stock weights about 5.25 lbs and:


- does not have its forearm abbreviated

- has a different butt section (like from the original Ultimate Sniper/Varmint Stocks)

- is thought to only be available from Savage with a complete rifle, but one may be able to purchase it directly from Choate, albeit at full retail
- has a heavier duty folding mechanism that is slightly more difficult to disengage

Nikon Team Primos 3-9 x 42 w/BDC

IMHO this is the way to go for scoping a Guerrilla Sniper role. Reticle wise, its BDC is a straightforward yet significant improvement over the Burris Ballistic Plex that I previously favored. Optically, this specific “Team Primos” labeled scope is a notch (or more) up from the Burris Fullfield or the other Nikon options (Prostaff and Buckmark lines), as it is essentially an old model Monarch UCC (Ultra Clear Coat) with its coatings and 95% light transmission specification. It also has nicer adjustments with decent miniature target style turrets and positive ¼” (IPHY) click adjustments. It’s a tremendous scope at a very attractive price, and comes with an outstanding reticle for our purposes.

On the reticle, where the Burris has small tick marks, the Nikon has little circles. It also has more of them (Burris has crosshairs, then three ticks, then the thick portion of the crosshair – Nikon has four little circles).

The Nikon's circles offer several advantages over the Burris scope's ticks:

- More aiming points (top, center, bottom of circle, plus sides for some windage)
- Easier to see in low light or against dark backgrounds
- Ability to see a small aiming point, as with the circles you surround rather than cover it
- Much better potential for ranging (1.5MOA inside, 2.0 MOA outside at 9X)

Nikon BDC reticle – graphic for 100m ranging example

In this Warrior Talk thread (also listed at the end of this summary), one can get several excellent graphic aids that illustrate a simple yet effective ranging method. The photo above is but one example. Do check it out closely.

This all said, were I armed with a rifle topped by a Burris with Ballistic Plex reticle, I would not feel unprepared at all – just not as prepared as I could be with the Nikon BDC. I still have a couple of Burris scopes, but they are now relegated to second line roles.

For now, the Team Primos scope is available from a variety of vendors from ~$200 up to ~$250. This is a Killer Deal – a No Brainer. Just buy it. Or buy two or three and get your buddies set up too (you do train with trusted friends with similar gear, don’t you?).

For me, I use Leupold QRW rings since they are robust, easily removable, pretty good at holding close to zero when remounted, and fairly affordable ($50 or so a pair for 1” rings). I have the EGW bases installed for ease of scope swapping, but the standard Weaver mounts that come with the rifles will work fine as well. Remember, keep it simple.

In summary, with a reasonable amount of effort and not much monetary outlay, nearly anyone can set up a compact, portable, powerful, and accurate rifle to fulfill a wide variety of roles. You can call it a Guerrilla Sniper rifle or whatever other pithy term you care to dream up, but the true measure of the rifle will be what you can do with it. So if you are so inclined, put one together and put it to the test. You may find that you have something that gives life to the old cliché “the whole being greater than the sum of its parts” – as I did.

Exercising at the gym…..or Exercising your Liberty?

Now you see it….

Now you don’t!

Sources For Further Study:

The Guerrilla Sniper – Anthony James and Gabe Suarez
A bit thin, but an important book nonetheless. A good starting place, especially if you are starting from square one. Likely only available from the Warrior Talk store, One Source Tactical. My take on it can be found in this thread.

Fry The Brain – John West
This book is essentially a historical catalog of all significant guerrilla sniper activity through history, up to and including present day struggles. West includes a lot of details and thus it’s a tremendous collection of examples of what works and what does not, with generally good explanation of the reasons for success or failure. Some cast it aside for the JFK assassination chapter and its heavily conspiracy dependent scenario, but even if pure fiction, the tactical considerations are worthwhile. Don’t let that chapter dissuade you. It’s an important resource.

The Art of The Rifle – Jeff Cooper
This concise book is the best summary of the handling, usage, and importance of competence with a rifle, period. There is little to quibble with when the good Colonel speaks about rifles. Every library needs one. (Two versions exist and either will do for these purposes.)

The Ultimate Sniper – John Plaster
The updated edition is also something that must be in your library. It’s not perfect and sometimes covers from too much of a LEO/military perspective, but it is invaluable nonetheless.

Warrior Talk forum:

There is a gentlemen going by the screen name of SUA SPONTE that has authored a number of excellent posts pushing this concept forward (not just on the rifle and gear, but more importantly the tactics and thought processes). I’m pretty sure that he’s using many of his posts on Warrior Talk to flesh out material for an upcoming book. He explains things well and comes up with good graphics to illustrate key concepts. I strongly encourage those interesting in this type of study to search out his writings and the constructive contributions others have added to his threads. Several of these threads are listed here.

This Warrior Talk thread has extensive discussions of Guerrilla Sniper Rifles as well as SUA SPONTE’s excellent BDC graphics (anyone can read the text, but you have to register to see most photos and graphic attachments).

Various Guerrilla Sniper “issues” and training ideas are in this thread.

This thread has some valuable training ideas plus discussion of the good old “Over the Head and Under the Balls” method of practical field holdover for two-legged varmints:


Here is a new and handy tool for calculating ballistic data for your Nikon BDC equipped scope. Until a few weeks ago it could be used by anyone, but now requires a simple one time registration for some reason. It’s worth it if you have a BDC, at least in my opinion.

Sources For Acquisition:

1. Team Primos Nikon 3-9x40 BDC: Likely the best cost/performance deal going in a ballistic reticle.

2. Choate Folder (Savage Short Action): So far, the best price I’ve found is here. In case you want to use another action, here are all of the similar Choate stocks.

3. Savage Factory Site: Here's the word on all models from the Savage factory. Don't forget, however, that you can very likely find an appropriate Savage or Stevens short-action rifle with a decent bore on the orphan rack at your local pawn shop or gun dealer; don't forget Gunbroker or AuctionArms as well. The Stevens 200 is an especially good value (factory new rifles at ~ $290!), if you can live without the Accutrigger; see this article for background on the Stevens and this article for a recap of aftermarket triggers for the Stevens.

4. Brownells.com Article On Rebarreling Your Savage: You might want to know how, especially if you want to reduce the barrel length to the legal minimum.

5. Leupold QRW Rings and EGW 20 MOA Base: As referenced above; talk to the vendor to make sure the base you are ordering will fit on your particular flavor of Savage rifle action.

At the author's request, please spread this article far and wide; use the hyperlink below so that all links and illustrations function properly:

http://westernrifleshooters.blogspot.com/2010/07/guerrilla-sniper-rifle-project_22.html

Thanks!

Word

Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created.

- Albert Einstein

Got Them Old 'Predator's Looking Over At Me, Ma, Don't Know What I've Done' Blues

Long-time civil liberties author Nat Hentoff provides a crisp example of why, as Vandam stated recently, the WRSA editorial philosophy is:

No matter how bad you think a situation is, it’s worse.

Does that long-distance pistol training suggestion make any more sense now?

Thanks to Sofa at Coordinated Illumination for the link.

The Pious Torturer

Will Grigg weaves a tale of righteous service to the Almighty State.

Just remember --everything applied against the jihadi hordes will soon be applied to the "domestic terrorists" of the moment under the new regime.

Consider that fact as the beat goes on.

And it will go on.

Growing Beyond Control

Use this lengthy WaPo report next time someone hands you the "'twas ever thus" retort on Leviathan's growth, especially in the military/law enforcement/intel hogpile.

Not to worry, though.

Comrade Soetero has the entire mechanism (and more) at his disposal.

What's the problem?

Welfare & Warfare

Please read this extended essay from The Burning Platform.

It is an excellent overview/synthesis piece, which you can also pass to those whose certitude has been shaken over the past two years.

There is no way out but through.

And what comes through on the other side is not what entered the furnace.

Testing The Internet "Kill Switch"

Please read all of Ms. Wolfe's latest, including the embedded links. Note especially the practices of our financial overlords in the People's Republic of China regarding information control and shaping.

See also this piece by Wendy McElroy.

Do you understand yet?

Have you downloaded softcopy (and printed hardcopy, in many cases) of everything you might need soon?

Why not?

Tempus fugit.