BY PGF
2 years, 1 month ago
On October 24, 2002, a Muslim and his younger accomplice were finally caught.
How it began
The murders that shocked the nation’s capital and the nation itself had started three weeks earlier.
On October 2, 2002, a sniper’s bullet struck down a 55-year-old man in a parking lot in Wheaton, Maryland. By 10 o’clock the next morning, four more people within a few miles of each other had been similarly murdered.
The attacks were soon linked, and a massive multi-agency investigation was launched.
The case was led by the Montgomery County (Maryland) Police Department, headed by Chief Charles Moose, with the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies playing a supporting role. Chief Moose had specifically requested our help through a federal law on serial killings.
Within days, the FBI alone had some 400 agents around the country working the case. We had set up a toll-free number to collect tips from the public, with teams of new agents in training helping to work the hotline. Our evidence experts were asked to digitally map many of the evolving crime scenes, and our behavioral analysts helped prepare a profile of the shooter for investigators. We had also set up a Joint Operations Center to help Montgomery County investigators run the case.
The idea of sniping from a mobile platform, never in the same place twice, is rather clever. They never switched vehicles and only slightly varied their routine, however.
A rolling sniper’s nest
On the morning of October 24, the hunt for the snipers quickly came to an end, when a team of Maryland State Police, Montgomery County SWAT officers, and special agents from our Hostage Rescue Team arrested the sleeping John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo without a struggle.
Just a few hours earlier, at approximately 11:45 p.m., their dark blue 1990 Chevy Caprice with its New Jersey license plate had been spotted at a rest stop parking lot off I-70 in Maryland. Within the hour, law enforcement swarmed the scene, setting up a perimeter to check out any movements and make sure there’d be no escape.
What evidence experts from the FBI and other police forces found there was both revealing and shocking. The car had a hole cut in the trunk near the license plate so that shots could be fired from within the vehicle. It was, in effect, a rolling sniper’s nest.
Also found in the car were:
- The Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle that had been used in each attack;
- A rifle’s scope for taking aim and a tripod to steady the shots;
- A backseat that had the sheet metal removed between the passenger compartment and the trunk, enabling the shooter to get into the trunk from inside the car;
- The Chevy Caprice owner’s manual with—the FBI Laboratory later detected—written impressions of the one of the demand notes;
- The digital voice recorder used by both Malvo and Muhammad to make extortion demands;
- A laptop stolen from one of the victims containing maps of the shooting sites and getaway routes from some of the crime scenes; and
- Maps, walkie-talkies, and many more items.
I worked in DC at the time and took public transit every morning during these several weeks.
In August, A Maryland court ordered Malvo, now 37, resentenced.
BY PGF
2 years, 1 month ago
Hard skills:
With the introduction of the Homestead Act of 1862, previously unsettled land in the western portions of the United States became an attractive option to thousands of people.
These pioneers were looking for a new way of life, but in order to attain it, they had to have certain skills.
Traveling in covered wagons, grouped together for defense and support, the early pioneers were a mix of nationalities and had a large array of skills.
Only the individuals who could master this huge list of skills were ultimately able to settle this uncharted terrain successfully. Unfortunately, many didn’t make it…
The skills developed by this brave, resourceful group of people are just as relevant in today’s modern homesteads. Only individuals who can master these essential skills can be successful in this challenging, rugged existence.
But are those skills relevant to homesteading as we know it today? Let’s take a look at the long list of skills that those first pioneers had – and determine their importance for the modern homesteader today.
Everything from weather forecasting to making cleaning products to the seasonality of food storage and preparation. Do people still tan hides? Included is a video on how to do it.
BY PGF
2 years, 1 month ago
Source:
U.S. students in most states and across almost all demographic groups have experienced troubling setbacks in both math and reading, according to an authoritative national exam released on Monday, offering the most definitive indictment yet of the pandemic’s impact on millions of schoolchildren.
In math, the results were especially devastating, representing the steepest declines ever recorded on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card, which tests a broad sampling of fourth and eighth graders and dates to the early 1990s.
In the test’s first results since the pandemic began, math scores for eighth graders fell in nearly every state. A meager 26 percent of eighth graders were proficient, down from 34 percent in 2019.
Fourth graders fared only slightly better, with declines in 41 states. Just 36 percent of fourth graders were proficient in math, down from 41 percent.
Reading scores also declined in more than half the states, continuing a downward trend that had begun even before the pandemic. No state showed sizable improvement in reading. And only about one in three students met proficiency standards, a designation that means students have demonstrated competency and are on track for future success.
Maybe the teacher’s unions need more money? Ah, there it is, Paragraph 8. Every article about school always comes down to teachers needing more money.
The findings raise significant questions about where the country goes from here. Last year, the federal government made its largest single investment in American schools — $123 billion, or about $2,400 per student — to help students catch up. School districts were required to spend at least 20 percent of the money on academic recovery, a threshold some experts believe is inadequate for the magnitude of the problem.
With the funding slated to expire in 2024, research suggests that it could take billions more dollars and several years for students to properly recover.
Imagine what you could teach a child with $2400 dollars a year? Homeschool parents are doing it for much less than 1k per year. And the children are not only better educated; they know how to analyze a problem, think critically, and solve issues for themselves. Oh, and they also know the difference between a girl, a boy, a pervert, and a freak.
Homeschool really is a matter of prepping. Are you preparing your family to support each other and be a team? Educating your children in the Law-word of God and demanding they behave according to right and wrong as defined by God in the Holy Bible is paramount. This is critical not only to you and them but to civilization. Exodus 20:12, Proverbs 22:6.
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 2 months ago
These observations will be brief and to the point, and they apply to the A400 Xtreme Plus and 1301 (but I suspect to all their newest line of shotguns excluding over-unders).
The bolt carrier is very similar in design to that of an AR-15, with a firing pin held in place by a retaining pin, a cam, and the bolt carrier. There are differences of course including dimensions, the spring on the fire pin, and the lack of gas return to operate the bolt (the Beretta gas system follows the tube).
But it has the look and feel of maintaining and cleaning an AR-15 at times.
Either Beretta learned from Eugene Stoner’s design and liked it and decided that it would lead to increased cycling speed, or they wanted American buyers to feel more accustomed to the system (or both).
There are numerous YouTube videos on this design.
Their over-unders are absolutely beautiful, but very pricey.
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 2 months ago
Recoil.
Rifled slugs are designed to be used in smoothbore shotguns. The rifled slug’s defining feature is a set of exterior grooves that resemble barrel rifling. Unlike barrel rifling, the slug’s grooves do not spin the projectile. Instead, the channels allow the slug to compress slightly so it can fit through a shotgun’s choke tube.
Sabot slugs lack the rifled slug’s exterior grooves because they are designed to be used in shotguns with rifled barrels or with a smoothbore paired with a rifled choke.
They go on to discuss various brands, including Remington Sabot slugs, Federal TruBall rifled slugs, Hornady American White Tail slugs, Winchester Super-X, and Brennecke Black Magin and Hefty Slugs.
I wouldn’t want to be behind a shotgun shooting Brennecke slugs unless my life was in danger.
The Hornady slug is 325 grains. I’m left wondering why anyone would choose to shoot that over 45-70 at 325 grains. Oh yea, stupid states like Illinois where shotgun and bow hunting are the only legal ways to harvest deer.
I don’t know the fate of HB 4386, but here’s the concern as expressed by the controllers.
“We are talking about cartridges that are as powerful as you need to cleanly harvest the animal without being excessively powerful so that there is accidental damage at distant targets that you can’t see,” Dale said.
Dummies. South Carolina is a much more densely populated state than Illinois and this has never been a concern there. The gigantic woods and corn fields of Illinois are the last place one should be concerned about “targets you can’t see.”
I know The Alaskan prefers Brennecke for dangerous animals. If I lived there I’d probably practice with that – for one or two shots anyway.
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 2 months ago
Dean Weingarten.
A three-judge panel issued an opinion on the case in the Fifth Circuit on December 14, 2022.
The three judge panel refused to consider either the separation of powers issues, or the Chevron doctrine, claiming they were irrelevant because the panel ruled bump stocks were machine guns.
The Fifth Circuit was asked to consider the case en banc, which is to say, before the entire court, by a member of the Court. A majority of the members of the Fifth Circuit agreed to hear the case, en banc.
The trend of the case follows the GOA case in the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Circuit agreed to hear the bump stock case en banc. The Sixth Circuit split evenly, with eight members voting to rule the bump stock regulation invalid and eight-member voting to rule for the government. In the case of a tie vote, the district court ruling was upheld. The GOA case was denied a writ of certiorari on October 3 of, 2022.
The Cargill v. Garland oral arguments were heard by the Fifth Circuit, en banc, on September 13, 2022.
There is a good chance the Fifth Circuit will reverse the opinion of the district court. A majority of the Court agreed to hear the case, starting fresh, en banc. If the Fifth Circuit reverses the opinion and finds for Cargill, the case will create a split in the Circuits between the Tenth, the Sixth, and the Fifth circuits.
This gives the Supreme Court a strong incentive to hear the case.
Maybe.
But it’s either cowardice or mere stupidity that anyone can look at the description of a machine gun in the law and conclude that a bump stock turns a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun.
The Supreme Court isn’t immune from cowardice and stupidity. Therefore, I hold out no hope that the SCOTUS will reverse this awful decision.
As I’ve said before, I have no bump stocks and no arms braces. But that’s not the point.
It doesn’t matter whether I have them – the only thing that matters is whether free men should have to suffer the infringement of controllers who want to disarm them. And … whether a federal bureaucracy has the authority to make law in lieu of the Congress.
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 2 months ago
I don’t know why he didn’t shoot (maybe licensing or permitting), but he certainly had nerves of steel to be bluff-charged by a bear like that.
Source.
BY PGF
2 years, 2 months ago
Source:
More than 500 retired U.S. military personnel — including scores of generals and admirals — have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, mostly in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression, according to a Washington Post investigation.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the Defense Ministry since 2016. The ministry is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who U.S. intelligence agencies say approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist, as part of a brutal crackdown on dissent.
Saudi Arabia’s paid advisers have included retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and President George W. Bush, according to documents obtained by The Post under Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.
Others who have worked as consultants for the Saudis since Khashoggi’s murder include a retired four-star Air Force general and a former commanding general of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Most of the retired U.S. personnel have worked as civilian contractors for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf monarchies, playing a critical, though largely invisible, role in upgrading their militaries.
Seems that K Street (US Government Lobbying Firms) doesn’t pay what it used to. The article is very long and detailed.
BY PGF
2 years, 2 months ago
The Drill, Clint Smith
100 rounds
Targets Standard white paper plates and a 3” X 5” index card at 15 yards for all exercises will be used. Stack dinner plates one above the other with the index card placed above the top dinner plate.
Marksmanship “Shoot well not fast” From the ready position fire 10 singles on chosen target. From the ready position fire 5 sighted doubles. (Practice your trigger reset.)
Loading Put one round in your handgun, fire, when the gun goes empty keep the muzzle on the target and reload. “An empty gun is not bad luck; it’s simply a reality of being in a fight.” Keep the gun between you and the target and reload. Do this Drill 10 times.
Non-Compliant Threats From the ready position fire 2 shots on the center plate and 1 shot on the card. Do this 2 times. Fire 3 shots on the center plate and 1 on the card. Do this 2 times. Fire 2 shots on the center plate, 2 shots on the lower plate and 1 shot on the card. Do this 1 time. Slow down for your head shots. “Remember the head is not a smaller target, it’s just different.”
Drawing Practice our drawing stroke smoothly, speed comes with practice. Fast is spelled SMOOOOTH. With an UNLOADED firearm draw 10 to 15 times correctly, and smoothly, following through to include a sight picture and hammer fall. (Remember your dry fire practice rules.) Load, draw and fire 10 singles, holstering between shots. Remember safety on and finger straight while holstering. While drawing take one step back and fire 1 shot. Do this 10 times. Remember: M & M. “Maximize the distance, minimize the threat.”
Malfunctions “Fights and family vacations have something in common, they rarely come out the way they were planned.” Leave the magazine unseated with one in the chamber and fire when ready. Stick a piece of brass in the top of the ejection port. Set up a double feed. The response is always the same, when the gun does not fire. Tap the magazine. Rack the slide harder and attempt to fire. If it still doesn’t work, remove the magazine and place under your strong hand little finger. Rack the slide 3 times and reload the gun and fire if you have a valid target. Run variations 5 times and after clearing, fire 1 shot to complete the cycle of operation in your head. Go slow and do it correctly. You have 21 rounds for this portion.
Strong and Support Hand Fire 5 shots strong hand only from the ready position, carefully transfer the gun to your support hand and fire 5 shots. Go slowly and carefully, speed and skill will come with time – and practice. Depending on your skill level lessen the distance if you’re not hitting the target. Only hits count!! Beginners should start at 5 yards and move back as skill increases.
