Archive for May, 2015

European War Games: Responses to Russian Military Drills

European War Games: Responses to Russian Military Drills is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

Summary

Several events have coincided to demonstrate the dynamic, if not guarded, relationship between Russia and the Nordic and Baltic states. Ten NATO countries and Sweden launched a two-week planned exercise in the North Sea on May 4 to improve their anti-submarine warfare capabilities. On the same day, Finland — not a NATO member — began mailing letters to about 900,000 reservists informing them of their roles in a potential crisis situation. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry formally complained to Russian authorities that Russian navy ships were disrupting cable-laying work in waters between Sweden and Lithuania, the latest in a series of formal complaints over Russia’s activity in the area. Concurrently, the Swedish and Lithuanian foreign ministers met with Moldova’s pro-West leaders in Chisinau.

All of these events confirm that the Nordic and Baltic states are working to boost security cooperation in response to Russia’s military activity in the region. Consequently, the security buildup will continue — on both sides. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Making Your Own Firearm Has A Long History

From Slate.com:

While the technological ingenuity and legal maneuvering of makers such as Wilson and Imura may strike us as quintessentially modern, in fact the work of these garage gunsmiths hearkens back to the first experiments with gun-making in the late Middle Ages, an era before firearms became the province of corporations—and centuries before their subjection to any kind of government regulation or oversight.

The story begins with that most dastardly of medieval inventions, gunpowder, first developed in China probably during the Tang Dynasty before gradually making its way to Western Europe by the middle of the 13th century. Initially the use of gunpowder weapons on the medieval battlefield was limited to larger artillery pieces such as the pot-de-fer and theribauldequin. Soon, though, gunsmiths began experimenting with smaller, increasingly portable weapons that could be carried more easily across a battlefield.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Citizen With Gun Saves Officer

From News 9 Oklahoma City:

During the chase the two officers became separated. Eller found himself alone when he caught up to Jermaine in a driveway of a nearby home and as he tried to place him under arrest, a fight ensued. During the struggle, Jermaine was able to take Eller’s police baton and then proceeded to strike him over the head somewhere between six and 12 times.

According to a report, that’s when a witness nearby charged up with his weapon drawn and told Jermaine he would shoot him if he did not stop hitting Eller. That heroic witness has not been identified.

 

, , , ,

No Comments

California Wastes Millions Trying To Confiscate Guns

From The Washington Post:

This is a slow, painstaking process, and it has fallen behind in recent years. After the Sandy Hook shooting in 2013, lawmakers gave the gun seizure program a $24 million infusion to fund more agents to knock on more doors. The goal was to investigate every one of the 20,000-some people who remained on the illegal gun owner list.

Part of the problem is that it is hard to keep up with the new people being added to the list all the time. Last year, agents conducted 7,573 investigations and seized 3,286 firearms. At the same time, 7,031 gun owners were newly flagged. The state has hired 18 additional agents to bolster its 33-person unit, and has been trying to staff up more.

California is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and police officers’ time looking for “criminals” while real crime and police work is being avoided. Is it any wonder why people are leaving California in droves?

, , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Free Speech and the Threat of Violence

Bill Whittle on the Garland, TX attack.

, , , , , , ,

No Comments

INI Power Generators

INI Power Generators can use almost any fuel source and come in various power outputs.

, , , , ,

No Comments

Grayl Water Filters

Grayl produces three different filters for different types of water.

, , , , , ,

No Comments

DARPA Self Guiding Ammo

From DARPA:

, , , , ,

No Comments

Why Not “Mayors Against Cars”?

Beyond The Noise

, , , , ,

No Comments

Interview With Edward Snowden

Interview from Harvard University:

, , , , ,

No Comments

Surveillance Planes Tracked Over Baltimore

From The Washington Post:

Discovery of the flights — which involved at least two airplanes and the assistance of the FBI — has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to demand answers about the legal authority for the operations and the reach of the technology used. Planes armed with the latest surveillance systems canmonitor larger areas than police helicopters and stay overhead longer, raising novel civil liberties issues that have so far gotten little scrutiny from courts.

 

, , , , , , ,

No Comments

Muslim Protesters Should Go Live In A Muslim Country

Franklin Graham said that Muslims protesting the showing of American Sniper should go live in a Muslim country.

Can you believe that the University of Maryland canceled a screening of the movie American Sniper after Muslim students complained? This afternoon, I’m going to meet with wounded military veterans and their spouses who served this nation with honor–fighting to preserve our freedoms and many times shedding their own blood. Chris Kyle was an American hero. It’s brave soldiers like these that make all of the freedoms we enjoy possible. Shame on the University of Maryland for listening to these voices! If these Muslim students can’t support the military members who do their job to protect us, let them leave America and go to a Muslim country. God bless America and our heroes! SHARE this if you agree.

, , ,

No Comments

Defense Distributed Sues State Department

From The New York Times:

Now, with a high-powered legal team behind it, Mr. Wilson’s company,Defense Distributed, a self-described “anti-monopolist digital publisher,” has filed suit against the State Department claiming that its efforts to stop him from publishing his instructions, which are no more than computer code, amount to a prior restraint on free speech. The 25-page suit, filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Austin, Tex., is an innovative and apparently unprecedented effort to use the First Amendment in support of the Second.

From Wired:

Wilson’s gun manufacturing advocacy group Defense Distributed, along with the gun rights group the Second Amendment Foundation, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the State Department and several of its officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry. In their complaint, they claim that a State Department agency called the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) violated their first amendment right to free speech by telling Defense Distributed that it couldn’t publish a 3-D printable file for its one-shot plastic pistol known as the Liberator, along with a collection of other printable gun parts, on its website.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Earning the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB)

Earning the Expert Field Medical Badge

CPT Sarah Cudd from Public Health Command, Fort Knox refuses to give up. Guts, determination and motivation from the crowd get her across the finish line.

, ,

No Comments

“Assault Weapons” Can Be Banned If It Makes People Feel Better

From 7th Circuit Court of Appeals:

…the majority found that “[i]f a ban on semi‐automatic guns and large‐capacity magazines reduces the perceived risk from a mass shooting, and makes the public feel safer as a result, that’s a substantial benefit.”

The judges didn’t judge the case from a legal perspective but from how the public feels about it. They are no longer judges if they simply bow to the whim of the public.

, , , , , , , , ,

No Comments