Quote of the day—Tom Ozimek

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he New York Fed’s August survey of consumer expectations showed that Americans anticipate food prices to rise by 7.9 percent in a year, higher than the overall inflation expectation of 5.2 percent.

Federal Reserve officials have repeatedly characterized the current bout of inflation as “transitory” though they have increasingly expressed concern about the risk of a de-anchoring of inflationary expectations. That’s where confidence in the “transitory” narrative falls and people start to believe and behave as if inflation will be far stickier than previously believed, impacting wage and price-setting behavior and potentially even sparking the kind of upward wage-price spiral that bedeviled the economy in the 1970s.

Tom Ozimek
October 9, 2021
Food Prices Hit Highest Level in a Decade
[See also Biden’s Inflation Now Costs Families $2.1K A Year And About To Get Worse.

One of the things about economics, the stock market, and retails sales that was difficult for me to accept was that significant components are emotion driven. It wasn’t that I rejected that it was true. It was that I wanted it to be false.

I wanted to believe that “everyone”, at least a sufficiently high percentage of people, would act rationally enough that most of the time shortages, crazy housing/tulip-bulb/Dot-Com/whatever bubbles and extreme economic cycles wouldn’t occur. I would think, “How many times must these lessons be taught in the school of hard knocks before people learn the lessons?” The answer I didn’t want to accept was that the majority of people will never learn the lesson.

I’ve become more cynical (realistic?) in my old age.

If people believe there is high inflation coming then they increase the odds that it will happen.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jesse Kelly @JesseKellyDC

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Rest assured, we ARE separating. It’s already in the works. Sane people are fleeing the blue areas as blue areas become East Germany. There is no reversing this trend. The country WILL come apart. It is only a matter of dates.

Jesse Kelly @JesseKellyDC
Tweeted on October 10, 2021
[While I can see the trend and understand the desire to be separate I’m not convinced that a separation will actually occur. There was an even stronger trend and desire for the North and South to separate in the early 1860’s and that separation wasn’t really completed and certainly wasn’t even semi-permanent.

There are a number of ways we could become unified again. An external threat could do it. A military coup quickly wiping out the leadership of one side and/or the other would be another roadblock to a separation. And that isn’t even considering things like an extinction class asteroid.

It’s really difficult to figure out what might happen. There are so many different ways things could go. Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future!—Joe]

Quote of the day—Pigdowndog @Pigdowndog

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The “you” was generic. If anyone thinks they need a gun for ordinary daily living then that’s the very definition of paranoia. You’re wrong, I don’t want to ban a specific type of rifle, I want all guns banned for the general public. Fewer guns, fewer gun incidents. Simple logic

Pigdowndog @Pigdowndog
Tweeted on October 10, 2021
[Simple logic for simple minds. Logic only gives you correct results if you have the appropriate data.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Mass murder with bow and arrow

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Assailant with bow and arrows kills 5 people in Norway

A man armed with a bow fired arrows at shoppers in a small Norwegian town Wednesday, killing five people before he was arrested, authorities said.

The police chief in the community of Kongsberg, near the capital of Oslo, said there was “a confrontation” between officers and the assailant, but he did not elaborate. Two other people were wounded and hospitalized in intensive care, including an officer who was off duty and inside the shop where the attack took place, police said.

Almost silent and certainly deadly. These weapons of mass destruction have been available for 1000s of years. It’s long past time for civilized society to eliminate their possession by civilians. The weapons should be limited to the police and the military.

I wonder if they have universal background checks on the purchase of arrows and registration of all bows and bow owners owners. If not, are there bow safety advocates pushing for such legislation? It’s just common sense. Do it for the children. It’s a good first step.

Quote of the day—Memorandum of Understanding

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The ability of law enforcement agencies to share crime gun data across state lines will assist in their efforts to detect and deter gun crime, to investigate gun crime, and to identify and apprehend straw purchasers, suspect dealers, firearms traffickers, and other criminals.

Memorandum of Understanding
October 7, 2021
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, THE STATE OF NEW YORK, THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT CONCERNING RECIPROCAL SHARING OF CRIME GUN DATA
[See also here.

Heavy sigh. There is so much fail (presuming good intention of the document writers) in this document. In just the short quote above it presumes several facts not in evidence:

  1. It presumes crime is a gun problem rather than a people problem. As Col. Jeff Cooper (IIRC) pointed out if you could eliminate all the guns you would still have a crime problem. If you locked up all the criminals you wouldn’t have a gun problem.
  2. It presumes some sort of magic happens when sharing data beyond criminal investigations (which is already possible without this MOU).
  3. It seems to presume there is some sort of advantage for criminal gangs to bring guns from out of state to sell in the individual states. But how can there be an advantage for a criminal in New York to obtain a gun from New Jersey and simultaneously there be an advantage for the criminal in New Jersey to obtain a gun from New York? Once the criminal commits a violent crime with (or without) a gun in either state they can be prosecuted for that crime regardless of where they obtained the gun.

But the presumption of good intentions is not justified.

One has to conclude, once again, that this isn’t about crime. It’s about demonizing gun ownership and terrorizing gun owners. If a gun is stolen from an innocent person this may assist the political criminals in the respective states to harass the victim of the property theft. They can and almost certainly will, be accused of selling the gun to criminals. I’ve known people who have had a dozen or more guns stolen. If a half dozen or more guns sold to a single person show up at crime scenes then law enforcement from these states are likely to be to making a very unpleasant visit to the innocent gun owner.

It’s clear these politicians view innocent gunowners as their enemy and it takes little imagination to believe they view the real criminals as their allies in their war against private gun ownership.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Matthew Piepenburg

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By 1997, I had graduated from a steady, iconic and expensive list of higher educational institutions which emphasized critical thinking, objective data, historical context and basic math.

But had I told a single professor back then that one day we’d see the simultaneous occurrence of Treasury Yields at 1.35%, and an “official” YoY CPI (inflation) growth rate of 5.4%, and an S&P reaching all-time highs above 4000, despite negative annual GDP rates, and consumer sentiment tanking, it’s likely they’d ask me to return my diplomas.

Why?

Because everything I (and all the rest of us) had been taught long ago was that rising risk assets reflect healthy economic growth, vigorous natural demand and a robust confidence in continued productivity and hence free-market price discovery.

That, at least, was the “reality” that nine years of secondary (post high-school) education gave me before I began my first toe-dip into the public exchanges (i.e., asset bubbles) of 1999.

…

Nothing I learned in school was “real” and nothing about our current moment in time has even the slightest resemblance to anything remotely characterized as natural, free-market or fair-price-driven.

Nothing. Not even close.

Matthew Piepenburg
September 14, 2021
Nothing is Real: A Visual Journey Through Market Absurdity
[Emphasis in the original.

We live in interesting times.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Pam Carlson (@PamCarlson3)

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Big man sticking up for the tiny penis crowd trying to sic his tiny penis followers on me.  Better hope this doesn’t go the way you want.  Twitter has a harassment policy, you know.

Pam Carlson (@PamCarlson3)
Tweeted on September 27, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

This was in response to my blog post which automatically posted a link to it on Twitter.

I found this hilarious! She starts out by harassingly gun owners with childish insults. I merely quoted her and pointed out she appeared to be incapable of bringing anything but childish insults to the discussion. I did not advocate or even suggest anyone engage with her. In response, she projects her harassment of us as harassment of her and continues harassing us.

Liberalism is a mental disorder.—Joe]

Son-in-law on Reticule Up Podcast

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John is my son-in-law:

He brings up and talks about Boomershoot.

Quote of the day—Victor Davis Hanson

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Our other elite wokists navigating around the revolution are even more cynical. The corporate and Wall Street capitalists feel that a little virtue signaling, showy diversity coordinators, and woke advertising will more or less buy off the latest version of Al-Sharpton-like shake-down artists.


Then there are the trimmers and enablers. These are the wealthy, rich, and the professional classes. They feel–in abstract–absolutely terrible about inequality, but hardly enough in the concrete to mix with the unwashed.


For them, wokism is like party membership in the late ethically bankrupt Soviet Union. It is necessary for peace of mind and good income, but otherwise not an obstacle for the continuance of the privileged, comfortable life.

Victor Davis Hanson
October 1, 2021
Orwell And The Woke
[Emphasis in the original.

Listening to some of the corporate leaders at work I sometimes get cynical. I just don’t think they are really buying into some of this crap. Yet, they push it anyway. I presume it is just to pay off the shake-down artists. The alternative, they are too stupid and/or ignorant see the truth, is too discouraging to believe.—Joe]

Review of Bravo Belt Holster

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Earlier this week I received an email:

From: BravoBelt Team
Sent: Monday, October 4, 2021 5:59 AM
To: blog@joehuffman.org
Subject: LOVE YOUR ARTICLE!

Hi!
I was searching around and came across with your article: A step in the right direction. I love the content! My name is Oliver and I’m on the Outreach Team for @BravoBelt. We recently released an updated BravoBelt holster that I think your readers would appreciate.
Let me know if you would like one to review and I will drop one in the mail for you.
Thanks!

Oliver Sana
Digital Operations Manager
The BravoBelt Team
www.bravobelt.com

After looking at their website I was skeptical, but at 3:00 AM the next day I agreed to review their holster. I was skeptical for three reasons:

  1. The opening for the gun is elastic and collapses when the gun is removed which probably makes it difficult to reholster one handed and without looking at the holster.
  2. The snapped strap over the top of the gun will slow the draw.
  3. The spare magazine are shown on the same side of body as the gun. This will slow your reloads. And for the left handed shooter it’s going to take some real contortions to reach your reload.

From their website (see more pictures on Amazon):

BravoBeltHolster

I received the holster two days after agreeing to review it.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was the smell. The smell of neoprene was almost overpowering. Thankful the smell faded after a couple days in the open air.

I was pleased to observe the magazine holster was different from what was pictured. The magazine holster was a separate pouch which fastened with Velcro to almost wherever you want it. I was easily able to position it on my left side exactly where I wanted it.

The holster is extremely comfortable. It was almost soothing!

This is where I run out of nice things to say about the holster. My other concerns were mostly realized.

The elastic opening immediately collapsed when the gun was drawn. I could wiggle the gun back into the holster with one just one hand but I really needed to look at it as I was doing it. There are various scenarios in defensive handgun usage where this can be important. In the General Defensive Handgun class from Insights Training one of the critical features of a holster was that it be relatively easy to holster your gun, sight unseen, with one hand. This holster fails that test.

The same sort of story can be told about putting a magazine into the holster on the other side. If you do a reload with a partially empty magazine and want to put the used magazine in the holster you need to use another hand (holding the gun? Nope.), get your eyes on the holster, or fumble one handed for a bit. I’m not liking these scenario in a defensive encounter.

The strap over the back of the gun is required for secure carry. The gun moves around too much without it.

I practiced drawing for several minutes and I was able to get into a “groove” that was faster than I expected. It was more complicated than a typical draw with the snap needing to be released, then flipped over the back of the gun, and then the hand going down again to get under the strap. The elastic helped some. The strap would do a lot of the flipping on it’s own but I still needed to time things right and make sure my hand was under the strap when I gripped the gun.

I could comfortably and repeatedly get off my first shot in 2.25 S from concealment from underneath a unbuttoned flannel shirt. Not too bad, I thought. I could not get it down to 2.0 S. As I sped up the strap and/or my t-shirt would inevitably get between my hand and the grip of the gun.

I put my Kramer IWB #2 holster back on and tested my draw speed. 1.5 S was repeatable. Hmmm… 1.5 S to 2.25 S is a 50% increase in draw time. Is a 0.75 seconds critical? One could make the case that it could sometimes mean the difference between life and death. It’s probably not super critical in the big picture. I think I would worry more about the increase in complexity in a time of stress causing a tangled clothing draw of 5.0 S instead of the 2.25 S draw under controlled conditions.

I asked Barb to model the holster for pictures and she readily agreed. Pictures are with the holster unconcealed for demonstration purposes. Wearing it over a t-shirt and under my flannel shirt made little difference in functionality than as shown below:

image

Notice the pouch for your cellphone in the picture above? That worked well for me.

The Velcro attached spare magazine holster had the advantage of being adjustable to exactly the right spot regardless of your waist size.

image

She was not happy with it. If it was low enough to easily draw then it was just below the widest portion of her hips. This made it more difficult to conceal, risked having it slide down, and made walking and bending over uncomfortable. I had her raise it up to where it was above the top the widest area of her hips. Then the draw was difficult because she was running out of range of motion to be able to lift her gun high enough to clear the holster:

image

The fit on me was a little better. I could position the height of the holster such that the gun didn’t poke me when walking or bending over and I could complete the draw even though I was reaching the end of my range of motion.

image

image

The price for this holster is $27.77 to $29.95 (depending on waist size) on Amazon. That is a great price for a functional holster. But this holster has functional deficiencies for defensive carry. That said, because of the extreme comfort it might be that someone is more likely to carry than not carry. And the first rule of gun safety is to have a gun.

Rolf and I shoot an ASI match

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I invited Rolf to go to an ASI match with me and this morning he showed up at my house about 8:20 AM and I drove us the rest of the way to the Renton Fish and Game Club.

I expected with the weather on the cool side, threats of rain, and ammo shortages the number of people would be less than usual. I was wrong. 95 shooters showed up. There were 15 or 16 people on our squad. This makes the match longer than usual. One of the things I like about the ASI matches are that they are usually over by 12:30 or 1:00 and there is enough time left in the day to do other things. It was right at 2:00 PM before we were done. But having lots of shooters is a good thing for the gun culture, so I’ll stop whining about that now.

I first “met” Rolf on the email distribution list for the Microsoft Gun Club (now “The Gun Club at Microsoft). Later I met him in person at the Tuesday Night Pistol League at Weapons Safety, Inc. This was all stationary shooting at a stationary target. He has taken numerous courses from Insights Training, he has been participating and/or volunteering at Boomershoot for many years and I figured he had shot at least a few USPSA pistol matches or maybe a few IPDA matches. Nope. This was his first “action” shooting match.

Hmmm… Okay, well, I know he will do fine. I’ve seen him shoot pistol and revolver before (he used a .357 to shoot boomers at “entertainingly close” distances).

I took a few pictures of him at the match today and after reviewing them he said this is the best one:

20211009_133145

“Always willing to lend a hand out”, he told me.

I’m inclined to think this one is better:

20211009_133153

I told him I expected he would come in between the bottom third and the bottom half. After seeing him shoot the match I stood by the prediction.

Match results are here. He came in at the 32nd percentile, Very close to my prediction and excellent for a first time action shooter.

I had a couple mechanical malfunctions (and a couple mental ones as well). My powder puff loads failed to reliably cycle the action. The cool weather probably contributed to this. In the hot (for the Seattle area) summer the loads cycled the same gun just fine. I think I need to add another 0.1 of a grain to the load to make sure they work in the cooler weather. I probably could grip the gun tighter and make them more reliable but it would be better to increase the charge a little bit. This will allow me to use them with new shooters with reduced risk of them getting frustrated with the failures to extract and feed.

Gun and ammo scams

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I did a web search for small pistol primers and found most brands of primers at unbelievable prices. They have Federal small pistol for $35.00/1000 and CCI small pistol primers for $50.00/1000.

I was suspicious but went through the order process. The cart did not result in taking my credit card information even though I opted for credit card payment instead of PayPal. It ended with a message saying I would be contacted for my payment information. An hour or so later I received an email giving me the payment options of PayPal,
Cash app, or Apple Pay. No credit card option.

I did some research. The domain was created on February 24th, 2021. Hmmm…

Their “About” page an other pages say “WELCOME TO HOUSE OF FIRE ARM”. That wording is a little odd… The email address they sent the payment request from is “House of Firearms houseoffirearms@gmail.com”.

The website says the company is located in Kansas. But a business search on the Kansas Security of State web site comes up empty for the names:

  • House of Firearm
  • House of Fire Arm
  • House of Firearms
  • House of Fire Arms

I am almost certain it is a scam.

I found another web site, again with awesome prices, with similar wording on many of their pages which I am very suspicious of. I haven’t fully investigated them yet.

Be careful out there. If something is too good to be true it probably is.

Quote of the day—Puertorro in the US + (@wisemagius)

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Hope one day you realize all you are is a deluded gun-runner.

You wrap yourself in a thin veneer of an imagined higher cause, ignoring the blood of innocents on you, all because of some tools you worship.

Puertorro in the US + (@wisemagius)
Tweeted on October 3, 2021
[This is what they think of you.

Of course it’s projection. Far more innocent people have been murdered because criminals had a legal monopoly on weapons than when weapons were legally available to all.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider)

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Many Americans are waking up from their slumber and discovering the hangover of tyranny in the guise of safety.

Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider)
Tweeted on October 2, 2021
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jennifer Granick

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Trawling through Google’s search history database enables police to identify people merely based on what they might have been thinking about, for whatever reason, at some point in the past. This is a virtual dragnet through the public’s interests, beliefs, opinions, values and friendships, akin to mind reading powered by the Google time machine. This never-before-possible technique threatens First Amendment interests and will inevitably sweep up innocent people, especially if the keyword terms are not unique and the time frame not precise. To make matters worse, police are currently doing this in secret, which insulates the practice from public debate and regulation.

Jennifer Granick
Surveillance and cybersecurity counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Exclusive: Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Has Searched A Name, Address And Telephone Number
[As I have mentioned before I’ve been impressed with Granick on Internet freedom issues.

Avoid the use of Google. They are evil. Use DuckDuckGo or something similar, use a privacy window in your browser and consider using a VPN such as Private Internet ACCESS.—Joe]

Dominos?

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There are a number of indicators of interest to me around the world.

What You Need to Know About Evergrande

the company scrambles to find funds, construction has stalled on its projects, putting the future of the 1.4 million properties that it has committed to building in doubt. The situation has sparked protests at Evergrande headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Protestors included contractors owed money by Evergrande and those who have paid for a home that may now never be built.

One of World’s Largest Port Operators Warns Global Supply Chain ‘Crisis’ Will Last Longer Than Expected

“Regardless if it is a port, vessel, or warehouse, when one becomes impacted, it quickly results in a downward spiral as delays accumulate,” Maersk’s update reads. “We see pockets of improvements, only to get setbacks when our operations encounter new COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns.”

Households Brace for Higher Winter Heating Costs as Natural Gas Prices Vault

The relentless rise in natural gas prices continued on Oct. 6, highlighting the looming threat to U.S. households bracing for higher heating costs in the event of a harsh winter.

U.S. natural gas futures were up 1.11 percent at $6.312 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in early trading on Oct. 6 after jumping around 9 percent a day earlier to settle at $6.312 per mmBtu, their highest level since 2008.

While gas prices in Europe and Asia have more than tripled this year, the United States has largely been shielded from the global crunch because of plentiful supplies. While U.S. natural gas is trading around the $6 per mmBTu mark, it’s at around $30-plus in Europe and Asia.

But experts warn the global natural gas crunch could have ripple effects, with possible impacts on households in the United States.

Those are just a sample.

Housing material is expensive and difficult to find. Labor is in short supply too.

The U.S. government is going to increase the debt even though everyone knows they can’t possibly pay off the existing debt. The situation of other governments, world wide, is not much different.

Closer to home is the drought this summer blew away the previous all time record in terms of total rainfall in Clearwater County Idaho. The yields were 1/3 to 1/2 of normal with very low quality. The drought wasn’t just local either.

It is not difficult to envision a domino effect and things go completely bonkers

Prepare appropriately. I want an underground bunker in Idaho.

Quote of the day—Andrew Yang

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I’m confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing.

Andrew Yang
October 4, 2021
BREAKING UP WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
[That thought will get a lot of support in my circle of gunnies!

Before you even think he might be inclined to side with Libertarians or Republicans (from the same post):

I donated to Bernie Sanders’ campaign – everything he said struck me as true

…

When Trump won, I was surprised and took it as a red flag and call to action. Having spent six years working in the Midwest and the South I believed I had some insight as to what had driven Trump’s victory. I spent several years making the case for what I believed was the major policy that could address it – Universal Basic Income.

I saw nothing in his blog post that indicates he has changed these beliefs. As recently as September 27, 2021 he was still enthusiastic for UBI.

That said, Yang resonated with a lot of people. And having that pull someplace outside the Democrat party is probably a good thing. It helps split the political left.—Joe]

Ugly behavior

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Via email from Chet who says, “The crack down/revolt is just beginning”:

Education leaders decry ‘ugly’ behavior by attendees at Washington state school board meetings

It wasn’t their mask mandate to make, but school officials are getting the heat all the same.

…

To reduce the chances for these types of conflicts, some school districts have resorted to calling the police preemptively to monitor meetings, Aune said, or moved their meetings online. The Seattle School Board, seeing cases arise across the state and country, brought on extra security to monitor in-person meetings and escort staff back to their cars over the summer, said Chandra Hampson, the board’s president. To make sure there was enough security at schools when the year began, the board briefly returned to remote sessions. Meetings will resume in person later this month.

Across the country, there have been similar displays, prompting the National Association of School Boards to call for the involvement of the FBI, the Department of Justice and other law enforcement authorities.

While I think a lot of the “facts” quoted by the anti-vax and anti-mask people are taken out of context and/or distorted the politicians believing they have the legitimate power to shut down the economy and force people to accept injections get zero support from me. In fact, I’m sometimes cheering on those opposing the politicians even though I think the opposition is for the wrong reasons.

We live in interesting times. The “ugly behavior” is likely to get uglier on all sides. Prepare appropriately.

Quote of the day—Cantankerous Socialist @Cante12175815

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Bless, did I hit a nerve Cletus

Perhaps you need to visit a gay bar and get rid of all that pent up frustration.

Toodle pip

xxx

Cantankerous Socialist @Cante12175815
Tweeted on September 20, 2021
[This was in response to receiving the honor of a Markley’s Law Monday quote of the day a couple weeks ago.

I would like to thank Cantankerous Socialist @Cante12175815 for confirming my previous diagnosis.—Joe]

Quote of the day—sploosh @SploooshSploosh

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Frail Penis Coalition rails against president from 20 years ago to cover up their frail penises.. Doesn’t this get tiresome when there are 400 million guns in the US?

sploosh @SploooshSploosh
Tweeted on September 26, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! H/T to In Chains @InChainsInJail.

When the advocates for the criminals attempting to infringe upon a specific enumerated right have nothing but childish insults you know they are getting really desperate for quality workers. Are these people unpaid interns? Or are they registered sex offenders who cannot get any other job?

It doesn’t really matter. We have SCOTUS decisions they have nothing.—Joe]