Peering out of the box - 22/7/13.

Free Northerner - The real meaning of Zimmerman.

That was his crime. He cared about his community enough to try to keep it safe. He got out of the car.

And that is the whole point of this fiasco. It is the whole reason they rage against “stand your ground”. It’s the whole reason they fight gun freedom.

The Cathedral does not want you to get out of the car. The Cathedral does not want you to protect yourself or your community. The Cathedral does not want you to be able to trust your neighbours.

Vox Popoli - Behind the scenes.

It occurs to me, however, that there is one time when it would make very good sense to replace MEU commanders, and that is when new military action is at hand.  When one considers how the Syrian rebels appear to have failed in their bid to overthrow Assad and the recent army coup in Egypt, I find myself wondering if this might be an early sign of expanded American military intervention in the Middle East.

Stares at the world - The power of the shield.

The Magic of the Shield – that spell which turns a Peacekeeper into a Peace Officer – only works in a society of Civilized Men.  It only works when you have a population of Citizens who are willing and able to enforce Law and Order with their very own Peace Makers.  It only works when the Emperor Himself is but a servant to the Mandate of Heaven. It only works when the Truth isn’t just a label on a shelf of consumer goods.

Separation of Church and State was never about keeping religion out of governance – it was about keeping the magic in.  But we’ve killed the Magic, we’ve killed the Truth, we’ve killed God, and we’ve killed Reason.  With all of that gone, we are all of us Brutes – all we have left is is Brute Force.

Sultan Knish - The eagle has landed.

Like so many decrepit civilizations before us, the massive rotting edifice of our government has become our great work. Keeping it going, keeping it from falling apart, wiping its bottom, finding the money to prevent its latest imminent failure, fighting over the last folder while the barbarians shout "Allah Akbar" and put all the paper to the torch because the Koran makes it redundant, that is what we do now.

We no more go a-roving so late into the night. Not when our own night has come. And it is late indeed.

It is not that we have no more Neil Armstrongs or Eugene Cernans or any of the other clean cut men who look back at us from those old photographs, cool and confident, knowing that they are the messengers that a civilization at its golden apex has picked to represent it at its peak moment. It is that we no longer want them.

Zero Hedge - China warns of "overly limited forecasts".

In a wide-ranging interview with Xinhua, the Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei started from the normal fantasy-land of central-planners by noting that the topic of a Chinese hard-landing "was not discussed at the G-20," because "no participant believes in the existence of that risk." Commenting on calls for the Chinese to launch new stimulus (to save the world's economy), Lou admonished the other nations, adding "I suggest they fulfill their own due work rather than counting mainly on others." He remained adamant that China is still growing and creating jobs but fears what everyone else fears: "The global market will sustain negative impact should the Fed fail to interact properly with other components of the market." In other words, "get to work, Mr. Bernanke, and don't remove the punchbowl," because as Lou notes, "some countries are overly optimistic on their outlooks."

Ice Age Now - Chinese wheat crop ruined by cold, wet.

“Crops ruined,” says Reuters. “China may become top wheat importer.”

In related news, the Guardian quotes Tesco's CEO as mentioning the end of cheap food prices is here.

Didact's Reach - On striking women.

I need to state this very plainly: I HATE training with women. In Krav Maga, one of the most important lessons that you learn is that you NEVER fight strength against strength. The point of the art is to go from defence to offence in the shortest time possible. This means that when you pair off in a class to practice releases and blocks against various forms of chokes and attacks, you need to be fully committed to defending yourself, and your partner must be fully committed to attacking you. In order for those attacks to be effective when training, though, you need to be up against someone who is roughly at the same level of training and physical strength as you are.