Source: Bonds & The Record High Short Position Can Majority Be Wrong? | Armstrong Economics

Source: Napoleon – War – Sunspots & Human Excitability | Armstrong Economics

Mike Pence Talks Tough on China

https://start.att.net/player/category/news/article/nowthis_news-militarygrade_gun_prototype_shoots_5_bullets_at_on-5min

Even though it remains a national holiday, many cities no longer celebrate Columbus Day. They celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead. What’s behind the switch? Contrary to what you might think, it’s not about paying homage to America’s original inhabitants. Steven Crowder, host of Louder with Crowder, explains.

Source: Goodbye, Columbus Day

Going vertical: NATO snipers getting some high-angle shooting practice (PHOTOS)

The images from the course, such as this one of a Norwegian Army Telemark Battalion sniper team taking aim at targets across a valley, are great. (Photos: U.S. Army)

Sniper teams from eight NATO countries recently visited Austria to use the Alps for some specialized training– and the images are epic.

The teams — from Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, and the U.S. — completed the high-angle portion of a two-week course held at Austria’s Hochfilzen Training Area last month. Lt. Alexander Rishovd, a sniper instructor with the Norwegian Army, explained that the concept involves shooting further than 300 meters at angles greater than 15 degrees.

“Imagine the whole shooting process being a triangle and the sniper is on top, the line of sight to the target at the other end is greater than the distance the bullet travels in a flat line,” said Rishovd in a release from U.S. Special Operations Command Europe. “With the greater the angle the more the deviation between the line of sight and the distance that gravity has to affect the bullet.”

With the geometry of the shot different from normal engagements over flat terrain, teams had to get in touch with their math in order to figure out the correct bullet drop, sometimes operating at elevations above 2,000 meters.

“Each degree of angle will have an associated number value called its cosine,” said Rishovd. “For snipers shooting at high-angles, they need to measure the range to the target in line of sight and multiply it by the cosine get the actual range the bullet is going to fly. Then the sniper will set his bullet drop compensation from that distance.”

Further, in such a beautiful part of Europe, the released photos from the event look like they came right from a postcard, but with a bonus sniper team inserted.

A combined German and Greek shooter/ spotter team getting it done.

Italian snipers from the 4th Alpini Regiment. Ironically, 100 years ago this month Italy and Austria were fighting each other in the mountains of Central Europe, on opposite sides in WWI

A U.S. Army sniper team from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment engages targets uphill of their position

Dutch sniper engages targets in a valley

A Belgian Special Forces sniper team identifies targets across a valley

A Norwegian sniper and American spotter on a night shoot.