April 26, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"The five-star squat: Hotel that was once the most opulent in Africa is now home to thousands of homeless families and drug pushers"--Daily Mail. Living among the ruins of a civilization that they cannot understand yet alone emulate. To the photographer, the hotel represents "the folly of colonialism." Or, rather, the futility of attempting to bequeath civilization on those unready for it.  

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• "DIY: Build a Portable Antenna for a CB Radio Base Station"--Security and Self-Reliance. A tutorial on making your own portable dipole antennae for a short wave radio. According to the article, when completed, "[y]ou should have an almost perfect match on channel 20 and less than 1.5:1 on channels 1 and 40." Other than (maybe) the coaxial cable, most electronics buffs will probably have the equipment and parts to put this together. 
• "How do you defend yourself against this?"--Bayou Renaissance Man. "This" being the raiding party of 40+ "teens" that robbed a BART train and its passengers in the San Francisco area. The author opines that this magnitude or scale of violence cannot be successfully defended against. He notes that, in addition to the abuse you will receive from the press: 

       In a situation where you're armed with a typical concealed handgun, usually small and with limited ammunition capacity, you may not be able to prevail against so many attackers anyway - particularly if some of them are armed as well.  Even if you succeed, you run the risk that some of your bullets may miss their intended target, or over-penetrate it, and strike innocent bystanders.  Finally, there's the aftermath to consider.  It may be better, no matter how unpalatable, to hide your handgun and submit to robbery, rather than fight back - even if that grates with the macho element among us.

       I guess it depends on how violent are the perpetrators: like everything else in life, there is a cost/benefit analysis that must be made. That said, if the goal of the "teens" is simple robbery, it may not be worth the paperwork and expense to defend yourself. If the threat is sufficient to justify using lethal force, shooting one or two of the criminals may be enough to encourage the others to flee. 

       However, if it is a mob intent on "polar bear hunting," even your acquiescence won't protect you. In that case, you better hope that you and fellow passengers can injure or kill enough of the attackers to destroy their will to fight and/or that you can escape the area. 

• Related: "3 arrested after mob attacks cops during Picnic Day in Davis​"--KCRA 3 (h/t Anonymous Conservative). From the article: 

       The attack happened around 3:30 p.m. Saturday on Russell Boulevard. Three officers were driving in an unmarked police vehicle when they encountered a large group of people blocking traffic, the Davis Police Department said.

       One officer was wearing police attire with a visible badge. The other two were wearing plain clothes but wore badges on their chests and their police weapons were visible.

       The officers said a large, hostile group began to yell threats at them while they were inside the car. An unarmed person gestured as if he was pulling a weapon on the officers.

        As the officers got out of the car, two of them were immediately attacked and beaten on the ground, police said. The crowd kicked and punched one officer in the head, and the other officer was hit with a bottle on the side of his head.

        The third officer was not injured in the attack.

        The officers could see people in the crowd recording the attack with their cell phones, police said.

• Don't be this guy: "A Detroit Teen Accidentally Shot Two Cops He Thought Were Breaking Into His Home"--Vibe. He was understandably spooked by noise outside his house--especially considering a prior burglary--but he shot a "warning shot" through a window without identifying his target, nor was he in imminent threat of losing life or limb.
• "Shotguns for Home Protection"--Active Response Training. Citing a book on Dallas Police shotgun squads, Ellifritz writes:

       “Stopping Power”- In the 36 shotgun gunfights, 31 criminals were hit.  Eighteen of those criminals died from their wounds.  Only five of the 31 people shot required more than one round to neutralize.  That means 25 out of 31 stopped after being hit with a single shotgun round.

       An 81% “one shot stop” rate is quite enviable.  In my 2011 study of handgun stopping power, I found that in nearly 1800 shootings, service caliber handgun loads stopped people with one shot between 34% and 49% of the time, depending on caliber.  In 126 rifle-caliber shootings, the criminal stopped after one shot in only 58% of incidents.  Twelve gauge 00 buckshot loads are likely the most potent shot for shot “manstoppers” we currently have available.

•  "Understanding the Biomechanics of the Pistol Grip"--The Truth About Guns. Why a good two handed, thumbs forward grip, performs so well at steadying a handgun.
• "'But he was unarmed!' – Maybe so, but he could still kill you"--Stuff From Hsoi. Quoting Robert A. Margulies, MD, on blunt force trauma: "I consider hands and feet, knees, elbows and shoulders, to be deadly weapons. Once that first blow is delivered and once you go to the ground, the kick to the head, the knees in the chest, may produce permanent injuries and fatalities." The article goes on to describe the actual mechanics of injury as well as the impact of resultant bleeding or swelling. Read the whole thing.
• "Skill Drills vs. Scenario Training"--Primary and Secondary. Skills/proficiency/techniques are different from tactics; and while the two may be trained together, they need not be. Thus, there is no need, to borrow from the author's example, to always check your six when moving through a drill solely intended to test weapon manipulation and proficiency. 
• "Man Arrives Home To Find Door Open, Gets Gun From Car, Shoots Two Intruders: What Would You Do?"--Concealed Nation. The facts are that a man was woken by his back door being kicked in. He went to investigate, and then out to his car to retrieve a firearms, and turning, was confronted by the suspects, whom he proceeded to shoot. The gist of the article and comments was that the man shouldn't have attempted to return to the house. But, from the details given, I don't see it as him returning to the house, but being confronted while still out at his vehicle. Rather, I think he erred by leaving the firearm in his car, instead of having it inside with him.
• "Start With a .22 Rifle– Part 1, by behind-the-counter"--Survival Blog. The author, a firearms dealer (or, at least, seller) draws on his experience with helping customers and recommends a .22 rifle for a first firearm. His particular recommendation is a Ruger 10/22 Takedown because of ease of cleaning and storage.

Other Stuff:

• If you haven't already seen it, a new Woodpile Report is out.
• "The anniversary of the LA riots shows that some of us haven’t learned a damn thing"--Hot Air. Critiquing an article at the Los Angeles Times that contends that the riots were understandable, the author of the Hot Air piece replies:

       No matter the severity of King’s injuries or the tragedy of that child’s death, it’s not “understandable” that Reginald Denny, someone with zero relationship to the events of King’s arrest, was dragged from his truck and beaten within an inch of his life. It’s not “understandable” that small businesses owned by individuals crossing all racial, religious and gender lines were looted. It’s not “understandable” that the city was set afire causing billions of dollars in damage. And most of all it’s not “understandable” that law enforcement was essentially chased out of an entire section of a major metropolitan center and hoards of violent mobs were set loose to unleash mayhem.

       The thin fabric of civilization broke down that week. The rule of law was shattered and what was left in its wake was anarchy. It was mob rule, something which has never boded well for humanity throughout all of hour history. If we were to take any lesson away from the Los Angeles riots 25 years later it should be that our civilization rests on a knife edge where only a thin blue line stands between the peaceful, ordered society the American experiments depends on and the type of chaos which could collapse the entire thing.

• Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war: "Riots Expected to Greet Ann Coulter at UC Berkeley Thursday"--PJ Media. The article delves into the distrust between Berkeley politicians--particularly the mayor--and the police department. 
• "Army of up to 80 robbers steal $40 MILLION and kill a police officer during three hour siege using machine guns, grenades and sniper rifles at security vault in Paraguay"--Daily Mail. The robbers were believed to be Brazilian. The robbery was in the border city of Ciudad del Este. Although Paraguayan and Brazilian police killed three suspects and arrested four others, the majority were able to escape with their loot to Brazil.
• "A Sign of the Times- South Africa Cancels 2,100 Amateur Radio Licenses"--Brushbeater. Supposedly it was because the HAM radio operators had failed to renew their licenses, but it is nevertheless ominous because shutting down private shortwave broadcasters generally proceeds government crackdowns to obtain control over the media. 
• Liberals apparently believe that children should be indiscriminately handed over to just about anyone unless they are white and Christian: "'License to discriminate': Alabama passes bill that gives faith-based adoption agencies right to refuse gay parents"--Daily Mail. 
• "The EMP Threat From North Korea Is Real, and Terrifying"--PJ Media. The article attempts to explain how North Korea might be able to make an EMP attack on the United States. However, it is mostly speculation about what North Korea could do if it had various technologies, not what we know its capabilities to be.
• "North Korean Nukes and the Osirak Precedent"--Strategy Page. The Osirak Precedent refers to an Israeli attack on a nuclear weapons facility in Iraq in the 1980's. The strike is credited with setting back Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapon program so far that he was not able to develop the weapons prior to the invasion of Iraq. In the case of North Korea, however, the author notes that it is well beyond the point that Iraq had reached: North Korea already has nuclear weapons, and they are hidden in deep bunkers around the country. Moreover, unlike Iraq and Israel, North Korea can retaliate against South Korea using conventional weapons. Thus, the author believes that there is no means of delivering a preemptive strike against North Korea without war being the result.
• "The Covert Invasion of the West"--Gabe Suarez. Key point:

Islam has been on a mission to conquer and convert the world for a thousand years.  At first ... the methods have been via military invasion and conquest.  But today, the would-be invaders are using far more subtle means.  Theirs is the slippery slope of compromise and appeasement...the "cultural" and "societal" jihad that some writers speak of.  And with every point of compliance from western nations, they take another small step toward their objectives.   The west has helped in that mission by its policies.  And if steps are not taken to change the west will lose...and it will lose by defeating itself. 

• The wages of sin socialism: "Venezuela Police Gangs Steal From Citizens"--The Captain's Journal. This is what gun control looks like.