A Quick Run Around the Web--December 18, 2015

Wikimedia Picture of the Day

• Breach Bang Clear discusses the "trunk gun" in a couple articles:
• "In Defense of the Trunk Gun"; and,
• "Trunk Gun Update: A Practical Solution"

The first article explains what is a trunk gun ("A Trunk Gun isn't just any old firearm thrown in a trunk. A Trunk Gun is a rifle or carbine that's always in a vehicle") and its purpose ("You use it if you want more capability than you currently have with a sidearm"). The author also correctly points out that "[s]omething to keep in mind is that just because you have a Trunk Gun, that doesn't mean you're always going to use it. It's not a replacement for your sidearm. By and large it's going to be used offensively. As in, going in for a fight. Assaulting. Doing work." (underline added). This reflects the self-defense/combat dichotomy that I've discussed before, where in the former, the hand-gun is your primary weapon, and the rifle secondary; but is reversed in the latter circumstance.

The second article addresses some problems that may arise with attempting to quickly access a trunk gun, and looks at a particular product that attempts to address those issues. 

• "How Things Change"--Survival UK. Thoughts on a long journey through prepping, and the various threats we have faced. An excerpt:

So, now most preppers are preparing for a societal collapse compounded with the fact that our own citizens, islamic sleepers as well as SJWs, are no longer to be trusted and would be out to kill us. Caused by several things all tied to the social justice agendas of those in power. Our eyes are fully open and we now know what we need to do. We are not simply planning to camp out for a month or so and think everything will be there. We know that unless something drastic is done when it goes it will result in losses beyond imagination and we want to make sure that our families are not part of those losses. We recognise that some things may never return and prepare for an old style lifestyle. The general public just thinks that the government will sort it out. After all the UK, USA, etc. are all too big to fail. That is what the Romans thought too.

We will try and cover all our bases and make sure that we survive but life is funny. There are no guarantees and despite decades of prepping it can all go wrong without us being able to do anything about it. However, prepping means that your chances are dramatically increased. No guarantees though.

• Global Warming Climate Change Chaos:
• "The Elephant in the Climate Alarmists’ Living Room"--Wizbang. The "elephant" being the Medieval Warming Period.
• "NOAA Relies On ‘Compromised’ Thermometers That Inflate US Warming Trend"--The Daily Caller. The issue is "compromised" weather stations which readings have to be adjusted because the station is near a heat source, heat sink, or has been moved; and "unperturbed" weather stations that have not been compromised. The latter show significantly less warming from 1979 to 2008 than those that have been compromised (and, therefore, whose readings have been "adjusted").
• "Here’s What A Liberal ‘Gun-Grab’ Would Look Like And Why It Would Ultimately Fail"--The Independent Journal. Essentially, that the estimated 100,000,000 American gun-owners will not voluntarily turn in their firearms, so a gun confiscation would require "men with guns" going door-to-door to attempt to take, by force, guns from other "men with guns."

• Related: "After Lying For 30 Years, New York Times Admits 'Assault Weapons Are A Myth'"--The Federalist Papers.

• "American special operations forces have been deployed to 135 countries this year alone"--The Independent.

• Related: "Army women hurt more often in combat training, experience more mental health issues"--Washington Times.

• "ISIS BEHEADING PLOT - Jihadis send LETTERS to EU civilians ordering them to convert or die"--Express. I know that this story has been floating around for several days, but thought it worth posting. The letters were distributed in Sweden (known for the large number of rapes committed by Muslims) and stated: "In the name of Allah, the merciful, full of grace. You who are not believers will be decapitated in three days in your own house. We will bomb your rotten corpses afterwards. ... You must choose between these three choices: 1. Convert to Islam. 2. Pay the jizya [religious tax] for protection. 3. Or else, you will be decapitated. ... The police will not prevent or save you from you being murdered. (Death comes to all of you)." The Swedes know that their police cannot protect them. If Finland is any sign, the Swedish police probably cannot even protect themselves. If only the West had developed technology enabling individuals to protect themselves....
• "House GOP Leadership: Foreign Worker Increase Needed Because of 'Labor Shortage'"--National Review. There is a reason that the Republican Party is known as "the stupid party" in some circles.

• Related: "GOP Sells America Down the River"--Rush Limbaugh. The phrase "selling down the river" originated in the practice (or threat) of selling slaves to more southerly plantations, such as in Louisiana, where the conditions, work, and masters were much harsher, and tantamount to a death sentence. It seems particularly apropos here. 

• "SQUIRREL SNARE"--Survive All.
• "Gangs of Detroit: OSINT and Indictment Documents"--Belling Cat. Using social media to track gangs.
• "The Over/Under Mistake and How It Could Be Wrecking Your Prep"--Survival Based. The dangers of overestimating your abilities and underestimating the risk.
• "Basic Military Map Reading"--Urban Survival Skills. An old military training video.
• "The Next One"--Chiron Training. Rory Miller is working on a new book, and provides the current table of contents. Looks good.
• "Plate Armor 101"--AT Armor. Some basics on selecting body armor. (H/t Jerking the Trigger).
• Another F-35 failure: "Exercise Raises Questions About Marine Corps F-35 Plans"--Defense-Aerospace. The Marines were planning on using a VSTOL version of the F-35 to provide close air support at beachheads. Instead:

... the Corps expects that building a 40,800 sq. ft. landing pad for the F-35B will take two months, although this time it was done in 17 days. 

This means that, for anywhere from 17 days to two months, Marines ashore would be left dependent on ship-based aircraft for close air support – the very thing the F-35B is supposed to avoid. 

But the forward bases where the F-35 will refuel and rearm will also require taxiways (150’ x 96’), a short runway for rolling take-offs – the F-35B does not take off vertically on combat missions – shelters for the aircraft, their fuel and their weapons, and food and accommodation for their flight and ground personnel – a Composite Aviation Squadron consists of 417 Marines. 

If building a single landing pad on a Marine base cans take 17 days, one can only speculate how long it would take to build one on a hostile beachhead, where heavy equipment would not be as freely available as at Twentynine Palms, and under fire. 

Building a landing pad is not a straightforward affair. A 41,000foot landing pad requires about 800 pieces of matting weighing about 60 short tons, the Snafu blog noted. Getting that load to the beach during a landing would take up capacity more urgently needed for combat equipment. 

The article goes on to note the problems of attempting to defend such bases from attacks from small forces (referencing a Taliban attack that destroyed six Harriers) and whether the Marines could absorb the loss of such aircraft. At $251 million apiece, a similar raid against a base with F-35s would cause the loss of $1.5 billion. 

• "Remember what I said about security threats?"--Bayou Renaissance Man. The author is hearing about a lot of training and preparation among security and law enforcement as to handling terrorist attacks. He warns:

Put yourself in ISIS's shoes. They've made a big impact in Europe with the Paris attacks, and their surrogates in San Bernardino made a big impact here. They can't afford to let that impact die down and fade into the background. They have to keep the momentum going, or lose the 'terror effect'. They have camps just outside our borders, and undoubtedly have people already on the ground in this country, withmore trying to sneak in every day. Frankly, if we make it through the Christmas period without a terrorist attack somewhere in the USA (possibly in more than one place, perhaps even a multitude of smaller attacks in numerous places) I'll be pleasantly surprised.

• "New German Police Special Ops Unit...BFE+"--SNAFU indicates that Germany has decided to add new police units trained to set up perimeters around an active shooting event in order to isolate the scene, to be followed up with a raid by GSG-9--i.e., the old hostage standoff tactics that other forces have abandoned when faced with an active shooter. He adds: "Man I hope I'm reading this wrong.  If I'm right then the Germans will be looking at future blood baths.  The tragedy in the music hall that we saw in Paris will look like a spring shower with rainbows compared to what the German people could eventually confront."
• Last, but not least, the Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training.