May 8, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Armed Robbers Pick the Wrong Shop to Rob"--Active Self Protection (3 min.)

The manager (behind the mirrored glass) saw the robbers enter the store, and immediately opened fire when the robbers drew their weapons, shooting through the glass at them. 

Self-Defense/Prepping:

• "Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) Chronicles: The Final Post : Series Post #6"--Willow Haven Outdoor. The author took an older model 4 wheel drive pickup truck and modified it into what appears to be a nice vehicle for off-road and back country travel. 
• "How to use a preemptive strike for self-defense"--Wim DeMeere's Blog. The author begins by cautioning:

Using a preemptive strike for self-defense is what I talk about in this article. Not using it in a “fight”. Not using it to sucker punch somebody. Not for anything like that. It’s not about how effectively you can hit somebody first, it’s about doing so while defending yourself.

He also notes that it legally can only be used where there is an imminent and reasonable threat of bodily harm and (if appropriate for your jurisdiction) no opportunity to retreat. But legal aspects aside, there are the physical components: whether you should use a preemptive strike (i.e., it fits in with the tactical situation), what technique to use, and timing (i.e., when to deliver the strike). The author discusses each of these issues in detail--more than I could summarize--so read the whole thing.

• "Fitness For Self-Defense And Martial Arts"--Toughen Up. The author is Randy LaHaie. The article raises what seem to me to be good points of the importance of physical fitness for self-defense, especially strength training, and advises training using movement patterns rather than focusing on particular muscle groups.
• "The 5 D's Of Self-Defense"--Making Sense of Self-Defense. (1) Decide (preparation stage); (2) Deter (methods of avoiding being a victim); (3) Disrupt (if attacked, attempting to create an opportunity to escape); (4) Disengage (i.e., get away); and (5) Debrief (discuss the attack with someone, recover some peace of mind).
• "'I didn't even get my food yet': Wild brawl breaks out at Denny's causing plates and furniture to fly across the restaurant"--Daily Mail. A disagreement at a restaurant led to an altercation involving a fair number of people. In such a situation, if you are not part of the fight, it is probably better to stand back and watch the spectacle rather than get involved and swept up if there are any arrests. I had a friend back in my college days, who was a nurse and working on getting a business degree, who intervened to provide medical assistance to someone that was badly injured. His reward was to be thrown to the ground by the responding police officers, suffer large scrapes on both arms from when the police hauled him up off the ground using the handcuffs, and a wrenched shoulder.
• "Explorer films himself making his way through abandoned Soviet-era bunker still containing military equipment after discovering it under a factory"--Daily Mail. The explorer seems to have come across an undisturbed bomb shelter.

Other Stuff:

• "ISIS Tells Jihadists To Attack U.S. Gun Store Owners As Way To Acquire Firearms"--Daily Caller. Besides purchases through private sales, the organization has suggested that its members acquire firearms by robbing gun store owners as they close up shop, or to burgle gun stores after they have closed.
• "Mexico Criticizes New Texas ‘Sanctuary City’ Law"--CBS DFW. We know that Mexico would not tolerate "Sanctuary Cities" within its own borders.
• Obama's legacy: "MS-13: Experts see a new and more deadly profile emerge"--Newsday. From the article:

       The recent eruption of gang violence on Long Island — highlighted by the discovery of the mutilated bodies of four young men in a public park — fits what experts and sources say is a new and more deadly profile of MS-13.

       At the heart of that profile are newcomers from Central America eager to make their mark within an immigrant gang already known for its code of brutality and its weapon of choice, the machete, the sources say.

       These newcomers have found a niche in MS-13 on Long Island — replacing those who have been arrested — and are focused on proving themselves to be even more violent than established gang members.

• "Tensions Rise over Dissident MS13 Faction in El Salvador"--In Sight Crime. The article reports:

       Authorities in El Salvador said the high command of the MS13 has instructed members to step up the fight against a splinter group known as MS503, also known as the "revolucionarios," reported El Diario de Hoy. 

      The MS503 reportedly broke away from the MS13 after some gang leaders allegedly received money during negotiations with former President Mauricio Funes’s government, but chose not to share the perks with the rest of the group. 

       In January 2016, a leader of the dissident group, Walter Antonio Carrillo Alfaro, alias "El Chory," was killed in the prison of Izalco, allegedly on orders from the MS13 high command.

       But the conflict did not stop with his death, and violence within the gang seems to have recently intensified both inside and outside El Salvador's penitentiaries.

The article also indicates that MS-13 has ordered that retributions also target the dissidents' families, which are normally off-limits in fights between the gangs.

• The wages of sin socialism: "Venezuelan Military Begins To Turn"--Anonymous Conservative. He notes news stories coming out of Venezuela that some soldiers have defected to march with protesters, and some soldiers have been arrested.
• Globalism at work: "Europe: More Migrants Coming"--Gatestone Institute. Just as Turkey is threatening to renege on a deal to keep immigrants from crossing into Europe, the European Union is calling on its members to return to open borders. Coincidence? Me thinks not.
• "Puerto Ricans Face ‘Sacrifice Everywhere’ on an Insolvent Island"--New York Times. Business owners that depend on government contracts or have invested in bonds, public sector workers and government retirees are facing bleak times as Puerto Rico goes through its special version of bankruptcy. However, reading the article, one is left with the impression of a third world country: high taxes (11.5% sales tax), high costs for basic food stuffs and electricity, and a withering economy causing the most productive to flee. Significantly, the article notes that the current governor is "the son of one of the long line of former governors who brought Puerto Rico to its fiscal knees by borrowing and borrowing to balance budgets and to finance a bloated bureaucracy ripe with political patronage." 
• "Let them bake cake"--Vox Popoli. Vox Day's comments on new anti-animal cruelty laws in Belgium that require animals to be stunned before being killed and butchered. The problem is that such method does not comport with Jewish and Muslim practices for kosher or halal meats. Once again, though, we see the consequence of a secular society that only protects religious beliefs, not practices. 
• "Use of Force: 7 U.S. Military Actions You’ve Never Heard Of"--The Angry Staff Officer. These author contends that these actions (from the 19th and very early 20th centuries) are examples of gun boat diplomacy, and show that it generally doesn't work. But I think what it shows is that the successful actions (the First and Second Sumatran Expeditions) demonstrate the utility of limited punitive strikes over longer campaigns. 
• "Clockmaker John Harrison vindicated 250 years after ‘absurd’ claims"--The Guardian. John Harrison was the inventor of the first usable ships chronograph, vital to accurate navigation in the days before GPS and transponders. After his success, he claimed he could develop a pendulum clock that would stay accurate to within a second after 100 days. It was believed to impossible--the science was settled, we might say now. But a reproduction of his clock has indeed met that requirement, losing only 5/8 of a second after the 100 day period.