January 11, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Prepared Defender Takes it to Attackers"--Active Self Protection (2-1/2 min.)

Some carjackers had to quickly decide whether the victim's car was worth their lives, when the victim opened up with his handgun.

• "Concealed Carry: Inside the Waistband"--Loadout Room. This article by Destinee addresses some peculiarities of IWB carry for women and women's attire.
• "Review: DFNDR Armor- We Shoot Up Their Body Armor & Backpack Armor"--The Firearms Blog. So they tested rifle armor (level III) and pistol armor (level III+). Here is the key point, however: the rifle caliber rated plate weighs only 2.875 lbs.; and the pistol plate only weighs 1.3125 lbs.
• "Urban Camping"--Blue Collar Prepping. Tips on "camping" in an urban environment without having to shell out for a KOA Campground, including how to make sleeping in your car more comfortable, where to park your car or trailer (or set up a tent) so you aren't harassed by police or locals, etc.
• "Choosing the right kit"--Loadout Room. A discussion of plate carriers and load bearing vests. One of the important points:

Plate carrier, chest rig, battle belt, load barring vest? This is where you have to really look at what the kit is going to be for. If my “shit hit the fan” plan is to bug out on foot or I’m part of a long-range reconnaissance patrol, a plate carrier with 12 magazines is not what I want or need. Conversely, if I plan to bunker up and wait out the apocalypse or if I’m going to take part in a direct action CQB raid, I’m definitely going to want some form of armor and not a chest rig. Everything is subjective and can primarily be categorized as covert or overt at their respective starting points. From there, we break everything down into sub categories and individual needs. Just remember that situation always dictates the specifics.

• "No One Cares If You Go Home Safe At The End Of Your Shift"--The Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse. The author writes:

        If I call, I expect your ass to show up, sober, trained, professional. I expect you to wade in with me or in place of me, and drag a child out of a hole, or out from a burning room, or actually stand up and block bullets from hitting said child, because by the time you get there, I'll have already done all that. And there will be field dressings, chainsawed trees, buckets and empty brass scattered about.

        I don't want to hear some drunk and confused guy squirming on the ground playing "Simon Says" terrified you so much you had to blow him away.  I don't want to hear that some random guy 35 yards away who you had no actual information on "may have reached toward his waist band. Or that "the tree might fall any moment" or that "the smoke makes it hard to see."

        Near as I can tell, I don't hear the smokejumpers, or the firefighters, or the disaster rescue people say such things.

        But it's all I ever hear from the cops. If you and your five girlfriends in body armor, with rifles, are that terrified of actually risking your life for the theoretically dangerous job you volunteered for and can quit any time, then please do quit. 

        You can get a job doing pest control and go home safe every night.

• This goes well with the article cited immediately above: "'Peace Officers' vs. 'Law Enforcement Officers'"--Active Response Training. The author explains:

In many states, cops aren’t statutorily designated as “law enforcement officers.”  They are more properly classified as “Peace Officers.”  We are charged with keeping the peace in the community and protecting our residents from both hazards and criminals.  We use the law as a tool to help us accomplish the goal of keeping the peace.  Cops who mindlessly “enforce the law” may or may not accomplish the goal of “keeping the peace.”  It’s a crap shoot.

Read the whole thing.

• "The Birth of the Professional Veteran"--Breach Bang Clear. The author discusses the rise of firearm and self-defense experts whose only qualification is that they served in the military, but lack the maturity and/or skill to teach. He notes, for instance:

The assumption that every operator can teach is a huge misconception. Would every NFL player would make a good coach? Another thing to look at is the number of coaches who never actually played professionally. Being operational is merely a part of the resume that can help a good shooting instructor. I’ve seen guys who were powder burning, hard charging operators who could not teach a kid to tie his shoes. Everyone wants to learn from the pipe hitter, but you may end up spending more time listening to him sell himself to you rather than teaching you anything.

• As we learned from Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others: "'Shame on you!' Social media users slam Revolve after fashion retailer sent a cast of tall, slim 'influencers' on luxurious Thailand trip - and not a single person of color"--Daily Mail. The kicker? According to the article, only half of the group are white; several are Asian, and one has Iranian heritage. But "not a single person of color."
• A sign of the pendulum swinging to K? "Top German court overturns 'Sharia Police' acquittal"--Deutsche Welle. The case involves the arrest and prosecution of a group of Muslim men who formed a vigilante patrol while wearing vests marked "Sharia Police." According to the article, "Paragraph 3 of the German federal law on assembly prohibits the wearing — in public or at gatherings — of uniforms, uniform parts, or similar apparel to communicate a collective political persuasion." The group were acquitted by a lower court, but the acquittal was found to have been in error because the lower court failed to consider whether the men had intimidated the public. 
• Fred is on another round of crazy talk: "The Wall, the Sound and the Fury: And Not Much Else"--Fred On Everything. Fred Reed, as I've noted before, generally has a pretty solid head on his shoulders ... except when it comes to Mexico and Mexicans. Then he is all for the reconquest of the American southwest. In this article, he attempts to explain why it would be physically and financially impossible for the United States to build a wall along the Southern Border. The Raconteur Report does a pretty good job at exposing Fred's straw-man argument. Besides which, the majority of "the wall" will actually be a fence--probably something like Hungary erected when faced with tens of thousands of illegal aliens flooding in from the Middle-East.
• The Religion of Peace in action: "Libyan Slave Markets and Jumping into the Fire"--Da Tech Guy Blog. Key point: "The Arabic word for slave is ab (abid). It’s also the word for Negro."
• To dissolve the people .... "Memo From Former Obama Staffer Reveals Why Democrats Might Shut Down the Government Over DACA"--PJ Media. A memo from Jennifer Palmieri, former director of communications for President Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton, pulls the curtain back on why DACA is so important to the Democrats. She wrote in the memo: "If Democrats don't try to do everything in their power to defend Dreamers, that will jeopardize Democrats' electoral chances in 2018 and beyond. In short, the next few weeks will tell us a lot about the Democratic Party and its long-term electoral prospects." Remember, those supporting DACA are supporting the de facto invasion of our country by a foreign people.
• "Chinese authorities demolish well-known evangelical church"--AP. Per the article: "Witnesses and overseas activists say paramilitary People’s Armed Police forces used excavators and dynamite on Tuesday to destroy the Golden Lampstand Church in the city of Linfen in Shanxi province." Xi has decided to return to one-man rule in China, and is acting proactively to destroy any opposition to his rule.
• Hypergamy: "Women really DO fancy rich men more as scientists find a bigger salary adds two to his ‘out-of-ten’ rating (but it’s looks not wealth that matters the other way round)"--Daily Mail. 

• Related: "How Does Technology Affect Which Men Women Choose?"--Selonomics. Key point: "Given that women are primarily interested in status, which is a positional good, then any technology that amplifies [women's] ability to be noticed by high status men, will also increase mating inequality."

• Interesting: "High doses of vitamin D rapidly reduce arterial stiffness"--MedicalXpress. The article reports: "Participants taking 4,000 international units - more than six times the daily 600 IUs the Institute of Medicine currently recommends for most adults and children - received the most benefit, says Dr. Anas Raed, research resident in the MCG Department of Medicine and the study's first author." The participants taking the 4,000 units had the greatest benefit, while there was still a benefit at 2,000 units. However, participants taking only 600 units actually saw their arterial stiffness increase slightly.
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "Israeli mastermind behind organ trafficking ring is arrested in Cyprus"--Deutsche Welle. From the article:

         Police in Cyprus have arrested an Israeli man described as the ringleader of a world-wide organ trafficking network that operated out of the tiny Balkan country of Kosovo several years ago.

          Moshe Harel is accused of luring donors from eastern Europe, Turkey and the former Soviet Union to Kosovo, promising to pay them €12,000 ($14,500) for a kidney. He then allegedly charged people (most of them Israelis) in need of a kidney as much as €100,000 for the implant.