April 19, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"How to Shoot from Behind Cover or Barricade | Combat Techniques & Skills"--Tactical Rifleman (8-1/2 min.)

• "Prudent Prepping: Lansky Deluxe 5-Stone Sharpening System"--Blue Collar Prepping. A review of the Lansky sharpening system, including a couple tips on its use. I've used the Lansky system, and found it to be pretty good for shorter knives--folders and fixed blades of less than 5 or 6 inches. However, if you have a knife with a special coating, be careful because the clamp tightens down on the spine and can leave a mark. Although this article shows the clamp being held in the hand while sharpening, you can also get mounts that you can bolt to a workbench that make it easier to use.
• "How to Reprofile the Edge on a Dull Knife"--Field & Stream. The author notes: "Use a knife like you ought to use a knife—that is, often and hard, and sharpened frequently—and you’ll need to reprofile the edge as you hone away more and more steel." He then provides instructions (including a couple of illustrations) on how to do it.
• Back to the basics: "Handgun Grips: What Works, What Doesn't"--Range 365. A look at some ways of gripping a handgun that are fairly common to see, but are wrong. The author also explains a bit on why each of them is wrong.
• "Remington’s R51 Is It all True?"--Load Out Room. This article contains two videos--one a review and test of the firearm, the other on field stripping the weapon--as well as the author's thoughts on the weapon. If you are curious about the R51, this is a good place to start to learn more.
• Another blow to the "Out Of Africa" theory: "85,000-Year-Old Finger Bone May Rewrite the Story of Human Migration Out of Africa"--Live Science. The Out Of Africa theory is, at its essence, the belief that all significant evolution of humans occurred in Africa, and then disbursed to other areas; that nothing significant occurred outside of Africa, and certainly nothing filtered back into Africa. However, the further the date is pushed back on when humans left Africa, the more difficult it is to maintain that nothing significant occurred outside of Africa.

• Related: "Ghosts of Africa"--Steve Sailor at Taki's Magazine. This article addresses the problems with the Out Of Africa theory in more depth, and its implications for the modern religion of "diversity."

• "16 dead after armed civilians clash with security forces in Guerrero"--Mexico News Daily. Two different ambushes initiated by Narcos against police. In the first incident, the police successfully repulsed the attack, killing 3 in the initial confrontation, and another seven after reinforcements arrived. In the second incident, however, the Narcos' ambush was successful, resulting in the death of all 6 policemen caught in the ambush. The attackers included a former policeman and two former soldiers.
• Apparently they weren't deterred by America's gun laws: "Illegal Aliens Caught near Border with ‘Assault-Style Firearms,’ Says Border Patrol"--Breitbart. 3 men arrested, 6 weapons found. From the article: 

Breitbart Texas spoke with CBP officials Wednesday afternoon and learned the men were openly carrying weapons as they marched north from the border in a remote area with added survival supplies befitting a long trek. Officials could not say why they were carrying such a large number of firearms at this time.

• "Venezuela in Mexico?"--Bayou Renaissance Man. One of the leading presidential candidates for the Mexican presidential election is a Chavez-like communist. Peter Grant looks at the risks facing the U.S. if Mexico should follow the same path as Venezuela.
• Nothing to see here ... move along: "Video: Prominent Muslims in the U.S. promote arming Muslim youth, takeover of the U.S."--Creeping Sharia. Although the linked article is from just a couple weeks ago, the video is from a 1992 Conference of the Islamic Society of North America held in Kansas City.
• "Destroying Gun Control Myths, Part 1: 'You Can't Fight Tanks And Planes With Rifles!'"--Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse. The author contests a common argument against gun ownership, that being that, so the argument goes, civilians armed with rifles would not be able to do anything to help defend the nation from foreign invaders. The author notes:

        The arithmetic is simple:  Even if a nation the size of China could mobilize all 5 million troops into the US, the 100 million armed American households, with potentially 2.5 rebels each, means it's possible for the US to soak up casualties 50:1. Even if major population centers were nuked first, we could manage 20:1, and we'd pick the softest targets first.

        Then, when our partisans do eliminate a tank element, or ground unit, its weapons then become ours, and we're no longer "fighting tanks with rifles." Because we have diesel mechanics, electronic experts, and rifles.  Will they be as effective as a professional force? No.  But they'll be effective enough to tie up yet ANOTHER armor unit trying to stop them, which will pin that unit in place for even more harassment and attack.

The way to get around this is to infiltrate millions of your invaders into the country so they can then exert political power.

• Janet Reno had to kill the children to save them: "Bitter lessons 25 years after Waco, Texas, siege"--The Hill. The author mostly discusses how no one in government was ever held accountable. The tactical takeaway--which has been repeated many times since--is that in a siege situation, law enforcement will simply pump flammable gases into a structure, then ignite it with pyrotechnic munitions of some sort--"burners". It should also be a reminder that laws are ultimately backed up government violence--and people ought to think about that when they push for passage of some law or ordinance--that is, is this particular law worth someone being killed?
• The separation of the wheat from the tares: "Government vs. God? People are less religious when government is bigger, research says"--Miami Herald. It appears to me that the researchers have found a correlation, but, as we know, correlation does not necessarily equal causation. Nevertheless, from the article:

         The researchers also found something of a staggered link between the government services on offer and levels of religiosity in a given state. Between 2008 and 2013 in the U.S., for example, “better government services in a specific year predicted lower religiosity 1 to 2 years later,” researchers wrote.

         “If a secular entity provides what people need, they will be less likely to seek help from God or other supernatural entities. Government is the most likely secular provider,” the researchers concluded. “We showed in two cross-sectional analyses, one using world countries and one using states in the United States, that better government services were related to lower levels of religiosity.”

There may be some causal link. For instance, I've known many people that only attend church when they want financial assistance from their ward (i.e., congregation). Obviously, similarly minded people won't come to church if the government is supplying their physical needs. However, there is something more going on here, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is, at least in part, the generally anti-religious messaging that comes from large, secular governments. We can see that in the United States where the push to ban religion from the public square, so to speak, began after the Federal government ballooned in size following the New Deal during the Great Depression, and as a further consequence of World War 2.

• Related: "Mormon growth continues to slow, especially in the US"--Religion News Service. According to the article, the Church's growth in the 1960s through 1990s was 3 to 9% in any given year. However, recent statistics show that Church growth is just under 1.5 % overall, and only 0.75% in the United States. The reduction not only reflects a lower number of new converts, but also a decline in the birth rate among members. 

• And now for something completely different: "Nazi 'supersub' rumored to have smuggled Hitler to South America at the end of World War Two is discovered at the bottom of the sea ten miles north of Denmark"--Daily Mail. This particular submarine was the U-3523, which was believed to have been sunk on May 6, 1945, but no wreckage could be located ... until now. Based on the sonar data in the article, it appears that the submarine struck the bottom at a 45 degree angle, pushing the front half of the vessel into the sea floor.