April 26, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Defense against a Double Leg Takedown"--Code Red Defense (3 min.)

 

• "Is Appendix Carry Comfortable?"--Lucky Gunner. Some tips on holsters and positioning/adjusting of holsters to make appendix carry more comfortable. And a reminder that appendix carry may just not work you. The author writes:

So to start off, I’ll just reiterate that appendix carry is not for everyone. There are some people who will just never be able to make it work, either because of how their body is shaped or how they wear their clothes, or their tolerance level for having something pressing against their abdomen all day. There are a ton of factors involved, and not everyone will be able to figure out a way to do it comfortably, and that’s okay. And really, the same goes for any method of concealed carry. But I think more often than not, people who give up on appendix carry because it’s uncomfortable haven’t tried all the tricks and techniques available that can make it a lot easier.

• "IDPA RULES"--Re Factor Tactical. The 2018 rules for those that are interested.
• "5 Drills to Improve Your Brain Mapping for Better Trigger Finger Isolation"--Loadout Room. Some background explanation as to why you need to be able to move your fingers independently of one another, and then a couple videos demonstrating various exercises to increase your agility and control of your fingers.
• "Skill Set: Shooting Tempo"--The Tactical Wire. Key part:

When you press the trigger it should be with predictable results - the bullet goes where you need it to, or at least extremely close.  The speed you shoot at is dictated by the accuracy needed.  With close, large targets you can fire rapidly.  As the distance increases, and/or the size of the target decreases you’ll need to slow down to get the desired accuracy.

The author notes that he sees too many students that try to keep the same tempo (i.e., fast fire) when accuracy rather than volume of fire is necessary.

• "YETI vs the NRA, It’s About More Than Discount Coolers"--Ammo Land. As you know, the NRA was told by Yeti that Yeti was terminating its discount program for the NRA (which allowed the NRA to buy the coolers at a discount so they could imprint the NRA logo on the coolers and resell them). After the uproar, Yeti tried to walk back the claims, suggesting that it wasn't aimed just at the NRA and saying that the NRA was misrepresenting what was communicated by Yeti. So, Marion Hammer, who had first released the information about this matter, has responded:

In early March, YETI refused to place a previously negotiated order from NRA-ILA, citing ‘recent events’ as the reason – a clear reference to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. YETI then delivered notice to the NRA Foundation that it was terminating a seven-year agreement and demanded that the NRA remove the YETI name and logo from all NRA digital assets, as well as refrain from using any YETI trademarks in future print material.

The Anonymous Conservative suggests reselling coolers instead of blowing them up in order to undermine Yeti's sales even farther.

• To protect and to serve: "BSO Deputies Took Cover Behind Cars and Tree During Parkland Massacre, Coral Springs Cops Say"--PJ Media. From the article:

         While students were being hunted down by an armed madman in what was to become the worst school shooting in Florida history, Broward County deputies  were "cowering behind their cars and a nearby tree," according to damning new officer reports released by the Coral Springs Police Department Tuesday.

         Worse yet, the deputies made no attempt to go inside during those critical first moments even though the deputy behind the tree said he knew where the shooter was, the Miami Herald reported. None of the deputies attempted to track down shooter Nikolas Cruz or aid the wounded. Instead, they set up a perimeter outside the building and waited for a SWAT team to arrive.

• It's an invasion: "Migrant 'caravan' at U.S.-Mexico border prepares for mass crossing"--Reuters. From the article:

          Hundreds of Central American migrants from a caravan that crossed Mexico reunited in Tijuana on Wednesday and planned to cross the border together this weekend in defiance of threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to repel them.

         The timing of the migrants arrival could compromise a flurry of talks this week to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has repeatedly threatened to scrap if Mexico does not crack down on the flow of Central Americans through its territory.

         Busloads of migrants began arriving on Tuesday at a shelter that was a five minute-walk from the border and within sight of a U.S. flag waving under an overpass connecting the two countries.

         While many rested in tents after a month-long journey across Mexico, others wandered up to the border to contemplate the next stage in their journey.

         "The wall doesn't look that tall," said Kimberly George, a 15-year-old girl from Honduras as she looked toward a stunted barrier a few feet away. "I really want to cross it."

Although the article broadly claims that the erstwhile invaders are fleeing death threats from criminal gangs, murder of family members and political prosecution, the only person actually quoted as to why she was fleeing Honduras said it was because of domestic abuse! 

• What we are getting: "A third of the world's murders happen in Latin America where 2.5 MILLION have been killed since 2000 in a 'breathtaking' wave of homicidal violence, study finds"--Daily Mail. Yet, according to the article, the region only accounts for 8% of the world's population.
• "Focus on witchcraft at exorcists’ summit signifies a paradigm shift"--Crux. Catholic priests in Africa are increasingly being sought after to assist with dispelling the effects of witchcraft. From the article:

          ... for the first time, the course [on exorcism] will feature a section on witchcraft in Africa.

          “We will deal with the theme of the kidnapping and murder of children for ritual sacrifice, linked to witchcraft, in order to obtain favors for clients,” he said, calling it a “cruel and inhuman practice.”

           The strong practical appeal of witchcraft and magic across much of the developing world also became clear on the opening day, after 89-year-old Cardinal Ernest Simoni gave a heartfelt talk about his decades of experience performing exorcisms (always in Latin, and always according to the 1884 formula issued under Pope Leo XIII.)

It continues:

           While Northerners may see magic and witchcraft in largely benign terms as a form of New Age spirituality, across the South the working assumption is that magic and witchcraft are real but demonic, so the proper response is spiritual combat. The famed Methodist Yoruba scholar Bolaji Idowu has written, “In Africa, it is idle to begin with the question whether witches exist or not…To Africans of every category, witchcraft is an urgent reality.”

            It’s also a matter of life and death. Secretive cults on Nigeria’s 100 university campuses, with names such as “Black Axes” and “Pyrates,” often practice juju, or black magic, to terrify their rivals, and violent struggles between these cults have left hundreds dead.  In 2007, a gang of villagers in Kenya beat an 81-year-old man to death, suspecting him of having murdered his three grandsons through witchcraft.

          In February 2007, the Catholic University of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, held a three-day symposium on the pastoral challenge of witchcraft. Experts warned that witchcraft was “destroying” the Catholic Church in Africa, in part because skeptical, Western-educated clergy are not responding adequately to people’s spiritual needs.

        “It is important for the Church to understand the fears of the people, and not to attribute them to superstition,” said Michael Katola, a lecturer in pastoral theology. “Witchcraft is a reality; it is not a superstition. Many communities in Kenya know these powers exist.” Katola warned that inadequate pastoral responses are driving some Africans into Pentecostalism.

           "Many of our Christians seek deliverance, healing and exorcism from other denominations because priests do not realize they have redemptive powers,” he said. “If we don’t believe in the existence of witchcraft as Satanism, then we cannot deal with it.”

While there are instances of possession and the like (see e.g., Luke 8:26-37), witchcraft appears to be psychosomatic based on strong beliefs in the supernatural (probably helped along once in a while with poisons and drugs). Hence, as one anthropologist related:

Even more interesting to us was the universal understanding that white people were not vulnerable to witchcraft and could neither feel it nor understand it. White people literally lack a crucial sense, or part of the brain. An upside, I was told, was that we did not face the dangers that locals faced. On the other hand our bad feelings could be projected so as good citizens we had to monitor carefull our own “hearts”.