May 29, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"First Time EVER Seeing Support Hand Only Pistol Use Caught on Video"--Active Self Protection (7-1/2 min.)

• A new Woodpile Report for this week.
• "Obama’s spying scandal is starting to look a lot like Watergate"--Michael Barone at the New York Post. Starting to? I think it passed Watergate a long time ago. Watergate only involved spying on the other candidate; this scandal has all of that, plus collusion at the highest levels of government to undermine and destroy a sitting president. 
• "Bear Defense From the Professionals"--American Hunter. Pro tip:

In an actual charge, the bear means business and has decided to take you apart at the seams. The bear’s nose usually will be pointed downward, its ears will be flattened back and its hackles (the fur on the top of its neck) likely will be raised. Nelson and instructors Mike Harrington, with Alaska Fish and Game, and Matt Sexson, with USGS, stress that we must remember this would occur at blinding speed. Most reported bear charges start from about 50 yards away. A charging bear covers 15 yards a second. Do the math: A bear charging from 50 yards will be on you in less than 4 seconds. This is why Nelson spends so much time on the range emphasizing familiarization and speed with your firearm.

Read the whole thing.

• "Mexican Confessions"--Straight Forward In A Crooked World. A clear-eyed look at "Mexican carry" (i.e., pistol shoved into waist band without a holster), including advice on the type of weapon and where best to carry. Because sometimes you don't want to be caught with a holster on you, or you may just have to grab the firearm and go.
• "Glock 34 GEN 5 Review – Out Of The Box Battle or Race Gun Ready"--Guns America. Better trigger, better barrel, and, probably most important of all, better sights. It comes with Ameriglo Bold sights instead of the plastic sights that benighted prior versions.
• "Effects of Cant"--Shooting Sports USA. Short version: "The effect of canting the rifle in firing is to move the impact of the bullet on the target in the direction of the cant, and also slightly downward." 
• "WAYS TO MAKE TRAINING MORE AFFORDABLE"--Short Barrel Shepard. A couple of suggestions. His first suggestion doesn't make training more affordable, but he suggests re-prioritizing how you spend money, as in, stop buying the latest and greatest gear and start learning how to use it. The second tip, however, might work: he suggests getting a group of people together to pay for someone to travel to your location to provide a training class.

Center Axis Relock (CAR)

• "Center Axis Relock: Is John Wick Right or Wrong?"--Pew Pew Tactical. From the article:

      Most self-defense scenarios happen at close range, in confined spaces, usually within 8-10 feet, sometimes even closer.  

        The problem with moving in a confined space in a traditional stance is that you have the gun way out in front of you, and you’ve more or less got your arms fully extended.  This gives you very poor leverage in the event someone gets their hands on your gun.

         The CAR system allows for less time between drawing and getting the target in your sights, as well as providing better weapon retention.  Getting shot with your own gun is more common than you’d think, especially dealing with an attacker at close range.

        For shooting and moving, or shooting at the range, a standard isosceles stance is going to be much better, but what about shooting inside a narrow hallway, or from a vehicle?  What about when the target is already at contact distance, maybe even inside where your arms would normally be in an isosceles stance?

       These are the problems the CAR system seeks to address.  For this reason, it was never really intended to replace the weaver or isosceles stance (though we recommend the latter) but was meant to be another tool in your shooting toolbox.  

• "A Religious Dissident Right"--The Social Pathologist. Key point:

         The problem is that Christianity has been totally sideswiped by Modernism and has been unable to mount an effective offense against it.  Measures which aimed at "liberalising" the Churches so that they would become more "relevant" have proven to be self destructive failure. On the other hand "Traditionalist" doubling down has produced a few defiant outposts but no real growth. Religious capture of state power hasn't worked out in the long term. The "Benedict Option" so favoured by Dreher, works only under the assumption that the rest of society will leave you alone. Unfortunately militant secularism doesn't work like that. Defence does not win wars.

        That 's why I think a revival of popular religion is the only long term solution. However a revival of the "old" religion is unlikely to be of any benefit since the old religion, even when it was popular and strong, proved unable to handle the onslaught of Modernism. What will be needed is something "new". And by "new", I don't mean some new or foreign religion to the West. Rather, it will be the old Christianity, practiced differently and with different emphasis.

• "People Keep Writing America Off"--The Dignified Rant. The author does not believe that China will necessarily eclipse the United States (although they will certainly try). Part of the problem for China is that they are a land power that wants to be a sea power, and will have to split their forces (and resources) accordingly.
• "China, the Moon, and the Outer Space Treaty"--Beyond the Black. China has announced its intention to send a lander to the far side of the Moon. There may be more than just science at root here:

        [This] pioneering space travel has raised concern that China is also interested in the tiny spots on the moon that never go dark, the polar peaks of eternal light. Those peaks are vanishingly small, occupying one-one hundred billionth of the lunar surface − roughly equivalent to three sheets of NHL ice on Earth. But their near-ceaseless sunshine gives them great value as a source of solar energy, to power everything from scientific experiments to mining operations.

         Their small size could also, scientists have argued, allow one country to take sole occupancy of this unique real estate without falling afoul of the Outer Space Treaty. That agreement stipulates that no state can exert sovereignty in outer space. But it also calls on countries “to avoid interference” with equipment installed by others.

         That provides a loophole of sorts, researchers say. The installation of very sensitive equipment on the peaks of eternal light, such as a radio telescope − a 100-metre long uncovered wire used to study transmissions from the sun, and deeper corners of the universe − could use up much of the available space while also providing a rationale to bar others from the area on the grounds that the telescope is too sensitive to be disturbed.

         “Effectively a single wire could co-opt one of the most valuable pieces of territory on the moon into something approaching real estate, giving the occupant a good deal of leverage even if their primary objective was not scientific inquiry,” researchers from Harvard University, King’s College London and Georg-August Universitat Gottingen wrote in a 2015 paper.

• "Brazilian president sends in army as truck protest paralyzes country"--The Guardian. A SHTF moment for the residents of Sao Paulo:

        The blockades have paralysed much of the country’s economy and prompted São Paulo, the biggest city in South America, to declare a state of emergency over fuel shortages.

* * *

        In São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, supermarkets and restaurants are running low on supplies. Some factories have shut down, bus services been reduced and even the Refugees World Cup, scheduled to take place in São Paulo on Saturday, has been cancelled.

• "Danger for truckers due to steadily increasing highway robbery"--Mexico News Daily. The article reports:

        Truckers on Mexico’s highways travel in fear due to an alarmingly high number of robberies, according to a report published today by the news agency Reuters.

         There were 2,944 reported truck robberies in 2017, almost double the 1,587 cases that occurred in 2016.

        A study by United States-based security firm Sensitech showed that on the country’s most dangerous highways — such as the ones linking Mexico City to major ports on the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coasts — it is almost certain that one in two truckers will be held up.

The article also notes that most truckers are now traveling in convoys or accompanied by armed security details in a separate vehicle. Also, according to the article, the goods most often targeted by bandits are fuel, food and beverages, building materials, chemicals, electronic goods, auto parts and clothing, but that bandits are also increasingly keeping the trucks as well.

• "Stossel: Junk Science Locks Up Innocent People"--Reason.com. In this particular case, the so-called "science" that turned out to be complete b.s. is bite mark analysis. 
• "Girl, Interrupted: The End of Feminism"--Republic Standard. An analysis at how feminism is destroying Western society, but with this related note:

Just as modernity’s sexual proclivities preclude pair-bonding, its zeitgeist practices the cultural promiscuity of arm-chair multi-culturalism. Instead of traveling, the lazy modern Westerner decides to bring “diversity” into someone else’s backyard to view from a safe distance as if they’ve merely gotten a Netflix subscription. But unlike television, these decisions have consequences. Most Leftists are so ignorant they don’t realize offering safe haven to dissidents, apostates, Jews, and (in the few instances they are actually moved enough to care) Christians fleeing Moslem persecution from the Middle East and then flooding their countries with the same people persecuting them back home is a bad idea. And if apostates, dissidents, Christians, and Jews are fair game in the Moslem world, why would the Moslems suddenly call the whole thing off once they’re in Canada or Germany or Australia? Now thanks to the puerile worldview of the Left we get to experience what it’s like to be a Lebanese Christian or Jew, or a Turkish Kurd, or a Yazidi in Syria, or an apostate in Bangladesh! 

• Refugees welcome! "Multicultural Swedish town becomes hell on earth: A girl and two women tell their stories"--Voice of Europe. From the article:

        One girl tells how she was sexually harassed and punched at her former school every day. “They locked me up in the toilet and hit me with bands. They punched and joked on me. It happened every day,” she says.

        “Suddenly they came forward and grab my breasts. After I punched the guy, the whole family came and told me I’m a little horny and that I need to shut up. When I’m out with my dogs, they throw stones on the dogs,” she continues, pointing out that she is afraid of what will happen to her siblings and cousins in the future.

       A woman explains that the affected children urge their parents not to do anything, because the gang will take revenge on the children. Another woman tells how she was “brutally” beaten by a gang of 15 people.

• George Friedman has only been urging this for 20 years: "Congress Directs Immediate Weaponization of Space to Counter Missile Strikes"--Washington Free Beacon. From the article:

"The Defense Department has long recognized the benefits of intercepting missiles during their boost phase, including and especially nuclear ICBMs that could be used to threaten the American homeland," Cruz said. "For the last several years, however, partisan division and bureaucratic inertia have prevented us from taking the critical steps to develop this technology, which is necessary to protect the American people from the weapons being stockpiled by our adversaries at this very moment. I was deeply gratified that both Republicans and Democrats joined me in removing these barriers and paving the way for effective space-based missile interceptors."

 Space is the ultimate high-ground, and we need to be able to control it.