May 8, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Intellectual Conformity: EAST vs WEST"--Black Pigeon Speaks (11 min.)

Or why China and Japan produce less original research than the West, despite a higher average IQ.

• A new Woodpile Report is out. For the prepper, a few articles he mentions are "5 Things That Disappeared During the Collapse of Venezuela," "Selco: How to Defend Your Home and Yourself When the SHTF," and "The Really Big One" (about what would happen in a major quick along the Cascadia fault). Of course, there is a lot more, so check out the whole thing.
• "Why Science and Experience Command That You Buy an 'Assault Rifle'"--Kurt Schlichter at Townhall. He writes:

          It must be nice walking through life believing that the paradise the founders built here in North America is the natural state of man, and that we can therefore forgo the difficult and dangerous tasks associated with defending it. But some of us don’t have the luxury of illusions. We know that peace and civilization are not the natural state of man, and that the black swan events that we have somehow convinced ourselves could never happen do happen with startling regularity. And this is why you should buy guns and ammunition.

          Specifically, you should own, at a minimum, a modern semiautomatic rifle like an AR-15 that is simple to operate, easily accessorized for the individual user, reliable, and rugged. ...

Of course, as several articles I cited to recently note, if you don't have an AR or can't afford it, what you have may work well enough--the particular example being a lever action.

• "Without Weapons the West Dies"--Raymond Ibrahim. A critical look at Pope Francis' recent tweet encouraging the nations of the world to get rid of their weapons:

         For starters, the Pope seems to forget that violence and the things that motivate it—hate, envy, rapacity, and plain old evil—do not need weapons.   Had he turned to the book he claims to represent, the Bible, he would have seen that the first act of violence—of murder—that of Cain against his brother, Abel, did not require weapons: just a violent and envious will; the brothers “were in the field [when] Cain rose against Abel his brother and killed him.” Genesis 4 does not shed light on how this first fratricide occurred but it was most assuredly done without a formal weapon—maybe a large rock, branch, or simply Cain’s bare hands.

          And it is from here that one understands why the West would be swept away without weapons and walls—another defense mechanism that Pope Francis wishes to see eliminated.  The same hate, envy, and rapacity that some non-Western peoples have for the West—understood in the context of a “Clash of Civilizations”—would still remain, but there would be little to stop, deter it, or keep it at bay.

• "RUCK IT"--American Partisan. Recommendations as to equipment and an exercise regime to get to the point that you can carry a useful load while on foot. For instance:

First things first. My minimum recommendation to shoot for in training, is to be able to carry your load bearing equipment (LBE) with the basic load for your rifle (6 extra mags, or 100 extra rounds for your boltgun), two 1-quart canteens, a personal blow out kit, and a knife. What ever your load bearing gear weighs, the ruck should make up the difference in the weight to equal half your body weight. Example: LBE weighs 25 lbs. you weigh 150 lbs., so the ruck would weigh 50 lbs. THIS IS A GOAL, NOT YOUR INITIAL RUCK WEIGHT! I ruck on the road a good bit now, and carry one of these blueguns to simulate the feel and weight of my weapon.

Read the whole thing. 

• "Safety Not Guaranteed: VEHICLE TACTICS with JOHN FARNAM"--Civilian Defender. An excerpt:

According to John, “There is no perfectly safe gun handling.  Even if you want to live in a perfect, gun-free utopia, guns will still exist because others will have them.”  Thus, you need to accept that there are relative risks in life, whether we talk about guns, cars, travel, sex, childbirth, medicine, food, etc.  Every interaction in this world contains an element of relative risk.  If you want an interesting and worthwhile life, there will be risks!  The thoughtful part and what John conveys through his unique teaching style, is that the student is left to devise the path best intended to get from, “POINT A,” to, “POINT B,” as safely and efficiently as possible.  But there is no, “perfectly safe,” way.  John is purposefully vague in the range commands he gives during his drills, because he wants students to think through and negotiate those types of problems on the fly, and then correct the errors after the students experience demoralizing failure.  “WE ARE HERE TO FAIL!”  The learning occurs when the student can not only see the WHY of their improper choice, but also formulate the correct path and the WHY behind it.

• "The 1986 Miami Shootout – Takeaways and Lessons for Civilians"--Guns Save Life. Lots of things to think about, including this: "Pro-tip:  your car is NOT a holster!  Two of the eight FBI agents in Miami lost their duty revolvers in the car crash because they placed them on the seat next to them for ease of access.  That didn’t work out so well for them.  Keep your handgun in a holster and wear your gun!"
• "Venezuelan Soldiers Desert in Droves With Presidential Election Ahead"--Bloomberg. Heading for Brazil and Columbia where they might find food and jobs. According to the article, "High desertion rates at bases in Caracas and the countryside are complicating security plans for the presidential election in 13 days, which by law require military custody of electoral materials and machinery at voting centers." 
• Here we go again: "Ebola outbreak declared in Democratic Republic of Congo"--CNN. Two confirmed cases; 21 suspected cases including 17 dead.
• Failure is not an option: "Shocking moment an angry cop violently yanks his K-9 partner's leash because the dog 'failed to find anything suspicious' in a car they pulled over for having tinted windows"--Daily Mail. Since literally any behavior or movement is generally interpreted as alerting to the possible presence of drugs, the officer must have thought his dog had gone to sleep or died.
• "Trump decides to exit nuclear accord with Iran"--AP. I guess we will now see if John Kerry's Logan Act violations attempting to undermine the United States' position on this will result in anything. 
• Another gun murder avoided due to New York's gun control laws: "Hammer-wielding intruder, 28, beats world-renowned psychology professor, 66, to death in his $2.2 million Brooklyn home during a botched robbery"--Daily Mail.