September 27, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Battle of Marawi"--Army Special Forces (9 min.)

This video, apparently produced by the Philippines' Army Special Forces, puts together both military footage and footage captured from the ISIS-inspired Maute Group, to give a glimpse into the fighting necessary to liberate the city of Marawi from the Maute Group. A good look at what urban combat looks like.

• "Magpul RLS Sling Review: A Modern Shooting Sling"--Modern Rifleman. Shooting slings are designed to take much of the force needed to hold a rifle steady when shooting off-hand. You may have seen videos from WWII training films showing the sling being used to cinch tight against the upper arm. Magpul's has attempted to come out with a modern iteration priced at a very reasonable $19. The author thought that it was good enough that he replaced his standard G.I. sling on his AR with the Magpul sling. He writes:

I found the sling to be a well made product for shooters who still want to sling a shot. On my A2 rifle, I found the use of the product both intuitive and simple. It was possible to quickly mount the rifle with sling support by sliding into the large open loop. The second possibility is to slide the keeper down to the bicep to tighten up the sling. It will not get as tight as a 1907 (from my memory) or a nylon USGI (which acts as a noose), but it certainly is faster than older style slings. When utilized, the keeper squeezes the back and sides of the bicep which enhances the friction and keeps the sling in place that much better. The keeper slides down the sling smoothly. Installing the sling required re-threading the loose end of the sling through the keeper with a screwdriver. The keeper grips the sling tightly while still being easy to move up and down the sling.

I have a couple shooting slings, but they are both from Riflecraft, which makes very good rifle slings at reasonable prices. They offer a basic sling for under $40 which covers all the basics, an advanced rifle sling with some improvements, and a cross-body loop sling that is quickly tightened or loosened for use. I have a basic sling and the cross-body and am pleased with both.

• "How To Fix A Gritty Glock Trigger"--The Gun Rack. If you have the time, inclination, and an emery board, Patrick R. will tell you the one area on the trigger connector to smooth out the pull.
• "Tire Plugs"--Blue Collar Prepping. If you get a nail or screw through your tubeless tire, tire plugs offer an easy to fix the hole. Although advertised as temporary fixes, the author notes that the plugs can easily last months or years. In any event, if you have seen these kits, there is essentially a rubber plug, a round rasp for roughing up the inside of the hole, rubber cement to bind the plug to the tire, and a tool for inserting the plug. And they are cheap. I have had a kit for years (probably need to replace the rubber cement), but (thankfully) have never had to use it--I've been able to get the tires into a shop for repair. But in the woods or after SHTF you might not have the luxury. 
• "Featured Gun: The Remington 870 Wingmaster"--Tin Can Bandit's Gunsmithing. A short history of the Remington 870 pump shotgun, first introduced in 1950.
• "Politically Incorrect Preparedness: Immigrants and choosing where to live"--The Modern Survivalist. Although FerFal is an immigrant who currently resides in Spain, he gets the concern over immigrants and social disorder. So, in response to a question from a reader, he has to conclude that it is better to choose to live where there are fewer immigrants than not. He writes:

         Don’t get me wrong. I’m probably the least political correct person you’ll come across but I also believe that the majority of those people washing ashore lately are indeed desperate people that just want to survive and have good lives. But I also admit that there are evil people among them, and even among the “good” ones they are essentially very different people, with very different core values of what’s right and wrong compared to Christian/Western civilization cultures.

       So yes, I do take it into account and I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a city with a large percentage of “refugees”, no matter how much I may sympathize with the suffering they have endured.

• This looks interesting: Serepick is offering an OSS Ceramic - Lapel Dagger for $40.00. It even comes with a plastic sheath with holes drilled to sew into the lapel of a shirt. 
• "From the American Rifleman Archives: 'In the System:' M1 Garand Rebuilds"--American Rifleman. It is difficult to find a "correct" grade of M1--one with all of its original parts--because of repairs in the field, overhauls in theaters of the war and, later, by armories in the United States, and sometimes complete rebuilds by Springfield and Rock Island armories in the late 1940's and through the 1950's. In addition, if you happen to purchase an M1 that was part of a lend-lease program, it may have been repaired by a foreign armory. Anyway, this article gives interesting history of the M1 overhauls and refurbishments by U.S. armories, including the cartouches that would be stamped into the stocks to help identify where and (approximately) when it was done.
• I saw a link to this over at Instapundit: "I Drove a Pickup Full of Supplies to a Town Flooded by Florence, and Here Is What I Saw"--Popular Mechanics. No media, but he reports that the Red Cross is there, and urges readers to donate a few bucks to it.

"INCELS Spark CIVIL WAR in EUROPE"--Black Pigeon Speaks (12-1/2 min)

BP begins this video by looking at the gender imbalance in countries such as China and India, where there are significantly more male children being born than females, and reviews the academic literature linking gender imbalance to increased crime and social unrest. He then notes that the influx of refugees into Europe, most of whom are military age men, is creating the same imbalance there. Throw in the inevitable backlash as local men start to protect their women against outsiders, and there are all of the ingredients for violent conflict. My thought after watching this is that anyone that supports massive immigration supports civil war.

• #metoo: "Boys More Likely To Be Victims Of Teen Dating Violence Than Girls, Study Shows"--Study Finds. From the article:

       Researchers with the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) conducted a longitudinal study of dating violence. While reports of physical abuse went down over time, they say there is a troubling gender-related trend.

       Five percent of teens reported physical abuse from their dating partners in 2013, down from 6 percent in 2003. But in the last year, 5.8 percent of boys reported dating violence compared to 4.2 percent of girls.

       “It could be that it’s still socially acceptable for girls to hit or slap boys in dating relationships,” says lead author Catherine Shaffer, a PhD student with SFU, in a release. “This has been found in studies of adolescents in other countries as well.”

• Believe all women: "Maine Man Receives $375,000 After False Rape Accusation"--Daily Wire. It's not just the fact that the accusation was false, but the prosecutor, also a woman, concealed exculpatory evidence. The article notes that "[s]he’s one of the few prosecutors — and the first in the state of Maine — to be sanctioned for prosecutorial misconduct."
• And on the same subject: "Woman fakes a pregnancy for nine months in bid to convince her husband not to leave - then stages her own abduction before claiming a gang cut the baby from her womb"--Daily Mail. She even printed up ultrasound scans from the Internet to show her family. After blood tests showed that the woman had never been pregnant she fled the hospital and has not been seen since.
• A nice way to term perjury: "‘False Memories’ Are More Common Than You Think"--National Review. From the article:

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a cognitive scientist and law professor who has studied memory for more than 40 years, with a particular focus on how it unfolds in the courtroom, has advanced a number of illuminating studies over the years. One gathered information on 300 people in the United States who had gone to prison for crimes they did not commit, as proved by later DNA evidence. Of those 300 (some of whom were imprisoned as long as 30 years), three-quarters of the convictions were the result of the false memories of the accuser.

• Diversity is our strength: "Black rapper's ‘hang white people’ video triggers meltdown in France"--RT. By "white people," he means white men. His video also suggested that white men be beaten and shot in the back. Of course, the rapper claims this is all "art," and that he was merely trying to raise social consciousness of discrimination faced by blacks.
• It's not going to be amicable: "It’s Time For An Amicable Breakup"--Château Heartiste. CH warns:

        When a relationship has become so toxic that you can’t stand to be around each other and are dreaming of being with someone else, it’s past time for a breakup. Don’t bother salvaging it for the small benefit of a few extra bangs and the continuity of your shared social circle, because you’ll pay more for it with your sanity and well-being in the long run.

       That’s where I am with America now. I no longer want to share a country with the dumbf[***] lunatics who believe a lying psychoyenta like swetnick and wave their rage against everything I hold dear, in my face, every day, all day long.

       Break it up. America is overdue for a separation. Do it. It can be amicable now, or ugly later. But the breakup is coming either way.

• Gadianton Robbers: "The Coming Crime Wars--Future conflicts will mostly be waged by drug cartels, mafia groups, gangs, and terrorists. It is time to rethink our rules of engagement."--Foreign Policy. The author writes:

Wars are on the rebound. There are twice as many civil conflicts today, for example, as there were in 2001. And the number of nonstate armed groups participating in the bloodshed is multiplying. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), roughly half of today’s wars involve between three and nine opposing groups. Just over 20 percent involve more than 10 competing blocs. In a handful, including ongoing conflicts in Libya and Syria, hundreds of armed groups vie for control. For the most part, these warring factions are themselves highly fragmented, and today’s warriors are just as likely to be affiliated with drug cartels, mafia groups, criminal gangs, militias, and terrorist organizations as with armies or organized rebel factions.

       Although the author doesn't use the term failed states, that is the gist of the cause: whether Mexico, Brazil, Libya, or other "hot spot," the fact is that the government is unable to exert control over certain regions or areas, with the consequence that gangs and militia's thrive and are spreading to other countries like a contagion. 

       The author continues:

       Today’s crime wars hark back to a pre-Westphalian era of perpetual conflict involving feudal kingdoms and marauding bandits.This partly explains why the norms developed to regulate armed conflict between modern states don’t really apply.

        In the classical view, criminal groups (such as mafias, gangs, and cartels) are not political actors formally capable of waging war. This means they can’t be treated as enemy combatants, nor can they be tried for war crimes. Yet, increasingly, such groups do advance tangible political objectives, from the election of corrupted politicians to the creation of autonomous religious states. What is more, they routinely govern, control territory, provide aid and social goods, and tax and extort money from the populations under their control. They also often collude with corrupt soldiers, police, prison guards, and customs officials to expand their rule. Put succinctly, cartels and gangs may not necessarily aim to displace recognized governments, but the net result of their activities is that they do.

The author goes on to urge the UN and international community to determine whether these gangs are merely a domestic crime situation, or should be treated as insurgencies.

       At this point, I would direct your attention to a post from Bayou Renaissance Man, which is my source for the Foreign Policy article. There, Peter Grant offers some experiences and lessons he learned from when he worked as an aid worker in Africa. He notes that "[i]n traveling through Africa for many years, I accepted as a fact of life that the authority of the national government was likely to be transient at best once away from the capital city." For that reason, he learned to travel with cash or precious metals to use as bribes. In one instance, because the bribe was too high, he refused to pay, and was nearly killed in a stabbing attack. He relates that he subsequently went to an attorney--a "fixer"--with whom he left money and instructions that the money should be used to put out contracts on anyone who attacked him, and obtained a "receipt" from that attorney to verify the matter to locals. Grant continues:

From then on, whenever I went into that area, I had an armed escort within a few minutes, one or two men armed with AK-47's showing up and shadowing my every footstep.  They weren't there to see what I was doing.  They were there to make sure no-one else bothered me or caused me any trouble.  Their bosses were under no illusions.  They knew that their safety was contingent upon mine.  We understood each other.  I was able to continue and complete my work there in as close to safety as it was possible to find in that part of the world, at that time.

• Feel good story of the day: "Texas Boy Thought to Be Nonverbal Can Speak After Dentist Discovers He's 'Tongue-Tied'"--Inside Edition. The 6 year old boy was thought to be developmentally delayed and had been to see numerous dentists and speech therapists since he was 1 year old--and none, until now, had ever thought to look under his tongue. Per the article, not only can the boy talk fine, but "[m]any physical ailments Mason had long struggled with have become manageable or have all but disappeared." It really takes parents willing to fight and work to deal with some of these issues. It took going round and round with doctors and therapists, and going from one to another, to get the correct diagnosis and help for one of our boys. And this was over a period of years, not weeks or months.