October 15, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Compliance Can Be A Dangerous Option"--Active Self Protection (5 min.)

In this video, the perpetrators are three armed men, two of whom rush into the business (the third kept watch near the door). Although the business owner fully complied with the criminals' demands, he still got hit in the head as they were leaving. So, even if compliance is the only reasonable option, that doesn't mean that it is a good option. Sometimes the only options are bad and worse.

• "Gun Experts You Should Trust"--The Firearms Rack. This is in no way a comprehensive list. For instance, it doesn't list Greg Ellifritz or Grant Cunningham (among many), both of whom I trust, but it is a list of sources for dependable information. 
• "The AR-10 Story"--American Rifleman. With Brownells releasing a reproduction AR-10, there have been a lot of articles on the AR-10 in the gun media. This is a pretty good article on the history of the AR-10 and how it segued into the AR-15.
• "Everyday Gear Uses For Elastic Shock Cord"--Mason Dixon Tactical. The author finds that the 3/16-inch cord is about right for most applications. Although the article is ostensibly on many different uses, the majority of the article (and photographs) are about how the author uses shock cord to provide an extra measure of retention for his handgun and spare magazine, with a bit on using it to retain an ax or hatchet blade, and knives.
• "One knot every survivalist should know – The Trucker Hitch"--Willow Haven Outdoor. The usefulness of the knot is that it allows you to tighten down a rope that is, for instance, being used to tie down a load on a trailer, back of a pickup, or luggage rack. The author gives step-by-step directions plus a video.
• "BREACH OR BYPASS - ARMOR SOLUTIONS"--Gabe Suarez. He writes:

In my 3 vs 1 gunfight (way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) all three bad guys were wearing armor. My default tactic of directing fire toward upper chest and face made such equipment irrelevant.  And the most important point is that I was not aware they were wearing armor until later. I don't think you will be aware either.

• "Electrical Troubleshooting: Tools"--Blue Collar Prepping. The three main tools he recommends are (1) a non-contact voltage detector, (2) an outlet tester, and (3) a multi-meter.
• "Know Your Electrical Panel"--Blue Collar Prepping. While it is possible to run across fuses in older homes, the majority of homes use resettable circuit breakers. The author raises a few points about the layout of the panels: breakers that take up two spaces on the panel (referred to in the trade as two-pole breakers) power high-draw items like ovens and clothes dryers and are generally found at or near the top of the panel; 15-amp breakers are almost always just for lights, while 20-amp breakers may be lights or outlets. You may also have a main breaker in your panel that can shut off power for the whole house; if it is not on the panel, is is probably outside near the power meter.
• "Cash On Hand – Slowly Build Up 1-Month Reserves For Living Expenses"--Modern Survival Blog. The author recommends that you withdraw the cash slowly, over time, from your bank account as finances allows; and that you keep the withdrawal slips to be able to prove where the case comes from. The reasons for keeping cash can vary, but the main reason is that any time the power is out, businesses won't be able to process your credit card. And, even hacks or other issues can take down providers of credit card services. For instance, just a couple weeks ago I was going into a restaurant to grab lunch when I noticed a sign indicating that their service provider was down and they couldn't process credit or debit cards.
• "Looting leads to deadly shooting in Panama City, Florida"--KUTV. This looter got a little too greedy--he attempted to steal a police cruiser that had been left unattended. The officer didn't take too kindly to someone trying to drive off with his car. 
• The peasants need to be disarmed: "Ban assault weapons, buy them back, go after resisters: Ex-prosecutor in Congress"--Eric Swalwell at USA Today. Swalwell is a Democrat member of the House of Representatives from the San Francisco Bay area in California. He is suggesting a $200 to $1000 buyback program. His justification is Scalia's dicta in Heller that the right to keep and bear arms “is not unlimited” and is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

• Related: "Kotkin: California becoming more feudal, with ultra-rich lording over declining middle class"--Orange County Register. 

"HOW TO—Improve Your Prayers"--How To (9-1/2 min.)

Part of a Q&A with President Henry B. Eyring and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in which they answer a question about improving personal prayer. Eyring makes a point of making a prayer a more formal event, requiring mental and spiritual preparation, as if you were approaching the throne of God with a supplication. Obviously, this is not for all prayers, but for a daily prayer which is intended to address more serious issues than a blessing over a meal. The point is that your attitude and atmosphere can be increased by praying in private, taking time to clear your mind or meditate before you initiate the prayer, and even the type of clothing can center you on the act of prayer.

• "What the media aren’t telling you about Jamal Khashoggi: The dissident’s fate says a lot about Saudi Arabia and the rise of the mobster state"--John R. Bradley at The Spectator. The author raises two primary points concerning Khashoggi. First, although he was, at one time, a journalist, he became a player a long time ago, with close ties to the Bin Laden clan and certain Saudi family members. Second, although Khashoggi has been considered to be a dissident because of his criticism of Wahhabism, he has been a strong supporter, proponent, member and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. 
• Go woke, go broke: "The Church of England Just Wants to Be Liked"--Ben Sixsmith at The American Conservative. According to the author, "[o]nly 15 percent of Britons, and only 2 percent of Britons aged between 18 and 24, are affiliated with the Church of England" and "[f]ewer than a million British men, women, and children typically attend church services." Why is this so? The author reasons that it is because the Church of England has, in its quest to be liked, become merely a follower of culture and not a leader. He writes:

The Church cannot take its lead from society. Adopting the cultural and moral norms of its time might earn it a few backslaps from journalists and politicians but it also gives it subordinate status. Quite apart from anything else, no one is inspired by a mere follower. To survive, let alone to flourish, it must build an independent identity, and assert itself as an essential force in Britain. It must want to shape its times and not merely to reflect them.

• "Billionaire Koch Brothers: Trump is ‘Wrong,’ It’s ‘Morally Right’ to Import Foreign Welfare Dependents"--Breitbart. The article reports: "Through the Koch brothers’ network of organizations—which have campaigned for Democrats’ open borders policies this election cycle—which include the pro-mass immigration LIBRE Initiative and the economic libertarianism group Freedom Partners, the billionaire donors are opposing Trump’s reform to the legal immigration system." The reason should be clear to anyone: immigration acts to keep down wages by creating a surplus of workers--simple supply/demand economics. The same reason that the tech companies scream incessantly that they need the H1-B visa program. 

• Related: "Immigrants Took Three-Quarters Of September’s New Jobs; New Illegal Surge Developing"--V Dare.

• "Swedish media try to cover up gang rape of girl by ‘Muslim migrants’ – Facebook censored posts as well"--Voice of Europe. From the article:

        According to SIX people who know the girl’s family, there was a large group of Muslim men involved in the horrific and brutal rape.

        As the media did not report on the attack, since it was commit by Muslim migrants, the post on Facebook quickly gained attention. Facebook promptly censored the posts of the family friend, in an attempt to further silence the story.

       This was likely instigated by the ‘hot line’ to Facebook that the Social Democrats have arranged with the social media giant to be able to hush stories about migrant crime.

To add insult to injury: 

However, local politicians have blamed ethnic Swedes for not helping the migrants successfully integrate into Swedish society.

• "Migrant celebrates Swedish citizenship by raping woman and tells her: ‘Now I can do what I want’"--Voice of Europe. What the 29 year old told the woman was that because he was a citizen, the government couldn't expel him. He probably thought his rape conviction unfair, anyway, because "when the sun went up he asked Allah for forgiveness."
• Stupid is as stupid does: "Plane mutiny kept a gang rapist in the UK: Somali man whose deportation from the UK was stopped by plane passengers raped a 16-year-old girl in London and his accomplice went on to fight for ISIS"--Daily Mail. He and two of his refugee buddies lured the girl into their apartment after she became separated from friends and raped her.
• Diversity is our strength: "New York cab driver shouting 'Allah' brutally beats man, 62, on his way to synagogue in the middle of the road in anti-Jewish hate crime"--Daily Mail. The cab driver, Farrukh Afzal (37) beat Lipa Schwartz, 62, while screaming "that he hates the Jews and he would like to kill all the Jews" according to one witness.

• Related: "So, Where Does Multiculturalism Work?"--Those Who Can See. The author concludes that: "To run smoothly, then, we have seen that multiculturalism typically needs 1) the groups in question to be physically separated, or 2) a strong man to keep the lid on inter-group tensions (or both)." Otherwise, it just leads to conflict and violence. 

• "VANDALS HIT NYC GOP HEADQUARTERS: ‘ATTACK IS MERELY A BEGINNING’"--The Daily Caller. From the article: "The Metropolitan Republican Club on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was vandalized Thursday night with broken windows, spray-painted anarchy signs, and a threatening message that the 'attack is merely a beginning.'"

• Related: "Civility, Civil War, and the Future of Our Civilization"--Michael Walsh at American Greatness. He writes: "Short of civil war, there’s a clear solution to this two-state problem, and it’s been available from the beginning: federalism. The Left’s drive to diminish the power of the states and to consolidate power at the federal level is the reason why it hates the Senate and the Electoral College. The bulk of Hillary’s popular-vote margin came in California, where every vote for her beyond a one-vote majority in a winner-take-all state was wasted. The irony is that as long as Democrats flock together along the coasts, they’ll continue losing."

• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "US Marines reveal plans for plasma crowd control weapon that can shout at people from 3,000 feet away - then be 'turned up' to temporarily blind and even burn them"--Daily Mail. From the article:

       The weapon works using an igniter laser, that fires an intense short pulse powerful enough to create a ball of plasma.

       This can be created in mid-air, or on the surface of a target. 

       A stronger detonator laser then explodes the plasma ball, which can be used to create 'enhanced non-lethal effects such as flash bang effects, thermal ablation for pain, and delivery of intelligible voice commands at range' according to military documents.

      However, the weapon could also eventually be used to kill.