A Quick Run Around the Web (2/4/2020)

"Scenario #4 | Real Climate Science"--Suspicious Observers (11 min.)

• The most important self-defense article you will probably read this whole month: "Your Tactical Training Scenario- Denial"--Active Response Training. Ellifritz notes a news report of a woman involved in an active shooting event that confessed that she couldn't believe it was happening to her. "If you can’t even accept the reality that you could be shot as bullets are striking your body, you have no chance at mounting an effective defense," he writes. He explains what happens when you don't have a plan, using the OODA loop:

     When people have never thought about or experienced violence, they don’t have a “mental map” of what is happening.  They “Observe”, but because they have never imagined an attack happening to them, they can’t “orient”. They have nothing in their brains to compare with what they are currently seeing. Thus they default back to “Observe”.

     It’s like a short circuit. Back and forth between observe and orient, never getting to the “decide and act” phases.

     The bad guy (having already reached the “Act” phase) stays perpetually inside the victim’s OODA loops and the victims can’t respond quickly enough to catch up.

Read the whole thing.

• Related: "Fight Smart: Study Attacks & Build Your Self-Defense Skills"--American Rifleman. An excerpt:

       I fear that we often put too much emphasis on guns and gear when we consider our own personal defense. A person can be armed with the latest firearm, the very best ammunition and still lose the fight. It happens because we fail to see the trouble brewing until it is right in our face. At that point, it may be entirely too late to put all that excellent equipment to use in time to make a difference. In addition to the surprise, we may have never given serious thought of what to do when violence is visited upon us.

      Decent people often fail to understand what is going on in the criminal mind. Planning criminal acts is just something that is not part of our daily lives. In consequence, we have to get over our surprise and then figure out what to do about this unexpected attack. Obviously, by the time we sort through all of this, it may be entirely too late.

• "Hunter Finds Human Remains in Arizona Wilderness"--NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum. From the article:

       It didn’t make national news; it didn’t even make local news, but for hunters like me who sometimes hunt close to the U.S./Mexico border, it was certainly big news Friday when a hunter found the human remains of what authorities believe to be an illegal immigrant and/or drug runner who crossed from Mexico into Arizona’s Coronado National Forest. As for how I know of this considering the media never covered it, I was there, 30 miles from the border—and that hunter was my friend.

      The previous day, I’d found evidence of what I later learned was a smuggler’s “drop site” where someone had dropped off a “dope load” of marijuana (as shown in the image below). Clearly an old site based on the deteriorated condition of the items left behind, ....

* * *

      While the need to remain aware of our surroundings in general goes without saying, it is worth repeating particularly when hunting one of the four states that border Mexico—Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas—as criminal organizations exploit the porous southwest border. According to the Department of Justice, Arizona is a particularly “high-intensity drug trafficking area as cartels diversify ways to transport drugs” into the mountains and rolling hill-country canyons and ridges.

• "Winterizing Your Bug-Out Bag"--Beans, Bullets, Bandages and You. The first thing the author recommends are removable cleats that will allow you to walk across ice or compacted snow without slipping. These are generally soft rubber cleats that fit over or strap to an existing pair of shoes or boots. I have used a pair at times, and found them useful when walking on sheet ice, but they are not going to hold up to a lot of walking. What you would do is remove and replace them as needed. The author then moves on to the topic of clothing generally, and the importance of layering as well as staying dry, removing summer only items (e.g., insect repellent) and making sure that you don't have anything in your bag that could freeze and burst (e.g., filled water bottles and water filters that have been used and not dried).  This is especially important of these items will be left outside or left in a car parked outside or in an unheated garage/car port.
• "How to Maintain Body Temperature in Extreme Conditions"--Alpha Survivalist. Points he raises as to staying warm in cold weather: stay hydrated (drink warm drinks if possible), use magnesium supplements or eat foods rich in magnesium, layer clothing, use hand and foot warmers, eat some Cayenne pepper, and more. He also has a section on staying cool in hot weather.
• "Evaluating handguns for YOU"--Tactical Professor. He recommends that "[b]efore you buy a gun, you should go to a range that rents guns and try different ones out to see which one is best for you." But he doesn't just leave it there. The author has a list of specific weapon manipulations you should try as well as some shooting exercises so that you get a better idea of how the gun performs for you.
• Good to know: "Lynch Northwest Replacement Pocket Clips"--Jerking the Trigger. The company, Lynch Northwest, makes replacement pocket clips for many popular knives, not just for replacing a lost clip, but also offering clips that are improved over the original or solve an issue.
• Affordable is a relative term: "This is Palmetto State Armory’s affordable MP5 alternative"--Gear Scout. The weapon is similar to the MP5K, uses a roller-delayed blowback system and has a similar charging handle. However, it has an ambidextrous selector, a welded upper Picatinny rail, and different sights. It will ship with an SB Tactical brace and MSRP is expected to be around $1,200.
• "Destructive Solar Storms Usually Hit Earth Every 25 Years or So, Say Scientists"--Science Alert. By "destructive" they are referring to ones that would damage electrical systems or equipment. The damage is generally confined to a region rather than world-wide.

"Seattle Antifa Try to Shut-Down Women's Event"--Andy Ngo (2 min.)

The Left eating their own.

• England is a clown world there they have disarmed the good and peaceable people, but just won't do the same to their criminal population. Case in point: on Sunday, Sudesh Amman, 20, went on a stabbing spree in London before being shot dead by police. Amman had only just gotten out of prison a few days earlier after serving three years and four months for committing 13 terror offences--having served only half of his sentence. But not to worry, mate: Amman launched his attack "under active police surveillance and 'very stringent licencing conditions'." And yet again proving that when seconds county, the police are only minutes away: "Armed police were on the scene within minutes, having been following him because they suspected he was going to launch a terrorist attack imminently." 

       Well, perhaps I'm being a little harsh in this case: police had been following Amman for the 40 minutes prior to his attack, but were able to shoot him dead only 60 seconds after his attack. Still, not a reaction time that inspires confidence. Of course, police are not bothering to explain how Amman was able to steal the the knife used in the attack while under the active surveillance, although they admit that they didn't see his fake suicide vest because it was under his clothes. Maybe if they devoted more resources to tracking terrorists instead of chasing down people who post conservative memes on Facebook, they might have done better. 

       Amman's mother, "Haleema Khan described him as a ‘polite boy’ who was ‘always smiling’." Probably smiling because he was smoking dope, and fantasizing about being a terrorist and killing police, when he was growing up ... when he wasn't threatening to blow people up and urging his girlfriend to behead her parents.

• "Hunt for 480 Wuhan travellers 'LOST' in Britain: Officials scramble to trace visitors from China's coronavirus epicentre - as government launches public information blitz to stem spread"--Daily Mail. Per the article, "[a] hunt is underway to find hundreds of people who flew from coronavirus-hit Wuhan to Britain who are unaccounted for," as "[o]fficials are trying to trace 480 travellers who arrived in the country nine days ago from the city in China." 
• Mass shooting in Africa, media yawns: "Burkina Faso: Gunmen kill 20 civilians in attack"--BBC. The article reports:

       As many as 20 civilians have been killed in an overnight attack in north-western Burkina Faso.

      Unidentified heavily armed men on motorbikes carried out the attack in Lamdamol village in Seno province, north of the capital Ouagadougou, on Saturday night, AFP news agency says.

     The attack comes a week after 39 people were killed when militants attacked a market in the province of Soum.

     The Sahel region has seen an increase in jihadist violence in recent months.

• Another story ignored by the media: "Alleged Al-Qaeda Terrorist Leader Arrested In Phoenix On Murder Charges"--The Daily Wire. From the article:

     Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri, a 42-year-old Iraqi national was “wanted to stand trial in Iraq for two charges of premeditated murder committed in 2006 in Al-Fallujah,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

     An Iraqi judge issued an arrest warrant for Ahmed and subsequently requested Ahmed’s extradition from the United States.

     “According to the information provided by the Government of Iraq in support of its extradition request, Ahmed served as the leader of a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists in Al-Fallujah, Iraq, which planned operations targeting Iraqi police,” the DOJ added. “Ahmed and other members of the Al-Qaeda group allegedly shot and killed a first lieutenant in the Fallujah Police Directorate and a police officer in the Fallujah Police Directorate, on or about June 1, 2006, and October 3, 2006, respectively.”

• Most of the Democrat's hatred against Trump is merely their projection onto him of the habits and manners of those on the Left: "Weinstein Accuser Details Gross ‘Golden Shower’ Encounter With Disgraced Film Mogul"--Daily Beast. 
• "Explosive Leaked Confession of Domestic Abuse of Johnny Depp Turns #MeToo Upside Down"--PJ Media. A leaked audio conversation between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard reveals her admissions to having been physically abusive and also unable (or unwilling) to promise that she would not be violent in the future. Leftist are shocked, of course; anyone that has been reading this blog won't be given that the evidence shows that women as just as likely to be physically abusive as are men.
• It's not just East Africa: "Pakistan declares national emergency over locust swarms"--DW. The article reports:

      The desert locusts — large herbivores that resemble grasshoppers — arrived in Pakistan from Iran in June and have already ravaged cotton, wheat, maize and other crops.

     Favorable weather conditions and a delayed government response have helped the locusts breed and attack crop areas.

     Their potential for large-scale destruction is raising fears of food insecurity.

     National Food Security Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bak­h­tiar said the locust swarms were currently on the Pakistan-India border around Cholistan and were previously in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

• Go woke, go broke: "Boy Scouts bankruptcy is ‘imminent’ amid sexual abuse scandals"--New York Post. Per the article, "[t]he national Boy Scouts organization is devising a bankruptcy survival strategy that would allow it to pay victims while shielding the hefty assets owned by hundreds of local councils — an estimated $3 billion worth, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal." Although the article mentions declining membership in the organization, it doesn't explain that most of that drop occurred after the organization made a hard turn Left in recent years alienating the churches and members that it depended on for funding.
• Speaking of "go woke, go broke": "A female Star Wars director is not so far away! Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy promises a movie in the franchise will 'absolutely' be directed by a woman in the future"--Daily Mail. The issue here is not whether a suitably experienced and talented female director could be put in charge of a film, but that a woman will be put in charge regardless of qualifications. Kennedy has made the movies about advancing her ideas of "social justice" rather than delivering what fans want. 
• "Students Demanded Divestment From Fossil Fuels, A Professor Offered To Turn Off The Gas Heating"--Hot Air. The special snow flakes students were not amused.
• "Seven school districts near Cincinnati CLOSE to be sanitized after more than 1,000 students and scores of teachers are absent with flu symptoms"--Daily Mail.
• Point: "Study claiming new coronavirus can be transmitted by people without symptoms was flawed"--Science. Short story is that the researchers relied on case reports about a woman that had passed the virus on to others, which indicated that she was asymptomatic, but an interview with the woman showed that she was already exhibiting symptoms.
• Counter-point: "The Chinese doctor who tried to warn others about coronavirus"--BBC. The article is mostly about how the Chinese government intimidated the man into staying quiet. But then there is this:

      In his Weibo post he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever and two days later he was in hospital. His parents also fell ill and were taken to hospital.

     It was 10 days later - on 20 January - that China declared the outbreak an emergency.

     Dr Li says he was tested several times for coronavirus, all of them came back negative.

Yes, I understand that he was not asymptomatic, but he was also testing negative for the virus. So, how many false negatives are walking around out there?

• "San Benito County Couple Infected With Coronavirus Moved to SF Hospital"--SFIST. From the article:

The couple's symptoms reportedly worsened overnight while they were being treated at home in San Benito County, and they were transferred by specialized ambulance this morning to San Francisco for escalated treatment. As KPIX reports, the husband had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, arriving back in California on January 24 — much like the case of the Santa Clara County man who was confirmed Friday as the Bay Area's first case of the virus. The San Benito County couple, though, represent a person-to-person transmission case — the wife, who had not been China, appears to have contracted the virus from her husband. Both are 57 years old.

• "Wuhan Coronavirus Looks Increasingly Like a Pandemic, Experts Say"--reprinted from the New York Times.

      The Wuhan coronavirus is spreading more like influenza, which is highly transmissible, than like its slow-moving viral cousins, SARS and MERS, scientists have found.

      “It’s very, very transmissible, and it almost certainly is going to be a pandemic,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

     “But will it be catastrophic? I don’t know.”

• "Coronavirus and the economy"--Bayou Renaissance Man. The gist of his comments are that the coronavirus is slowing down manufacturing and delivery of goods within China, which is having a follow-on effect here in the United States and other countries. The consequence is that workers are going to be "idled" as supply chains dry up, and it is going to impact the economies of all involved. 

• Related: "More than half of China extends shutdown over virus"--CNBC. The article reports: "At least 24 provinces, municipalities and regions in China have told businesses not to resume work before Feb. 10 at the earliest. Last year, those parts of China accounted for more than 80% of national GDP, and 90% of exports, according to CNBC calculations of data accessed through Wind Information."

• Let's discuss a different type of virus: "This is how a popular free antivirus program sells your data"--MIT Technology Review. The company and product at issue is Avast, which is too bad because it was actually one of the better anti-virus programs on the market.
• "Everything you know about Europe is wrong"--UnHerd. Excerpt:

     The last mass murder of protesters in England occurred in 1819, when 18 people were killed by authorities in Manchester; in France police in Paris killed up to three hundred unarmed protesters in 1961.

     Had anything even vaguely comparable happened during the US Civil Rights era it would have been the subject of about 500 films and even my children in an English primary school would now be learning about it now. 

• "Are Venezuelan Refugees Still Welcome?"--Der Spiegel. The self-delusion is high in this one:

      One of the largest migrations in the history of Latin America is taking place here. Around 4.5 million Venezuelans have already left their country. Some 1.4 million have settled in Colombia, and another million are expected.

      They have formed one of those "streams of refugees" that right-wing populists are wont to cite when they need to stir up people's fears. Venezuelans are still welcome in Colombia, but that could change at any moment.

(Underline added). The rest of the article is about why people might be validly fearful of the influx of refugees, from refugees acting as agent provocateurs for Venezuela and supporting protests against the Colombian government, to increased crime, refugees working for drug cartels and terrorist organizations such as FARC, overburdening of the health care system in Columbia and taking jobs, etc.

• Some good news: "Scientists Accidentally Discover Immune Cells That Can Kill Most Cancers."

       According to a report by The Telegraph, the accidental discovery happened when Cardiff University researchers were analysing blood from a Wales bank to determine immune cells that could fight bacteria.

      They reportedly discovered a new type of T-cell that carries a receptor that latches onto human cancers but ignores healthy cells.

      In fact, the receptor is said to be capable of killing several cancers, including lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney and cervical cancer.

* * *

      Sewell said that the immune cell could either be "quite rare," or it could be that many people have it but somehow “it is not activated."