A Quick Run Around the Web (5/12/2020)

"How to Defend Yourself During a DOG WOLF or COYOTE Attack!"--Prepper University (7 min.)

Good advice.

• New Woodpile Report. A discussion on the difference between prepping and survivalism; the economic impact of shutdown over the Coronavirus and the gathering groundswell to ignore the shutdowns; links to various articles about potatoes as a survival food; and a bunch more varied subjects.
• "Sleep Deprivation and SHTF"--SHTF School. Selco discusses how sleep deprivation can affect you physically and psychologically, including seeing (or hearing) things that aren't there, while missing things that are there. An except:

       This fact was reason for many deaths, and also it was reason for many scary legends in that time.

      Personally I saw couple of times people that are not falling down after clearly being shot several times, dead people walking,  strange lights, sounds, or simply let’s say ‘ghosts’.

      I learned over the time to notice and observe things like that, but not to react, otherwise I would probably have gone crazy.

      When you hear baby crying 10 meters from you in abandoned and ruined house in the middle of night and you follow the sound and go there, and there is nothing there, but now same sound coming from other room that can give you some weird feelings in your guts.

      You observe, but not react-otherwise you go crazy.

      Fear and lack of sleep will play with your mind.

• "How To Do a Glock Trigger Job"--Shooting Illustrated. A detailed look at what areas on the connector and other parts to polish to smooth out the trigger. Probably worth printing up or saving if you have a Glock or think that you may someday own a Glock.
• "Appendix Carry…Thousands of Thugs Can’t be Wrong!"--Greg Ellifritz at Active Response Training. A look at the advantages offered by appendix carry. From the article:

      Then one day in 2003 I competed in the “National Tactical Invitational”, a two-day, invitation only shooting match that combined target shooting, IDPA style stages, building clearing tactics, and force on force scenarios.  For the force on force scenarios we had to use their guns (Smith and Wesson .38 revolvers loaded with paintball rounds).  Before competing, they patted me down to check me for “real” weapons and handed me a .38 snub and a flimsy inside the waistband holster.  Without even thinking, I stuck it in the front of my pants, appendix style, just like I used to do and entered the arena.

     During the course of the three-hour run of scenarios in their “town”, I found the appendix style to work very well.  I consistently outdrew my competitors and teammates from the seated position and even seemed to be faster than usual in the standing scenarios as well.  In one scenario, I even surprised a bad guy by concealing my draw with a large notebook I was forced to carry.  I knew trouble was eminent and I preemptively drew my gun, keeping my drawstroke and the gun hidden behind the notebook.  The bad guy had quite a surprise when he went for his gun and found himself looking down the barrel of my .38 before he could draw.  I was starting to like this appendix position better and better!  I knew I couldn’t have pulled off that move if I had carried my gun behind my hip.

He goes on to discuss each of the advantages in more detail. Of course, as Ellifritz notes, "carrying in the appendix position isn’t always the best option. Comfort and concealabilty [sic] really depend on body type and your gun/holster combination." And then there is the pesky issue that a negligent discharge when holstering or drawing could hit the femoral artery or certain sensitive organs.

• "The Problem With Women Only Classes"--Tammy Bartels at Primer Peak. She discusses all the reasons that females might be reluctant to take martial arts or self-defense classes that include men, but points out that women who fail to do so (or attend such classes but only pair up with other women for practice) are really missing out on learning about dealing with an aggressive opponent. Bartels explains:

This predisposition to niceness is at the heart of my concerns about women only classes. For example, I signed up for a Krav Maga class recently and loved it at first. Then I started noticing there was a tendency for the women in class to be pair up together. During practice most were timid and may as well have been playing patty-cake as opposed to learning self defense. Meanwhile the men in class were aggressively going after each other. If I had been in a class with only women I probably would have never been aware of the difference in the levels of aggression.

She adds: "Being in a class with men allows you to see firsthand the levels of aggression they display during training. Take that and multiply it to imagine the level of aggression if they were trying to actually cause serious harm." Unfortunately, there is the other side of the coin, which is that women can inhibit learning for the men in such classes because of having to treat the women with kid gloves. 

• "Smith & Wesson J-Frames Explained"--Shooting Illustrated. Although there are many different models of J-frame revolvers from Smith & Wesson, the general categories were based on the type of hammer: the "Chief's Special" with an exposed spur hammer, the "hammerless" "Centennial" models, and the [old] "Bodyguard" with a shrouded hammer. 
• "Chicken Coop Insulation | How I Am Insulating And What I’m Using"--Modern Survival Blog. Short version: use foam board.
• "Active Self Protection Lessons Learned from Watching 25,000 Gunfights AAR"--Sean B. at Primer Peak. From the article:

On training, Correia preaches the “Three R’s.”  Training must be (1) recent, (2) relevant, and (3) realistic. There is a relevancy gap between fighting with a platoon of Army Rangers in Afghanistan and fighting by yourself in a gas station on New Year’s Eve. Likewise, while competition has its benefits, firing 2 shots per target on a 19-target USPSA stage probably isn’t a realistic engagement for a civilian defender. Recency, obviously, speaks for itself: qualifying on a pistol in the police academy twelve years ago with no subsequent training doesn’t do you any favors.

• "Skill Set: Application"--Tiger McKee at Tactical Wire. He writes:

      Your first consideration when pondering whether or not to buy a new piece of kit – holster or optics, maybe a new firearm – should be “application.” What need are you expecting this gear to fill? Application dictates what you need.

      Not all things firearm related are defensive in nature. There are objects that we acquire just because it fills a desire. And there’s nothing wrong with this. ...

      The defensive category – the “life and death” application of a firearm – is completely different. This is a serious subject, and should be approached accordingly. While perfection doesn’t exist, a defensive weapon must fit the application as perfectly as possible. Neither “cool,” or “new” nor “good looking” apply here.

• "What You Should Know About Prepping With Diabetes"--The Survivalist Blog. A discussion of both Type I and Type II diabetes.
• "FN Project 90 in 2020: The FN PS90 / P90 Review"--The New Rifleman. The author of this piece had purchased a P90 years ago and decided to go back and give it a review and whether it has aged well. An excerpt:

     ... The gun flies with you when running and gunning. It feels like your holding a football that just moves with you. When you stop to fire, the gun snaps up and remains fairly steady. Everything was going well until I came to my shoot while moving section of the run and gun. I COULD NOT KEEP THE RETICLE STILL. It was dancing all over the target and I struggled to remain on target when moving. This was a curious development for me. How could a gun that shoots so well and points so good feel like I’m aiming while walking on marbles? Simple. Without more weight up front, the gun had nothing to dampen the muzzle movement. It moved with every step and reacted to my core.  I picked up my AR15 and did the same drill, and noted that the front sight on my A2 still danced on target but it appeared to me to be much more sedate. After I got my tempo I was able to bang steel while moving way better than I could with the P90. I believe it’s simply because the weight forward of the shooter’s hands dampens some of the movement of the front sight while shooting on the move. A very wild observation!

      On last point on ergos and comfort: recoil. This gun vibrates on target. It simply recoils so little that it feels like cheating. Hammering out follow up shots is easy provided you can get freaky on the PS90’s trigger. That said there is no noise or concussion relative to a shorty AR. It’s pleasant to shoot and doesn’t need a compensator to stay on target.

• "Friday Night Lights: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Civilian Lasers"--The Firearm Blog. Specifically, IR lasers. The author believes that the MAWL-C1+ is the best.
• Only police should have guns: "Top. Man. Watch, LAPD Edition"--Loose Rounds. 

      “Ishmail Tamayo, 44, of Ontario was taken into custody without incident. He has been booked at High Desert Detention Center.

      Tamayo stands accused of shooting another off-duty LAPD officer, described as a 48-year-old man, in the upper body at an off-roading area in San Bernardino County known as Stoddard Wells.

     It was there that authorities say Tamayo and two others, all of whom work for the LAPD, were camping( and drinking I have no doubt) and shooting guns. For reasons unknown, police say Tamayo shot the victim, who was airlifted to a trauma center.

• "Civil War 2.0 Weather Report, Issue 12: Censorship and COVID-19"--Wilder Wealthy & Wise. He has four criteria he considers, including violence. On that point:

       Violence had been down because everyone is stuck in the basement.  But now the end of quarantine is near, and people will become violent if it isn’t lifted soon.  I expect big upticks in June, July and August.  I think May will be fairly mellow, and might be the last mellow month for ages.

     Enjoy it.

Read the whole thing.

• Related: "Tempers Are Flaring Over Lockdown, Masks, and Money: Is All-Out Civil Unrest About to Erupt?"--The Organic Prepper.

• Related: "3,000 California Churches Plan To Reopen In Defiance Of Gov. Newsom’s Orders"--The Daily Caller.  Watch this and other attempts of Churches to defy shut-down orders because if a breakout is tracked back due to this, the media will spin it in such a way to reflect poorly on Christians.

• Related: "Michigan militia members say they won't allow police to arrest 77-year-old barber defying Democratic Gov. Whitmer's shutdown order"--The Blaze.

• Related: "'Our life is in danger': Unemployment hits 34% in Hawaii with no end in sight"--USA Today. "The state's struggles to keep up with unemployment claims even prompted some residents to come out and threaten violence against state workers."  

• Related: "Big Swath of Pennsylvania Now in Open Rebellion Against Democrat Governor"--DB Daily Update. 

"How did Medieval People respond to the Black Death?"--The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages (16 min.)

• One of the articles linked to by Ol' Remus this week is "Springtime For Joggers" from the Z-Man Blog. The article notes that "the funnymen and meme makers had fun with the story of Ahmaud Arbery," but goes on to discuss those who were attempting to spread white guilt thick and heavy. Key quote about about these white apologists: "These organ grinder’s monkeys for the anti-white rage heads in charge of America are so thoroughly conditioned, rationalizing the blood libel is as natural to them as breathing or blinking."
• But the dog was just jogging! "Stay off our sidewalk! Gang of street cats see off curious dog when he ventures into their territory"--Daily Mail. The article reports:

      The dog walker said: 'This is my pup Tuesday. Every morning we take the same walk in our neighborhood. 

      'This morning specifically, I woke up early to try and see the full moon but unfortunately it wasn't in sight, so I took Tuesday on a different route and ran into the neighborhood street cats. 

     'Needless to say, they weren't happy to see him. No animals were harmed in the making of this video and Tuesday is well trained on and off of a leash.'

• "Germany’s Bild Newspaper Says ‘Lockdown Was a Huge Mistake’"--Breitbart. 

       Reproducing comments from seven well-known intellectuals, Bild underscores the importance of “warning, doubting, and arguing” in the case of a public crisis that involves the suppression of the fundamental rights of citizens.

      In presenting the opinions of highly esteemed “lateral thinkers,” the newspaper notes Germany’s political leaders, on the contrary, “pushed the recommendations of other luminaries to justify the lockdown of the economy and public life, as well as the severe interference with everyone’s freedoms,” while ignoring contrary voices.

     Prof. Klaus Püschel, for instance, a respected pathologist and head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Hamburg University Hospital, argues that “in the end, COVID-19 is a viral disease like the flu, which in most cases is harmless and is only fatal in exceptional cases.

      “It is important to look at the aftermath of the epidemic to see if COVID-19 really was the cause of death,” Püschel observes. “Of the approximately 180 deceased with coronavirus that we have now examined, all suffered from severe pre-existing conditions and were not children or adolescents. The COVID-19 infection was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

      University of Hanover Professor Stefan Homburg, a former adviser to the federal government, agrees official figures in Germany in no way justified the lockdown.

      “In Italy, the coronavirus epidemic was worse than a flu epidemic, in Germany it was less severe,” Homburg said. “With the lockdown, the federal and state governments have made a huge mistake.”

      “The damage is increasing every day, all bans must be lifted immediately,” he continued. “Empty soccer stadiums and half-empty restaurants are of no use to anyone.”

      For his part, Professor Hans-Jürgen Papier, former president of the Federal Constitutional Court, said the debate was too short and state interventions went too far.

• The suicide of expertise: "Epidemiologist Slams Disgraced U.K. Scientist’s Coronavirus Model: ‘Grave Scientific Misconduct’"--Breitbart. "The code used by Dr. Ferguson, called by some the 'architect of lockdown,' has now come under fire from another epidemiologist, Chris von Csefalvay, who called the computational code, developed by Dr. Ferguson to simulate the global spread of Chinese virus, 'somewhere between negligence and unintentional but grave scientific misconduct.'"

• Related: "SO FAR, EXPERTS AND EXPERTISE HAVE NOT PERFORMED EXACTLY BRILLIANTLY IN THIS CENTURY"--Instapundit. Quoting from an article on the expert failures as to the Wuhan virus: "Governments should recognise that their experts are, all of them, giving a partial perspective. Apparently, British and American policy was driven primarily by a report whose lead author was Neil Ferguson. That report seems to have considered only one danger: Covid. The one-sided analysis of that report may have left governments in the US and UK insensitive to the possibility that that lockdown itself might create its own fatalities, which might even end up larger than the number of Covid deaths. As economists never tire of reminding us, we are always facing tradeoffs and must adjust along all margins."

• Related: "Did the Lockdown Model Cause Half the Coronavirus Deaths in New Jersey?"--Front Page Magazine. New Jersey also ordered nursing homes to accept Wuhan virus patients.

• Related: "Gov. Cuomo admits he was wrong to order nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients"--New York Post. "Gov. Andrew Cuomo has finally admitted — tacitly and partially, anyway — the mistake that was state health chief Howard Zucker’s order that nursing homes must admit coronavirus-positive patients."

• "Dierenbach: Is it time for a new approach to coronavirus?"--Complete Colorado. Another look at how COVID-19 deaths have primarily been concentrated in nursing homes and antibody studies have shown that most people that have contracted the coronavirus are asymptomatic. Yet, as the author notes:

      Yet our reaction isn’t to protect the elderly and those with underlying conditions. No, instead we decide to force over 214 million people under 65 with no underlying condition who are under virtually no threat from coronavirus to restrict their activities, socially distance from each other, and go into lockdown.

      Instead of targeting the vulnerable population for assistance and infection avoidance, we shut down our economy. Many of the vulnerable are elderly and out of the workforce, yet we target the workforce and push 33 million people out of their jobs. We destroy countless small businesses, risk food shortages due to the supply disruption, drive oil prices so low that it could devastate thousands of Coloradans and cause political instability and international conflicts to rise, scare people who need medical attention away from emergency room visits, and cause domestic violence to rise.

• "Report: Suicide Rise from Lockdowns to Kill More than Coronavirus in Australia"--Breitbart. "The rise in the suicide rate caused by lockdowns in Australia is predicted to exceed deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus by a factor of ten, the Australian reported Thursday."
• "Mystery of Coronavirus Timeline Deepens"--Victory Girls. More evidence that the Wuhan virus may have already been circulating internationally in December 2019.
• "Hospitals are losing billions. Industry leaders say the aftermath could be 'apocalyptic.'"--NBC News (via Yahoo). After discussing the impact on larger hospitals that are already cutting back on staff, the article relates: "Within the health care industry, there is also concern that many local community hospitals, with far fewer resources than their much-larger counterparts could collapse altogether." 
• "George Soros: Coronavirus endangers our civilisation"--The Independent. By "civilization" he means the current transnational socio-economic system--what Daniel Greenfield referred to as the "Empire of International Law" and the Left's "Empire of Ideology." His remedy, at least as to Europe, is that the EU issue perpetual bonds to fund a recovery fund for spending its way out of the economic disaster occurring due to the Wuhan virus lockdowns. However, whatever you think of Soros's politics and how he spends his money to influence elections, he does have his finger on the pulses of the various nations, and he had this to say about China:

      ... I think a lot of educated Chinese are very resentful of that, and the general public is still very angry with him for keeping Covid-19 a secret until after the Chinese new year.

* * *

      ... When Xi abolished term limits and named himself, in essence, president for life, he destroyed the political future of the most important and ambitious men in a very narrow and competitive elite. It was a big mistake on his part. So, yes, he is very strong in a way, but at the same time extremely weak, and now perhaps vulnerable. The struggle within the Chinese leadership is something that I follow very closely because I am on the side of those who believe in an open society. And there are many people in China who are very much in favour of an open society too.

So, based on these comments, I would hazard a guess that Soros is not just suggesting that there will be political unrest in China (although it may play out behind the scenes), but that he may have a hidden hand in it all. But also note the reference to a competitive elite and compare it to Peter Turchin's theory in his book Ages of Discord about the factors (including inter-elite competition) that lead to social disruption or, even, civil war. (My review of Turchin's book is here). Also, if you decide to read the whole interview with Soros, there is reference to a recent decision of the German Constitutional Court that is directly at odds with a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the same matter. Here is an article from Project Syndicate that explains those court decisions and why it is causing such distress in the EU. Here, also, is an article from The Guardian.

• Speaking of China, it's back to beating the war drums: "China tries to calm ‘nationalist fever’ as calls for invasion of Taiwan grow"--South China Morning Post. The article states:

      Beijing is trying to calm rising nationalist sentiment after a growing chorus of voices called for China to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic by invading Taiwan.

      A number of commentators on social media have called for the island to be reunified by force – something Beijing has never ruled out – but some analysts say the authorities want to play a longer game and are now trying to cool the “nationalist fever”.

      An article published earlier in the month in the magazine of the Central Party School, which trains senior officials, drew historical parallels with the Qing dynasty’s conquest of the island in the 17th century to highlight the importance of patience and careful planning.

I'm not sure how to read this article: is it seriously suggesting that Xi can't control his armed forces, or is it a warning of what could happen if the U.S. and other countries continue to blame China for the magnitude of the Wuhan virus outbreak?

• Related: "Indian and Chinese forces involved in fierce clashes along border region"--Al Masdar News. Another in a long string of minor clashes along a disputed part of the border. The article suggests that it is Indian forces that initiated this latest spat.  

• Same as it always was: "Mexico's president orders military on streets to curb rising violence"--Reuters. It appears, from the article, that this is not something new; the order merely extends the period that the armed forces are under the direction of the National Guard by another 4 years. The significance is that Mexican President Obrador had campaigned against this very policy and arrangement when he was campaigning to be president of Mexico. Thus, the article also reports: "'His security strategy is not working and that is why he has had to order with this decree for the Armed Forces to support public security,' security specialist Juan Ibarrola told the Milenio newspaper." According to the article, Mexico had 34,582 murders in 2019. To put this in perspective, the United States had 16,214 murders in 2018 (the last year for which the FBI had statistics), even though the population of the United States in 2018 was 327.2 million and the population of Mexico was about 126 million in 2019. 
• The religion of peace strikes again: "ISIS gunmen dressed as cops kill two babies as well as 12 mothers and nurses after storming Afghanistan maternity ward"--Daily Mail. 
• "France's No-Go Zones: The Riots Return"--The Gatestone Institute. While most French people are subject to onerous fines should they violate coronavirus isolation orders, "People living in no-go zones [zones-urbaines-sensibles 'sensitive urban zones'] are treated differently. Police officers have been told by the government not to stop them at all and to avoid as much as possible going near where they live." (Brackets in original). This and other matters discussed in the article lead the author to conclude: "Currently, exempting the no-go zones from a lockdown appears to be one way the government implicitly admits that they are no longer a part of French territory, but tries to maintain a precarious coexistence with them." Also:

A few months ago, a police officer, Noam Anouar, who infiltrated Islamist circles... stated that no-go zones in France are now foreign enclaves on French territory. "The gangs operating there," he wrote, "have formed a parallel economy based on drug trafficking. They consider themselves at war with France and with Western civilization. They act in cooperation with Islamist organizations, and define acts of predation and rampage as raids against infidels". He noted that reclaiming these areas today would be complicated, costly, and involve calling in the army.

• "Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Is Shifting Dramatically From A Powerful Tug Of War"--Forbes. From the lede:

      It’s become increasingly clear in recent years that Earth’s magnetic north pole has been moving towards Russia at rather fast clip.

      Now a team of researchers believe they’ve identified the forces that are causing the shift, which has implications for everyday navigation and mapping systems, among other things.

      Earth’s magnetic field is governed by the flow of materials in our planet’s core, and it seems that two competing magnetic “blobs” along the outer core are pulling at the magnetic north pole.

      One magnetized patch is beneath Canada while the other is under Siberia. In the past few decades, the Siberian patch has begun to overpower its opponent in dramatic fashion. The planet-scale battle has resulted in the magnetic north pole migrating towards Russia with a quickness.

The article continues:

      At the turn of the 20th century, the magnetic north pole was firmly in the Canadian Arctic. It spent the next century meandering about ten degrees to the north, moving ever closer to the true North Pole.

     Around 2001 its movement began to accelerate, and by 2019 magnetic north had actually moved all the way north, crossed the International Date Line and began traveling south on the other side of the globe toward Siberia.

• Related? "As The World Is Distracted By COVID-19, A Series Of Large Earthquakes Is Rocking 'The Ring Of Fire'"--End of the American Dream. 

• The dropping of charges against General Flynn is an "oh sh*t" moment for Obama:

• "Barack Obama is Worried About Something, That Is Obvious"--PJ Media. Noting the following written by the Wall Street Journal editorial board: “Barack Obama is a lawyer, so it was stunning to read that he ventured into the Michael Flynn case in a way that misstated the supposed crime and ignored the history of his own Administration in targeting Mr. Flynn. Since the former President chose to offer his legal views when he didn’t need to, we wonder what he’s really worried about.”

• "Byron York's Daily Memo: The big thing we still don't know about the Michael Flynn Case"--Washington Examiner. The FBI doesn't record its interviews, but instead uses memorandums drawn up after the fact (the FD-302 or "302" forms) and the agent's recollections. If Flynn lied to the FBI agents, it would have to be something in the original 302, but the original has never been produced. All that we've seen are edited versions worked over by Peter Strzok and his lover, Lisa Page. 

• "President Obama was in on plot to 'frame' Flynn, attorney says"--Fox News. 

• "Obama knew details of Michael Flynn’s wiretapped calls: docs"--New York Post. 

• "A 'pretty darn invested' Obama rallies the troops and gives them their talking points"--Neo. Quoting from a recording of Obama's telephone conference: "So I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do. Whenever I campaign, I’ve always said, ‘Ah, this is the most important election.’ Especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it’s the most important election. This one — I’m not on the ballot — but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this [a Democratic victory] happen."

• "Donald Trump: Barack Obama and Joe Biden Will Be Implicated in Russia Hoax"--Breitbart. 

• "The Real Reason for Flynn's First Firing"--PJ Media. This is in reference to Obama removing Flynn as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency after Flynn decided to try and reform the largely useless and disfunctional Agency. As National Security Advisor, Flynn would have been in a position to reform all of the intelligence agencies.

• "Dirty Dozen: The 12 revelations that sunk Mueller's case against Flynn"--Just the News.

• "Obama Defense Official Evelyn Farkas Admitted She Lied On MSNBC About Having Evidence Of Collusion"--The Federalist. 

• "Obama Sends Private Letter to National Archives Claiming ‘Confidentiality’ To Not Release Biden-Ukraine Docs"--Greg Jarrett. Trying to bury evidence.

• "Fox's Jesse Watters: Barr has documents that could show Obama's 'powerful connection' to 'Spygate'"--Washington Examiner. 

• "Obama, Biden Oval Office Meeting On January 5 Was Key To Entire Anti-Trump Operation"--The Federalist. 

• "New Red Flags Emerging From FBI's Handling of Michael Flynn's Case"--Real Clear Investigations. "Since the documents were released last week, much attention has focused on a handwritten note by FBI counterintelligence head Bill Priestap in advance of the January 2017 interview with Flynn that would result in the retired lieutenant general being charged with lying to federal agents: 'What is our goal?' Priestap asked, 'Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?'"